September observations in Madeira & Porto Santo Islands

September is normally a good month for vagrant birds and this year, 2011, was not an exception. From American to European vagrants Madeira was visited mainly by sandpipers, though the highlights were the 1st record for Citrine wagtail and the 2nd for American Golden Plover.

31st August and 1st September 2011 at Lugar de Baixo
1 White-rumped Sandpiper Calidris fuscicollis

5th September 2011 at Caniçal
1 Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus

7th September 2011 at Paúl da Serra
Northern Wheaters Oenanthe oenanthe

9th September 2011 at Funchal harbor
1 Ring-billed Gull Larus delawarensis

10th September 2011 at Lugar de Baixo
Cirtine Wagtail Motacilla citreola - 1st record for Madeira, observed and photographed by Joost



at Porto Santo Beach
several Sanderlings Calidris alba
1 Black Kite Milvus migrans

11th September 2011 at Tanque, Porto Santo
2 Greenshanks Tringa nebularia
2 Green sandpipers Tringa ochropus
1 Wood sandpiper Tringa glareola
1 Buff-breasted sandpiper Tryngites subruficollis
2 Night Herons Nycticorax nycticorax
3 Little Egrets Egretta garzetta
2 Grey Wagtails Motacilla cinerea
35 Coots Fulica atra
28 Moorhens Gallinula chloropus

16th September 2011 at São Vicente
1 Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus
1 Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus

at Lugar de Baixo
Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula

17th September 2011 at Machico
1 Semipalmated Sandpiper Calidris pusilla



23rd September 2011 at Chão das Feiteiras
American Golden Plover Pluvialis dominica - observed and identified by Ian Beggs



25th September 2011 at Machico
1 Solitary Sandpiper Tringa solitaria - still present on the 28th



at Paul da Serra
2 Pectoral Sandpiper Calidris melanotos - observed by Pedro Silva



30th September 2011 on a Bird, dolphin & whale watching trip
2 Pomarine skuas Stercorarius pomarinus
Fea's petrels Pterodroma feae

Bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus
1 (probably 2) Bryde's whale Balaenoptera edeni
1 Sei whale Balaenoptera borealis