Cape Verde 2 : six days on Santa Antao

 Our first two big bonuses were that we managed to agree an extension on the villa hire and that a company based at the dock had a car for hire for the whole period.

The villa was a pig to find as the instructions got lost in the ether until we actually arrived. Once we did find it it was a great base for us. The sea views were a bit too distant for birds though and despite a lot of staring out I did not see a cetacean all stay.

Our villa was in the N E corner between Ribiera Grande and Sinagoga. It was a great base with a bedroom each and 5 bathrooms along with a large kitchen and lounge. The pool was frankly only used by Jim and the two Jacuzzis were wasted on us. 

For future reference we found the villa on VRBO hosted by Lolo Fildes and described as a luxury villa. I would not hesitate to recommend it.

Birds.

First and foremost our plan was to follow up on Peter Stronach's sightings of Black-capped Petrels. T do this the team scoped out likely sites for seawatches while I nursed a bout of food poisoning back at the villa. In the afternoon I was well enough to join them for the first attempt. 

We watched from a low wall that provided excellent seating and was sheltered enough to use our scopes. The first Fea's petrel was picked up within 2 mins of our start at 3.15. This was followed by about 300 more by 6.00 pm when Paul C shouted the news that he was on to a Black-capped. We all got to see it noting the rather Black-backed gull look with white underwings broadly edged black and the white rear end and head but it was all rather a blur to be honest. Darkness fell at about 6.15 when we set off to celebrate.

Fortunately we repeated the watch for 4 more days, moving to Sinagoga (a ruined synagogue along the coast) for the final 2 days when the wind changed slightly making our original spot too exposed.

We saw Black-capped petrel every afternoon except one and the tally of Fea's was usually between 200 and 300.

There was very little variety though, just one group of three Red-footed Boobies, a few Tropic birds and a single Cape Verde Shearwater which was only seen by Paul G despite his directions and a great deal of trying.

Fortunately a small number of Boyd's shearwaters flew by each day giving prolonged if distant views.

 Distant was the word of the week, unfortunately with everything being at least a kilometre out and often much more. Still 1,300 Fea's Petrels (my personal total) and 4 if not 5 B-c Petrels were more than enough to keep us all happily entertained.

I tried to video a couple of times and will post one here if I can edit successfully.

Other birds were limited in variety but include a few Cape Verde Swifts over Ribiera Grande one day and at the caldera another morning. Brown necked Ravens and Neglected Kestrels were regulars at the villa, as were Iago Sparrows and Blackcaps.

Cape Verde Swift.... way above my skill level as a photographer

Brown-necked Raven above, Neglected Kestrel below

Iago Sparrows on the common yellow flowers by our garden

And a Blackcap took a liking to these blooms too

Butterflies

The garden constantly played host to several Long-tailed Blues which were replaced every few minutes with new individuals coming in from the hillside.

Below the garden was a line of red-flowered bushes which held the occasional Plain Tiger, Thorntree Blue and once a Borbo Skipper (lower 2 pics)

Every so often an African Migrant would hurtle through though I never once saw one land and my attempts to photograph one in flight were hopeless as you can see here

I was slightly more fortunate with the only Bath White I saw as it was nearly in focus. This was at the one stream on the island

This area also held a few African Grass Blues

For completeness' sake I also saw a Painted Lady and 3 or 4 Citrus Swallowtails but usually from a moving car or at great distance as can be seen here

Dragonflies.

That one stream held the only dragonflies I came across but I was thrilled that one was a tick. This was a Ringed Cascader. Again it failed to settle but persistance paid off with a couple of shots in focus

Other species here were Emperor, Vagrant Emperor, Broad Scarlet and Violet Dropwing.

There was a Gekko at the Villa and this lizard was found near the cafe by the Caldera, Other than that distant sea turtles, most likely Loggerheads and a pod of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins rounded of the larger wildlife.

Overall a quite different type of experience but a slightly later visit may have yielded more species and White-faced Storm Petrel still eludes me.