Jane and I were headed for Santo Monica beach on Thursday with the hired truck. It’s apparently the ‘world’s best beach’. But even though the marketing was strong and some taxis were heading out we weren’t comfortable with the increasingly rough track. So we headed for Lacacao, and I’m very glad we did.
The weather synopsis had undoubted promise, with easterly winds potentially pushing some migrants off the African mainland. In theory Boa Vista is the best place to be on Cape Verde in such conditions, with land further east than Sal. But knowing where to look for passerines isn’t always straightforward.
I was rather taken aback by a couple of apparent Bee-eaters swooping around the pools soon after I arrived. I was then rather gobsmacked to see that they were actually Blue-cheeked Bee-eater rather than the more expected European Bee-eater. This definitely hadn’t been on my radar when I’d considered what good bird I might see during the fortnight.
When i was on Sal in 2018 there was an exceptional influx of European Bee-eaters. From memory a flock of about 25 birds were knocking about, originally found by local birder Uwe Thom. I saw them on a couple of occasions and a photograph of one is below. So I’ve now seen both Bee-eater species to have occurred on Cape Verde.
European Bee-eater on Sal when we stayed there in 2018
I’ve mused before on here about whether it’s more satisfying to find rare birds that are subtle, and need application of expertise, or it’s better to just bump into unmistakeable stunners. At this moment in time I’m more than happy to have stumbled on two birds which even as juveniles are stunning.
A couple more pictures below of what are apparently the fourth record of Blue-cheeked Bee-eater on Cape Verde. The information I have is that there have now been two occurrences each on Boa Vista and Sal.
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