Normally a trip to Cape Verde is undertaken during the spring, but then many of the birds are not breeding. During autumn tough many birds are breeding and the endemics are easier to see. The downside may be that a few sea-birds can be difficult to get. In Cape Verde 187 species of birds are recorded. Of these six species are endemic and eight subspecies. For additional two species Cape Verde more or less is the only place in the Western Palearctic where these species may be seen fairly regularly.
I travelled with the Swedish agency Avifauna. Trip leader from Sweden was Teet Sirotkin, Stockholm and Rubén Barone Tosco from Tenerife as expert leader on Cape Verde. Participants, except me, on the trip were Trond Aspelund, Enebakk, Norway; Sven Bödker, Esbjerg, Denmark; Michel Frost, Sollentuna, Sweden; Christer Jönsson, Hässleholm, Sweden and Kirsten Trogstad, Enebakk, Norway.
Cape Verde is situated 600 km WNW of Dakar, Senegal in Western Africa and 1,300 km SSW of the Canary Islands. It consists of 15 islands of which nine are inhabited. The islands in Cape Verde are divided in the northern islands - The Barlavento Islands (windward islands): Santo Antão, São Vicente, Santa Luzia, São Nicolau, Sal, Boa Vista; and the southern Sotavento Islands (leeward): Maio, Santiago, Fogo and Brava. In Cape Verde we visited Santiago, Sãu Nicolau, Sal and Boa Vista. Like in the Canary Islands, the most eastern islands are dry and the western lusher.
On Cape Verde the climate is tropical with a dry season from December to July and a humid season between August and November. Temperatures are on average 25-29 °C. But compared to the other Macaronesian islands (Madeira, Canary Islands and Azores), Cape Verdes are the hottest and driest of the four archipelagos.
Transportation between the islands was with TACV Carbo Verde Airlines (Transportes Aéreos de Cabo Verde). On a stopover in Lisbon we got eight ours birding. Food on Cape Verde was good with one exception. From a restaurant in Sal Rei, Boa Vista (probably) several of us, including myself, got dysentery, which kept us in bed for a few days after arrival home to Scandinavia.
Cape Verde 20101105-15