Two colour-ringed Curlews

I've just got back from The Azores on a university trip. Didn't have any time (or a scope) for birding so didn't see that much. I did see the Bullfinch (just about!) and plenty of Cory's Shears though.
I've just found that I missed out on a White-tailed Tropicbird which was there for the whole week about 10 mins walk from where we were staying!!

While I was away, I also missed out on a Black Tern briefly on The Salty seen by Kev on the 31st.

I checked Passage this morning but the only thing of note was a Clouded Yellow over the estuary.

Before I left, Will found a colour-ringed Curlew on the 26th and I found another a couple of days later.

Will found the one with the black ring

I had a brief worry that they were the same bird (the green looked very dark in the field) but looking at the photos when I got home, you can clearly see that they are different birds, but both from the same scheme.

The one with the black ring was ringed on 25/4/07 as a breeding female in north west Germany. She returned to the same breeding site in 2008. After this, she was observed to return to the same area but when all of the other Curlews started to breed, this bird disappeared! Our sighting is the first away from the breeding area.

The one with the green ring was ringed on 16/5/05 as a breeding Male in the same place (5km east of Saerbeck if you're interested), and he has been seen to return to this area every year since being ringed. Again, our sighting is the first away from the breeding area. Sadly he seemed to have an injured left leg so not sure if he'll return to breed next year. Would be interesting to know.

Lets hope this Yellowlegs has flown south. I'll be out looking tomorrow.