Thursday, April 16, 2015

Hernar 16 April 2015 - Macho posturing

Fresh northerly breeze and relatively overcast

Not the best of conditions to go looking for migrant passerines - but it really was a lovely day out of the wind whenever the sun got out.

Black Grouse orrfugl displaying from a rooftop - together with a Hooded Crow kråke

....and on a telegraph wire


We picked up at least two, quite possibly three, male Black Grouse orrfugl - they were displaying on anything and everything from rooftops to telegraph poles and wires. Hopefully there is a female about somewhere so that all the macho posturing can pay off.....there was some possible evidence with some feathers found that may have been lost by a female whilst enjoying the attentions of one of the boys we saw today.

Migrants were fairly thin on the ground but a small flock of Twite bergirisk, some Linnet tornirisk, a few Wheatear steinskvett, a couple of Chiff-chaffs gransanger, a male Merlin dvergfalk and several each of Redwing rødvingetrost and Goldcrest fuglekonge meant that all was not lost.

Other stuff included at least six White-tailed Eagle havørn, a Black Guillemot teist and a flock of nine Red-throated Diver smålom heading north.

Pipefish havnål


Also of interest was a Pipefish havnål which was still alive. This virtually inedible fish must have been dropped by a gull flying over. It has been quite a while since the last massive influx died off - might this be the sign of a new surge in numbers? For more details about these strange fish see this link.

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