Saturday, June 24, 2017

Øygarden & Gullfjell 21-22 June 2017 - Eurasian Birder

I spent a couple of very pleasant days guiding an American couple around Øygarden and up on Gullfjell.

This was great fun with a lot of puerile humour - a pair of Great Tits kjøttmeis could set off the kind of sniggering that is possible with a 10 year old. There was also the constant translation of British bird names to the US version - and with so many of the over 70 species seen having a name beginning with Eurasion (Eurasion Curlew storspove, Eurasian Golden Plover heilo etc etc) it was suggested that I change my name from Natural Born Birder to Eurasion Birder.

Øygarden produced some decent birds with Corncrake åkerriskse the next best thing after the Trumpeter Finch trompetfink. Great Skua storjo chasing Gannets havsule, most of the local breeding waders, Eagle Owl hubro and plenty more. White-tailed Eagle havørn were unusually something of a struggle but we finally found three of these magestic birds at Hellesøy. Crested Tit toppmeis were a popular find invoking a new round of innuendo laden jokes. We also saw a few Otter here and there.

Gullfjell was a bit hard going above Redningshytten as the visibility closed in and it started to rain. Before this, however, we managed a Rough-legged Buzzard fjellvåk, a pair of Ring Ousel ringtrost, Dipper fossekall and most of the usual suspects.

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