Thursday, May 31, 2018

Hernar 28 May 2018 - Orcas

Very calm, very hot and very sunny.

Took a few hours out in the morning and headed off on an all to seldom trip to Hernar.

We had only just got out in the fjord when we were surrounded by Orcas spekkhoggere. Several pods totalling at 30 fed actively, some at point blank range, others on the other side of the fjord. The sound of them surfacing and breathing was incredible.








Orcas in Hjeltefjord

On Hernar itself the best bird was a singing Corncrake åkerrikse - though most of the fields it usually favours had been cut so things don't look too bright. I spent most of the time trying to relocate what may well have been the Bee-eater bieter that has been seen on the island for much of May and did not bother following up on all the smaller passerines I saw. 

Male Twite bergirisk



Generally quite a bit about with Spotted Flycatcher gråfluesnapper, Pied Flycatcher svarthvit fluesnapper, Merlin dvergfalk and a migrating Bar-tailed Godwit lappspove all being new for me in Øygarden this year.

Plenty of Twite bergirisk and all the usual Hernar suspects were also seen.



Arctic Terns rødnebbterne

Eider ærfugl

On the way home we checked out an island or two very quickly - one of them held at least 80 Arctic Tern rødnebbterne - some of which looked to be very settled in. Several all male flocks of Eiders ærfugl were loafing around so heres hoping the females are all sitting tightly on eggs.

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