Tjeldstø and Nautnes 01-02 April 2021 - Home office birding

 Sunny with northerly winds.

Birding took a back seat again with just brief visits to Tjeldstø and Solberg along with keeping half an eye on activity outside the house.

From the terrace on 01 April Curlew storspove were displaying, the usual White-tailed Eagles havørn were ever present, a Sparrowhawk spurvehauk put it a brief appearance in the garden, a Rock Pipit skjærpiplerke fed on the shore, there was a light passage of Common Gulls fiskemåke and a flock of 12 Meadow Pipit heipiplerke headed north.

Solberg was quiet with a couple of Red-throated Diver smålom heading north, a small flock of Eider ærfugl on the sea, singing Rock Pipit skjærpiplerke and of course a couple more eagles.

Tjeldstø produced what was in a local context, the most interesting sighting in the form of a Canada Goose kanadagås in a large flock of Greylags greylags. Another interesting observation was VJ3 was seen for the first time this year - he has returned every spring since 2018. A few Teal krikkand fed here and at least one pair of Curlew storspove were displaying. A White Wagtail linerle flew over here - it wasn't possible to check if it was a Pied.

Canada Goose kanadagås at Tjeldstø

(almost 10 years since I last saw this species in Øygarden!)

Curlews storspove

Meadow Pipits heipiplerke numbers are increasing rapidly and the birds are wasting now time - going straight into singing mode and establishing territorities

Male Teal krikkand at Tjeldstø

VJ3 is back! Good news and the fourth spring this bird has been observed

On 02 April a visit to Tjeldstø showed that the northbound migration was rather slower in the strong headwinds. Flocks of Common Gulls fiskemåke, a couple of Lapwing vipe , a Lesser Black-backed Gull sildemåke and other species waited things out on the lee side of islands in the fjord.