Skogsøy 27 March 2022 - Typical early spring seawatch

Overcast with light NW winds

I was up well before dawn and headed out to Skogsøy. On the way there a brief stop gave two roding Woodcock rugde and A LOT of birdsong:)

The walk out to the lookout point showed that there has been an arrival of birds since I was last there with a lot of Redwing rødvingetrost song for the first time this year.

Almost three hours seawatching showed that it was rather quieter than yesterday but still enough going on to keep interest levels up:

Northern Gannet havsule N 6, S 2

Great Cormorant storskarv N 8, S 2

Eurasian Shag toppskarv N 16, S 5

Greylag Goose grågås N 2

Eider ærfugl N 3

Long tailed duck havelle N 2

Common Scoter svartand N 1

Merganser siland N 3

Oystercatcher tjeld N 94

Eurasian Curlew storspove N 19

Common Gull fiskemåke N 366

Lesser black backed Gull sildemåke N 2

Herring Gull gråmåke N 10

Black-legged Kittiwake krykkje N 3

Common Guillemot lomvi N 6

Razorbill alke N 1, S 1

Black Guillemot teist N 1

4cy White-tailed Eagle havørn

Gannet havsule

One of the Oystercatcher tjeld flocks heading north today

Part of a Curlew storspove flock

Rock Pipit skjærpiplerke

A few White-tailed Eagles havørn about but just one adult. Rock Pipits skjærpiplerke, Ravens ravn and the usual breeding species were also in attendance.

The only bird of note on the way home was the first Dunnock jernspurv of the year at  Hjelme.

A Stock Dove skogdue was reported from Breivik later in the day and whilst looking for it the first Wheatear steinskvett turned up - and was singing despite the light drizzle that had set in. The Stock Dove was typically flighty and came past having been spooked by someone feeding their sheep.

The first Wheatear steinskvett of the year - normally this bird would have got a bit more attention but I was looking for the next bird:)

Stock Dove skogdue - the second in Øygarden this year but the first one seen alive:)