Skogsøy 17 April 2022 - Another day, another seawatch (and a Black Redstart)

 Another day of sunshine and southerly winds.

The number of birds passing today was significantly lower than the last visits, but variety was reasonable and a number of species put in their first appearance at this locality for the year. A number of birds were even heading south for some reason.

In three hours I had the following:

Red throated Diver smålom N 2, S 1

Northern Gannet havsule N 8, S 30

Great Cormorant storskarv N 6

Eurasian Shag toppskarv N 10, S 2

Grey Heron gråhegre N 2

Whooper Swan sangsvane N 4

Wigeon brunnakke N 5

Teal krikkand S 2

Eider ærfugl N 8, S 1

Common Scoter svartand N 28, S 3

Goldeneye kvinand N 3, S 3

Merganser siland S 2

Oystercatcher tjeld N 98, S 2

Whimbrel småspove N 1

Eurasian Curlew storspove N 3

Common Gull fiskemåke N 51, S 8

Lesser black backed Gull sildemåke S 2

Common Guillemot lomvi N 10, S 1

Razorbill alke N 2

A Reed Bunting sivspurv also heading north and a Hooded Crow kråke came in off the sea from a few km out.

Eiders ærfugl

Wigeon brunnakke with Oystercatcher tjeld

On the way home at stop at Tjeldstø produced the first Barnacle Goose hvitkinngås of the year, a few Golden Plover heilo, some Wheatear steinskvett, Redshank rødstilk and the usual.

In the afternoon a Black Redstart svartrødstjert was reported from Sture so I quickly popped out to catch up with this.

Male Black Restart svarrødstjert

What could have been a decent picture had it not been taken through the tinted rear window of my car:)

Yesterday I did my usual round at Herdlevær but it was somewhat uneventful. On my way home I had a Merlin dvergfalk and a Kestrel tårnfalk having a disagreement at Breivik.