Herdlevær and Nautnes 04 May 2023 - A big migration day and a new species for Nautnes

Unfortunately not out in any significant way but still caught up with at least part of a massive day of migration - 45 minutes with the scope at Herdlevær gave 237 Barnacle Geese hvitkinngås on their way to Svalbard, 173 Red-throated Diver smålom, a Great Northern Diver islom and a White-billed Diver gulnebblom along with some of the usual suspects. 

Record numbers of Red-throated Divers smålom (>1300) and White-billed Divers gulnebblom (50) passed today !!

Barnacle Geese hvitkinngås

Curlew storspove

Golden Plover heilo

Horse Mackrel hestemakrell

Small numbers of Golden Plover heilo were present at Herdlevær and a flock of around 80 were at Breivik.

The rest of the day was spent just trying to catch up on life before the next trip. In the evening a flock of five Mute Swan knoppsvane turned up on the sea in front of the house - a new for the house list (#158) and Nautnes in general. This species was once a real rarity in Øygarden but has been more and more regular in recent years in line with the species expansion in the Bergen area. This bird has been seen in downtown Bergen on a number of occasions since October 2021, most recently on 22 April this year.

Mute Swan knoppsvane - a new species for the house list which is now at least 158

Above picture taken with compact superzoom

A few snaps using an older DSLR

Much rarer than White-billed Diver!!