Skogsøy 11 April 2022 - Common Gulls on the move

 N4birds winds dropping steadily, mostly sunny.

Another day, another seawatch. This time with better migration weather I started earlier and sat for just under 3.5 hours - and it was not easy to leave as stuff was still pouring past. Indeed the Common Gull fiskemåke passage continued well into the afternoon  - random checks out of my office window showed hundred more passing Nautnes.

A steady passage of  birds heading north without anything unexpected, much more in terms of both numbers and variety than yesterday. Highlight was a White-billed Diver gulnebblom on the sea - starting to moult into breeding plumage:)

Common Gulls fiskemåke were typically for the time of year the most numerous species and it likely that I missed many flocks as some were passing too close in to see. Cormorants storskarv also starting to move too now, again the largest flocks were seen by chance as they passed behind me.

Red throated Diver smålom N 7

Northern Gannet havsule N 45, S 4

Great Cormorant storskarv N 61, S 2

Eurasian Shag toppskarv N 21, S 51

Eider ærfuglN 3

Long tailed duck havelle N 5

Common Scoter svartand N 83

Goldeneye kvinand N 2

Merganser siland N 3

Oystercatcher tjeld N 105

Eurasian Curlew storspove N 13

Black headed Gull hettemåke N 2

Common Gull fiskemåke N 939

Herring Gull gråmåke N 2

Black-legged Kittiwake krykkje N 2

Common Guillemot lomvi N 7

Razorbill alke N 1

Black Guillemot teist N 1

Auk N 2

Black-headed Gull hettemåke

Migrating Common Gulls fiskemåke

Cormorant storskarv passing overhead

A flock of Curlew storspove at close range

Gannets havsule continue to give good views

A pair of Mergansers siland heading past just after dawn

Male Merganser siland

A few flocks of Oystercatcher tjeld passed

Raven ravn

Red-throated Diver smålom

Shag toppskarv

Also displaying Snipe enkeltbekkasin, a flock of seven Twite bergirisk, more singing Dunnock jernspurv and a good variety of birdsong. 

Skogsøy 10 April 2022 - Record early Poms!

Very strong NW winds and an hour of hail / snow / sleet showers that almost made me wimp out and go home. 

A cursory check from the kitchen window the previous day under similar conditions showed that there were plenty of Kittiwakes passing so I thought I would give Skogsøy a go. 

Arriving rather late at 0830 things initially looked promising with some Kittiwake krykkje flocks passing, along with a few Puffins lunde and other stuff. And a Great Northern Diver islom showed up on the sea. Shortly after this things got pretty uncomfortable for a while but once things cleared it was a nice enough day - made all the better by the appearance of two Pomarine Skuas polarjo - the earliest ever recorded in the county and the first reported in Norway this year:)

Both gave reasonable views in the scope and both were in fact also identifiable from photographs - despite the fact I had to guess where the first one was when I took the pictures:)

Pom #1, VERY, very cropped!!

Pom #2, once again massive cropping

So an insanely good start to the day.

For many years I have struggled to understand how these birds are seen passing through the English Channel weeks before we normally see them here on the west coast of Norway. 

Other than these it was largely auks (five species - Guillemot lomvi, Razorbill alke, Puffin lunde, Black Guillemot teist and a lone Little Auk alkekonge), Gannets havsule and small numbers of Red-throated Divers smålom and Curlew storspove.

Red throated Diver smålom N 6

Northern Gannet havsule N 64

Great Cormorant storskarv N 3

Great Cormorant storskarv  S 2

Eurasian Shag toppskarv N 6

Eider ærfugl N 1

Long tailed duck havelle N 7

Eurasian Curlew storspove N 6

Pomarine Skua polarjo N 2

Common Gull fiskemåke N 1

Herring Gull gråmåke N 2

Great black backed Gull svartbak N 5

Black-legged Kittiwake krykkje N 104

Common Guillemot lomvi N 11

Common Guillemot lomvi  S 1

Razorbill alke N 4

Black Guillemot teist N 1

Little Auk alkekonge N 1

Atlantic Puffin lunde N 7

Auk N 3

Auk S 2

Very few Common Gulls fiskemåke passing in the strong headwinds - though I suspect they may have gone up the fjord instead

Curlews storspove battling north

Gannet havsule in a hailstorm

...and Gannet havsule in the sunshine

Great Black backed Gull svartbak in the snow

...and blinded by sunlight

One of the many Kittiwake krykkje flocks today

Summer plumaged Red-throated Diver smålom - the loonatic season is soon upon us!

On the walk out to the lookout point a couple of White-tailed Eagles havørn put in an appearance as they so often do, they were not popular with the local Ravens ravn.

Second year bird here

This second year Heron gråhegre was one of several seen on the way back home.

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:)

Øygarden 23-26 March 2022 - Common Gulls on the move

First some more pics of the Common Seal steinkobbe from 22 March - in the evening it turned up just off my terrace and it would have been rude not to take some more pictures😀

On 23 March a late and lazy stroll at Herdlevær produced little in the way of new migrants, although a flock of 20 Purple Sandpipers fjæreplytt was the largest flock at this location so far this year.  A minimum of five White-tailed Eagles havørn hanging around - none of them adult.

On the way home a flock of 80 Starling stær at Breivik and a Lesser Black-backed Gull sildemåke at Tjeldstø were the best of the sightings. Husvatnet also held a flock of seven Teal krikkand.

A quick look at Tjeldstø on the morning of 24 March showed that at least a couple of Curlew storspove and a pair of Lapwing vipe were displaying over the freshly burnt heather. A couple of Jays nøtteskrike also put in an appearance here.

Friday 25 March was a bit wet and work commitments meant there was no chance of an outing. A Guillemot lomvi turned up off my terrace. Curlews storspove continue to arrive along with other migrants such as Meadow Pipits heipiplerke.

Guillemot lomvi from the terrace

My usual route at Herdlevær on 26 March was cool in the northerly breeze but sunny (like every day this week with the exception of Friday). A couple of Meadow Pipit heipiplerke were the only new passerines in, a Chiff-chaff gransanger spent most of its time feeding on the ground and a Ringed Plover sandlo flew over.  A few each of Red-throated Diver smålom (including one in breeding plumage) and Guillemots lomvi were on the sea.

Chiff-chaff gransanger feeding on the ground

Some of the almost 200 Common Gull fskemåke that passed in the course of an hour.

Severla more flocks were seen passing before I started counting

I sat for an hour with my scope and had almost 200 Common Gull fiskemåke head north along with several Guillemot lomvi, a small flock of Curlew storspove, a few flocks of Oystercatcher tjeld, three Long-tailed Duck havelle and several Kittiwake krykkje. There was also a light passage of Shags toppskarv heading south.

I then covered Breivik where the best birds were another relatively early Linnet tornirisk, three Pinkfeet kortnebbgås spooked by three White-tailed Eagles havørn and a singing Common Crossbill grankorsnebb - the first I have seen for a while and seemingly a second year male.

Common Crossbill grankorsnebb

Mallards stokkand are now settling down in suitable places...

Three Pinkfeet kortnebbgås with a couple of Greylag grågås

...the Pinkfeet came right overhead:)

Woodpigeons ringdue also fleeing the eagles

On the way home a flock of eight White-tailed Eagles havørn contained just one adult

Øygarden 19 - 22 March 2022 - Abnormally Social

 Birding took a back seat - and for once work was not really to blame. 

A social Friday night meant that any early morning birding on Saturday went out the window. So it was fishing instead, without much success other than a couple of nice Whiting:)

A Razorbill alke that swam past whilst I was fishing (point and pray superzoom)

On Saturday a sudden trip into Bergen where I actually went into a pub ended in another late night so I took things easy on Sunday too. However, the first Grey-headed Woodpecker gråspett of the year sang somewhere close to my house and was heard from the terrace throughout the afternoon. At Tjeldstø a couple of Snipe enkeltbekkasin turned up along with a Black-headed Gull hettemåke, both probably new arrivals. A pair of Stonechat svartstrupe were also seen.

At 0630 on Monday morning I was woken up by earthquake with an epicentre out in the north sea ! A very rare occurrence these parts. After that the day was spent working but a flock of five White-tailed Eagle havørn together with a Sparrowhawk spurvehauk simultaneously over the terrace made things a little better.

Tuesday 22.03 was yet another calm and clear day in a string of such and I spent the morning on Hernar. On the way there a Common Seal steinkobbe posed on the rocks close to my house and we found a flock of 110 Purple Sandpipers fjæreplytt - biggest flock of the winter thus far.

Common Seal steinkobbe

Some of the 110 Purple Sandpipers fjæreplytt

Hernar itself was full of activity without anything remarkable. Three Twite bergirisk, four Linnet tornirisk, a Lesser Black-backed Gull sildemåke were all new for the year and there were plenty more arrivals on the island with around 30 Lesser Redpoll brunsisik, 20+ Blackbird svarttrost, a few Song Thrush måltrost, a Snipe enkeltbekkasin, a Meadow Pipit heipiplerke and a couple of Woodpigeon ringdue to name but a few.

Raven ravn chasing Hooded Crow kråke

The trip back home gave another new for the year in the form of a Redshank rødstilk, several Curlew storspove (hard to say if the latter were new arrivals or some of the wintering birds), Long-tailed Ducks havelle and more.

Common Gulls fiskemåke numbers are on the rise as these birds arrive for the breeding season

Several small flocks of Long-tailed Duck havelle were seen here and there

The first Redshank rødstilk of the year

Adult White-tailed Eagle havørn - one of several seen on 22 March