Øygarden 13 May 2008

"Northern" Golden Plover heilo
Heron hegre with eel
Sand Martin sandsvale
Heron hegre
Record shot of Black-tailed Godwit svarthalespove

Started the day off with nice views of some "northern" Golden Plover heilo feeding by the roadside at Kollsnes. One of these birds seemed to have rather a lot of black on its underparts extending onto (although not covering) the undertail coverts.

At Tjeldstø the best bird was an islandica Black-tailed Godwit svarthalespove, a regular visitor in small numbers at this time of year. A rarer bird at Tjeldstø, though not as exciting were three Jackdaw kaie flying over.

Other stuff inlcuded a couple of Sand Martin sandsvale, a Heron hegre catching an eel and a flock of 40 Common Scoter svartand heading north up the fjord. Two Whimbrel småspove rested beside Husvatnet in the afternoon - this is a species that is very common on migration up the west coast of Øygarden but rarely strays onto the east side for some reason.