Monday, April 01, 2013

Skogsøy and Sture 01 April 2013 - New species for Øygarden!

Calm and sunny with a northerly breeze picking up later. Very heavy frost overnight.





Kicked the day off with a few hours seawatching at Skogsøy. Plenty of migration today with getting on for 1000 Oystercatcher tjeld as the mainstay of the passage. Other stuff included the first Wigeon brunnakke of the year, a fly over Snow Bunting snøspurv (my first of the year), a Dunlin myrsnipe,  four Red-throated Diver smålom, a Little Auk alkekonge, a Puffin lunde, a Velvet Scoter sjøorre, a few Black-headed Gulls hettemåke and a light but steady movement of Curlew storspove and Common Gulls fiskemåke.

A Great Northern Diver islom headed south and a Peregrine vandrefalk caught a passerine nearby.

Nutcracker nøttekråke - first new species for Øygarden this year.


A tip off about a local mega resulted in decent views of the first Nutcracker nøttekråke for Øygarden - a long-awaited first. The bird was seen between Skjold and Sture.

Another tip-off saw me standing on my terrace for an hour or so - without any luck this time - but picked up several White-tailed Eagles havørn, a Jackdaw kaie, a Sparrowhawk spurvehauk, my first Lesser Black-backed Gull sildemåke of the year and a further movement of Common Gulls fiskemåke.

No comments: