Nautnes 27 December 2013 - Geese

Considerably calmer today - with immediate results.

Nautnes produced almost all the interest today. New species for the house list were a flock of 67 Greylags grågås together with a lone Barnacle Goose hvitkinngås. Other sightings of note from the garden were Bullfinch dompap and Meally Redpoll gråsisik. A female Otter oter with two young also spent some time feeding in front of the terrace.

Curlew storpsove at Herdlevær

Greylag grågås flock with a single Barncale goose hvitkinngås (bottom bird)

A short walk at Herdlevær produced a Curlew storspove, a flock of 40 Starling stær and three Jackdaw kaie as well as Tree Sparrow pilfink and most of the usual suspects.

Tjeldstø 24 December 2013 - Christmas

Southerly gale.

Highlights today were a Lapwing vipe and a flock of 12 Starling stær. Several Whoopers sangsvane about  - including a first year bird with an injured neck - possible collision with power lines?

A very small, round and white-headed Herring Gull gråmåke

Lapwing vipe

Starling stær

Adult Whoopers sangsvane

First year Whooper sangsvane with injured neck

A flock of 50-60 Long-tailed Duck havelle were present at Solberg.

At Dåvøy a small Herring Gull gråmåke with a very white and rounded head looked quite interesting...

Herdlevær 23 December 2013 - Shelter from the storm

Rather less windy today than of late - the sun even shone most of the time

Several Purple Sandpipers fjæreplytt had moved into one of the sheltered bays at Herdlevær - typical behaviour given the current conditions.

Purple Sandpipers fjæreplytt

Wren gjerdesmett

 

Common Snipe enkeltbekkasin

 

A few Common Snipe enkeltbekkasin also present along with the usual White-tailed Eagles havørn etc.

Skogsøy 22 December 2013

Winds still strong and predominantly from the south

Skogsøy was predictably wet underfoot. Little passing over the sea during a brief period of seawatching, However, a minumum of five White-tailed Eagles havørn and Purple Sandpiper fjæreplytt resting at the usual lookput post (first time I've seen them so high above sea level).

A first year White-tailed Eagle havørn - most were adults today

Part of a passing Eider ærfugl flock

Otherwise just the usual suspects including Kittiwake krykkje, Common Crossbills grankorsnebb etc.

A flock of about 20 Starling stær were at Oen

Other stuff seen recently have been more of the same with Razorbill alke, Kittiwake krykkje and Gannet havsule at Hjelme Vest yesterday.

Redwings rødvingetrost were feeding with the Blackbird svarttrost flock at Skjold a couple of days back and a Goldeneye kvinand was another new house tick the day before that.

Hellesøy 18 December 2013

Another day of strong winds....

At Hellesøy there was little to be seen other than a couple of Starlings stær and two Mealy Redpoll gråsisik.

Starling stær

Cormorant storskarv

No white-winged gulls today....

Back home at Nautnes a Curlew storspove and the usual White-tailed Eagle havørn provided more interest

Øygarden 17 December 2013 - Glaucous Gull

Strong south westerly winds, no rain.

A mad dash around a few localities produced generally rather little. Best bird was a Glaucous Gull polarmåke at Solberg which disappeared to the north after a squabble with a White-tailed Eagle havørn.

Virtually nothing on the sea at Alvheim - perhaps because there were at least four White-tailed Eagles havørn and a Sparrowhawk spurvehauk in the area.

Some changeout of the Whooper Swans sangsvane apparent today with an adult pair and a young one together on Rotevatnet, Tjeldstø.

Tjeldstø 16 December 2013 - Drive-by

Fresh south westerly and cloudy.

Yet another day in the consumer society and no time to get out at all. A drive-by at Tjeldstø produced the male Wigeon brunnakke reported there a day or two ago and very unusually a female Long-tailed Duck havelle - first time I've seen this species on the fresh water at Husvatnet.

Nautnes 15 December 2013 - Oil spill?

SW winds, largely clear.

With Christmas upon us birding is yet again taking a back seat - and I didn't really get out today. An unfortunate way to get a new species for the new house list was this Guillemot lomvi which turned up on the sea in front of th terrace. It looked to be oiled and was frantically attempting to clean its plumage. It obviously caught the eye of an adult White-tailed Eagle havørn which made at least a couple of passes over it - and the bird was not seen subsequently....

 

Oiled Guillemot lomvi at Nautnes - an indication of a possible spill somewhere?

A short fishing / Christmas tree trip in the afternoon resulted in a first winter Glaucous Gull polarmåke at Tjeldstø. Being almost dark (15:45 or thereabouts) there was no other option than to turn the ISO value all the way up - results were easily good enough for documentation. I'll be trying that again sometime.....

 

Above and below:Glaucous Gull polarmåke 

 

 

Herring Gull gråmåke - ridiculous ISO settings gave decent results....

 

Herdlevær 13 December 2013 - Autumn migration not over yet

Light north westerly winds with clear skies.

As soon as I went out of the front door it was apparent that there was stuff on the move. A few flocks of Redpolls gråsisik flew south along with small numbers of Common Crossbill grankorsnebb and Bullfinch dompap.

A walk at Herdlevær produced at least a couple of hundred more Redpoll gråsisik moving south along with more Common Crossbill grankorsnebb, Bullfinch dompap, Siskin grønnsisik and a flock of eight Brambling bjørkefink.

Good numbers of Robins rødstrupe, small flocks of Blackbirds svarttrost together with the occasional Fieldfare gråtrost indicated that it wasn't just finches that are still migrating.

Other stuff included a couple of Jackdaw kaie - one of them seemingly the same very white-collared bird seen back in November, a Peregrine vandrefalk, a Velvet Scoter sjøorre and a couple of Snipe enkeltbekkasin.

Nautnes 12 December 2013 - From the terrace

Gale force winds and rain.

Weather absolutely terrible for seeing stuff during the morning but cleared up nicely once I didn't have any time left.

Nothing out of the ordinary - just an adult White-tailed Eagle havørn from the terrace among all the other usual stuff.

Both Otter and Mink turned up right outside the sitting room window too...

Mink

Otter with fish