Cold with SE winds. Snow on the ground and pretty much frozen over.
Today's walk with the dog was at Herdlevær - which was pretty quiet with not much of interest. A Black Guillemot teist and a Rock Pipit skjærpiplerke might have raised some eyebrows elsewhere in Norway but that was about as good as it got here. Lots of Woodcock rugde and Snipe enkeltbekkasin tracks but no birds. Of almost no interest at all a couple of House Sparrow gråspurv were an addition to my Øygarden 2017 species list.
The drive home was a lot better with two Snipe enkeltbekkasin feeding at Breivik and two more at Sture where a couple of Goldfinch stillits flew over and a Nuthatch spettmeis visited a bird feeder (a real contender for the bird of the day as this is not the commonest of species in Øygarden). A Sparrowhawk spurvehauk at Sture was another local first of the year.
Back home a break from the computer produced a new species for the house list (#128 and no sign of slowing down!) in the form of a nice Slavonian Grebe horndykker on the sea off the terrace. Undoubtedly the bird of the day!
Today may have been the first day this year in Øygarden where I did not see White-tailed Eagle havørn.
Today's walk with the dog was at Herdlevær - which was pretty quiet with not much of interest. A Black Guillemot teist and a Rock Pipit skjærpiplerke might have raised some eyebrows elsewhere in Norway but that was about as good as it got here. Lots of Woodcock rugde and Snipe enkeltbekkasin tracks but no birds. Of almost no interest at all a couple of House Sparrow gråspurv were an addition to my Øygarden 2017 species list.
Two Snipe enkeltbekkasin at Breivik (same as video below)
Snipe #1 at Sture
Snipe #2 at Sture
Common Snipe enkeltbekkasin feeding at Breivik
Note that all the Snipe pictures and video were taken without leaving my car. Not disturbing the birds is very important - especially under these conditions.
The drive home was a lot better with two Snipe enkeltbekkasin feeding at Breivik and two more at Sture where a couple of Goldfinch stillits flew over and a Nuthatch spettmeis visited a bird feeder (a real contender for the bird of the day as this is not the commonest of species in Øygarden). A Sparrowhawk spurvehauk at Sture was another local first of the year.
Late afternoon Slav grebe horndykker - picture taken from the terrace - species #128 from the house
Back home a break from the computer produced a new species for the house list (#128 and no sign of slowing down!) in the form of a nice Slavonian Grebe horndykker on the sea off the terrace. Undoubtedly the bird of the day!
Today may have been the first day this year in Øygarden where I did not see White-tailed Eagle havørn.
No comments:
Post a Comment