Very light northerly breeze, calm, some cloud at first but sunny later.
The idea was not to go birding and get caught up on a load of stuff. This plan almost worked until I got out of bed.
Taking my morning coffee onto the terrace I was greeting by singing Wryneck vendehals and a displaying Common Sandpiper strandsnipe. As this was meant to be a day of not birding I did not have my binoculars or camera with me, these were in the living room several metres away.
Next up was the taking the dog out. I thought I would avoid all the potentially best places. I may have partly succeeded with this but picked up the long-staying Pinkfoot kortnebbgås pair at Tjeldstø. Among other things. Alarmingly I also had a flock of 200 Barnacles hvitkinngås heading north,
Ignoring this I went about my business (go to shop, pick daughter up from school....) but then the dog needed to go out again. I chose Solberg as this is quick and easy and potentially relatively birdless. In the first 15 minutes at least 1000 Barnacles hvitkinngås passsed. This meant I had to stay a full half hour. A minimum of 1500 geese passed in this time along with a White-billed Diver gulnebblom, 15 Velvet Scoter sjøorre and more besides. On the sea were 20 Long-tailed Duck havelle, 30 Common Scoter svartand and five Teal krikkand.
To make matters worse a young Golden Eagle kongeørn flew over - a rare sighting in Øygarden during May. Normally this is a winter thing.
I headed home as fast as I could but the Barnacles just kept passing. However, I stayed inside working on my computer and did my best to ignore them....
The idea was not to go birding and get caught up on a load of stuff. This plan almost worked until I got out of bed.
Taking my morning coffee onto the terrace I was greeting by singing Wryneck vendehals and a displaying Common Sandpiper strandsnipe. As this was meant to be a day of not birding I did not have my binoculars or camera with me, these were in the living room several metres away.
Pinkfoot kortnebbgås with one of the locals.
Next up was the taking the dog out. I thought I would avoid all the potentially best places. I may have partly succeeded with this but picked up the long-staying Pinkfoot kortnebbgås pair at Tjeldstø. Among other things. Alarmingly I also had a flock of 200 Barnacles hvitkinngås heading north,
1000's of Barnacle Geese hvitkinngås passed today
Barnacles hvitkinngås as seen by superzoom over Solberg
Short video of a migrating flock of Barnacle Geese
Common Tern makrellterne pair at Dåvøy
There are some common birds in Øygarden too, Great Black-backed Gull svartbak is one of them. There are pairs on eggs everywhere now.
Immature Golden Eagle kongeørn at Solberg today. A rare May sighting in Øygarden.
Ignoring this I went about my business (go to shop, pick daughter up from school....) but then the dog needed to go out again. I chose Solberg as this is quick and easy and potentially relatively birdless. In the first 15 minutes at least 1000 Barnacles hvitkinngås passsed. This meant I had to stay a full half hour. A minimum of 1500 geese passed in this time along with a White-billed Diver gulnebblom, 15 Velvet Scoter sjøorre and more besides. On the sea were 20 Long-tailed Duck havelle, 30 Common Scoter svartand and five Teal krikkand.
To make matters worse a young Golden Eagle kongeørn flew over - a rare sighting in Øygarden during May. Normally this is a winter thing.
I headed home as fast as I could but the Barnacles just kept passing. However, I stayed inside working on my computer and did my best to ignore them....
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