South westerly winds, mostly sunny but with some short showers and a torrential downpour during the most critical part of the day....
There has been little or no time for birding the last few days and even today my intentions were to strictly limit time spent in the field. I did a round at Herdlevær and pretty much called it a day. Things were relatively quiet here with flocks of thrushes, a flock of Parrot Crossbills furukorsnebb, several Purple Sandpipers fjæreplytt and a few Rock Pipit skjærpiplerke. A Guillemot lomvi on the sea was the best bird here - being the first I have seen in Øygarden this year - this species is slowly but surely becoming more and more of a rarity - at least in the winter months.
On my way home something remarkable happened - I met another birder who was actually out birding. He asked about some good gull spots and I pointed out a couple of localities worth checking before heading home and getting back to work....
I then received a text message regarding an Iceland Gull grønlandsmåke which I felt would be rude to ignore so off I went down to Vik - and straight into some very heavy rain. The gull performed nicely given the conditions and I even managed to pick up another Øygarden first for the year in the form of a lone Black-headed Gull hettemåke (almost rarer than Iceland during the winter months).
Otherwise White-tailed Eagles havørn, Fieldfare gråtrost and Redwings rødvingetrost pretty much everywhere.
Still plenty of Fieldfare gråtrost about - and now having an easier time of things now that the fields are nice and wet
An assortment of Parrot Crossbills furukorsnebb
Video of a female Parrot Crossbill furukorsnebb
Unusually I used my DSLR for this - normally I use my point and pray - and typically only thought of video after most of the birds had flown leaving only this one behind
There has been little or no time for birding the last few days and even today my intentions were to strictly limit time spent in the field. I did a round at Herdlevær and pretty much called it a day. Things were relatively quiet here with flocks of thrushes, a flock of Parrot Crossbills furukorsnebb, several Purple Sandpipers fjæreplytt and a few Rock Pipit skjærpiplerke. A Guillemot lomvi on the sea was the best bird here - being the first I have seen in Øygarden this year - this species is slowly but surely becoming more and more of a rarity - at least in the winter months.
On my way home something remarkable happened - I met another birder who was actually out birding. He asked about some good gull spots and I pointed out a couple of localities worth checking before heading home and getting back to work....
Just like last time I checked this place out there were plenty of gulls....
Obviously curious - it was probably thinking that it had never seen a creature like that in these kinds of conditions and came for a closer look
Here obeying the second law of bird photography - if the picture is sharp there will be a wing tip missing
2cy Iceland Gull grønlandsmåke
I then received a text message regarding an Iceland Gull grønlandsmåke which I felt would be rude to ignore so off I went down to Vik - and straight into some very heavy rain. The gull performed nicely given the conditions and I even managed to pick up another Øygarden first for the year in the form of a lone Black-headed Gull hettemåke (almost rarer than Iceland during the winter months).
Otherwise White-tailed Eagles havørn, Fieldfare gråtrost and Redwings rødvingetrost pretty much everywhere.
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