Thursday, May 16, 2024

Øygarden 06.05-12.05.2024 - A week almost without birding

On Monday 06 May I guided a British couple around Øygarden. Only three or four relatively distant White-tailed Eagles havørn showed - an unusually low number given the localities visited. Displaying Black Grouse orrfugl, Goshawk hønsehauk and the first Common Terns makrellterne were among the sightings.

Cuckoo gjøk was the bird of the day and were heard and/or seen at every locality visited. A close number two was Lesser Whitethroat møller which greatly outnumbered Common Whitethroat tornsanger. Merlin dvergfalk, Twite bergirisk a Velvet Scoter sjøorre, Black Guillemot teist and Otter were among the other sightings. A good number of species were seen though:)

On 07 May I was stuck inside all day so a Whimrel småspove that landed on the shore in front of my house was more than welcome.

It was the same story the following day with an all day meeting. Around 1500 I went out on the terrace and immediately had a flock of 300 Barnacle Geese hvittkingås flying north over the house. Huge numbers (>8500) were reported elsewhere in Øygarden during the day.

Part of a flock of Barnacle Geese hvitkinngås heading north over Nautnes

On 09 May the sea fog rolled in - not that it made much difference to me. A late walk at Hjelme / Sæle produced more Barnacle Geese hvitkinngås moving in the fog/low cloud.

A rather bedraggled male Wheatear steinskvett at Breivik

Friday 10 May was very frustrating and was a day when my house is both a blessing and a curse. In 15 minutes between 0715 and 0730 I had two White-billed Diver gulnebblom pass with a couple more during a couple of random and very short sweeps from the terrace. Not a day to be sat inside working in other words....

Male Siskin grønnsisik in my garden

No activity at all the following day but on the morning of 12.05 I had the first Arctic Terns rødnebbterne of the year from the terrace along with a migrating Greenshank gluttsnipe, singing Blackcap munk and more. Later in the day I had Merlin dvergfalk at both Hjelme Vest and Hellesøy.


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