Skogsøy 19 August 2024 - One last seawatch

 A pre work seawatch in brisk SW winds and in good company produced another decent number of shearwaters:) Quite a lot of waders moving too but frustratingly most went unidentified.

3.5 hours gave the following:

Manx Shearwater havlire 24 S, 1 N

Sooty Shearwater grålire S 4

Fulmar havhest S 2, N 1

Red-throated Diver smålom S 1

Common Gull fiskemåke S 163

Kittiwake krykkje S 1

Gannet havsule 26 S

Black-headed Gull hettemåke 1 S

Shelduck gravand 1 N

Gannet havsule 26 S

Several species of wader passed, but just the usual suspects.

Common Gull fiskemåke

Great Black-backed Gull svartbak

First year Kittiwake krykkje

Mixed flock of Ringed Plover sandlo and Dunlin myrsnipe

On the way home the Whooper Swan sangsvane was once again present on Husvatnet.

Øygarden 14.08-18.08.2024 - Seawatching saves the week

 On 14 August I did my usual round at Herdlevær picking up the usual suspects including a couple of Dunlin myrsnipe and Ringed Plover sandlo on the rocks. A couple of Teal krikkand were also feeding on the shore.

Lesser Black-backed Gull sildemåke

Ringed Plover sandlo

Teal krikkand

Still some Wheatear steinskvett about

The adult Whooper sangsvane was still present on Husvatnet.

A drive-by at Kollsnes on 15 August produced only one of the young Stonechat svartstrupe of interest.

First year Stonechat svartstrupe

The only other birding was a seawatch at Skogsøy on 17 August in strong SW winds. I sat from 0700 to 1030.

Sooty Shearwater grålire S 26

Manx Shearwater havlire S 25

Fulmar havhest S 13

Otherwise just a single "commic" tern, a Common Scoter svartand, and small numbers of Gannets havsule, Common Gulls fiskemåke and Great Black-backed Gulls svartbak on the move.

The next day in much nicer conditions I did Herdlevær again and picked up a reasonable selection of waders including a flock of nine Turnstone steinvender, a Greenshank gluttsnipe and the usual. On the way home Tjeldstø proved slightly more productive with a Ruff brushane, a Spotted Redshank sotsnipe, a couple of Knot polarsnipe on one of the islands just out in the fjord, flyover Dunlin myrsnipe, a couple more Greenshank gluttsnipe, Common Sandpiper strandsnipe and some migrating Oystercatcher tjeld moving down the fjord.

Stonechat svartstrupe under better conditions:)