Skogsøy 03 May 2025 - The loonatic season continues

Another day, another seawatch:) This time under much calmer conditions and with a lot less rain. And with a scope this time!¨

A typical seawatch for the time of year with decent varierty but without big numbers of anything. Bonus species was a pod of Orcas spekkhogger feeding actively offshore.

Red throated Diver smålom N 62

White Billed Diver gulnebblom N 13

Northern Gannet  havsule N 39, S 23

Great Cormorant storskarv N 8, S 1

Eurasian Shag toppskarv N 6, S 69

Barnacle Goose hvitkinngås N 9 (25 more flew north over land on my way out)

Long tailed duck havelle N 18

Common Scoter svartand N 10, S 34

Velvet Scoter sjøorre N 3

Merganser siland N  4, S 2

Oystercatcher tjeld N 5, S 12

Whimbrel småspove N 8

Arctic Skua tyvjo N 3 (2 pale, 1 dark) , S 1 (dark)

Common Gull fiskemåke N 9

Black-legged Kittiwake krykkje N 7

Common Guillemot lomvi N 1

Auk N 2

Gannet havsule

Raven ravn heading back to its nest with something

Part of a flock of Red-throated Diver smålom

Velvet Scoter sjøorre

Skogsøy 02 May 2025 - No scope challenge

Strong onshore winds with heavy showers meant that this was very likely to be a good day. And it was:)

New species for the year seen en route were Sedge Warbler sivsanger and Lesser Whitethroat møller.

However, when unpacking my rucksack I discovered that my trusty scope was not there! So a bins only seawatch was the only option. The conditions meant that a lot of stuff came by quite close and I managed to identify most things that past, though inevitably there were some that got away and no doubt a lot that was missed altogether.

There were Poms at the end of the rainbow:)

No scope challenge.

I've always said using a scope makes things too easy, not sure I mean it though:)

Highlights were four Pomarine Skua polarjo,  four Pintail stjertand and 16 White-billed Diver gulnebblom. A bonus sighting was at least one Orca spekkhogger feeding quite close in - though difficult to follow in the rough seas.

Red throated Diver smålom N 132

White Billed Diver gulnebblom N 16

Northern Gannet havsule N 67, S 33

Great Cormorant storskarv S 2

Eurasian Shag toppskarv N 10, S 17

Pintail stjertand N 4

Long tailed duck havelle  N 55

Common Scoter svartand N 36, S 36 (lots of small flocks north, one flock south)

Goldeneye kvinand N 1

Oystercatcher tjeld N 3

Whimbrel småspove N 4

Turnstone steinvender N  3

Pomarine Skua polarjo N 4

Arctic Skua tyvjo N 6 (four pale and two dark)

Lesser black backed Gull sildemåke N 1

Black-legged Kittiwake krykkje N 3

Common Guillemot lomvi N 3

Razorbill alke N 1

Auk N 7

Arctic Skuas tyvjo

Small flocks of Common Scoter svartand headed north, one larger flock south

GBBG svartbak

Four Pintail stjertand

Pomarine Skua polarjo

and a few more Poms polarjo

White-billed Divers gulnebblom passing in the wide variety of lighting conditions today!

Skogsøy 21 April 2024 - Ace of Spades

 Light winds & sunny

I listen to P6 Rock on the radio whilst driving. The songs they played on the way way home were "Perfect Day" and Motorhead's "Ace of Spades". Both fitted well for the day's birding. The latter is a particular favourite of mine and fits seawatching at Skogsøy (or birding Øygarden for that matter) in a nutshell. Impossible to predict, take the good with the bad etc:)

The smell of suncream pervaded today's seawatch:)

Today's seawatch was just fine with almost 500 birds passing in just over 4 hours including a pale phase Arctic Skua tyvjo and two Black-throated Diver storlom heading north, a couple of Great Northern Diver islom on the sea and a decent selection of the usual suspects on the move.

Arctic Skua tyvjo heading north

A light passage of Common Gulls fiskemåke today

Not many Gannets havsule passing today but the few that did came in close

These two Great Northern Divers islom were among the first birds see today, they rested on the sea and drifted slowly south during the morning

Red-breasted Mergansers siland were heading north today

On the way home I picked up a (the?) Golden Eagle kongeørn again.

Back home and gardening again I had WT Eagle havørn, a flyover Skylark sanglerke and more.

Øygarden 13-19.04.2024 - Raptor lunch break

On Saturday 13 April I did a quick round at Herdlevær before heading home to change over to summer tyres and get the garden ready for the season.

Herdlevær was fairly quiet but migrants included a Brambling bjørkefink, a pair of Teal krikkand and a few White Wagtails linerle. Encouragingly both Curlew storspove and Snipe enkeltbekkasin were displaying.

Lesser Black-backed Gull sildemåke at Herdlevær

White Wagtail linerle at Herdlevær

On the way home two Goldfinch stillits at Kollsnes and a Chiff-chaff gransanger singing at Sture.

The next day I did a few hours at Skogsøy. It was a relatively quite day migration wise with few of the usual movers. Decent numbers of Shags toppskarv heading south (ca 300), a small movement of Kittiwakes krykkje, a Black Guillemot teist, a lone Great Northern Diver islom, small numbers of Red-throated Divers smålom, an unidentified pale phase skua heading north and a dark phase Arctic Skua tyvjo attacking Kittiwakes were seen.

I spent a lot of time looking at other stuff and therefore probably missed a bit of the passage. Two all dark corvids headed out to sea before turning and coming back. Distant views in the scope showed one of these to be a Rook kornkråke and the other may have been a Carrion Crow svartkråke although I could not be certain. Chiff-chaff gransanger and Wheatear steinskvett also now present here too:)

Female Stonechat svartstrupe

On the way home I picked up the now resident Stonechats svartstrupe. My first Lesser Redpoll brunsisik of the year at Tjeldstø and during the tyre change back home Twite bergirisk, a couple of Siskin grønnsisik and more flew over. In the evening another Guillemot lomvi turned up on the sea at Nautnes.

Guillemot lomvi at Nautnes

On Monday 15.04 a Goshawk hønsehauk flew over during a session with my chainsaw and a pair of Goldfinch stillits visited my garden again. The next day was spent entirely in front of the computer.

Goldfinch stillits have been regular in the garden recently - a species rapidly colonising Øygarden.

The weather on 17.04 was just lovely and I spent my lunch break at Tjeldstø. Initially I was happy just to be away from the computer and to see some Teal krikkand, watch a pair of Wheatear steinskvett and see my first Swallow låvesvale of the year. However, scanning with my scope picked up first one, then two Goshawk hønsehauk and a Sparrowhawk spurvehauk. These were quickly followed by an Osprey fiskeørn which I followed for some time before losing it. Frantically searching the skies to re-find it I picked up a Golden Eagle kongeørn drifting south - always a good bird out here at the coast. Finally and more mundanely the far commoner White-tailed Eagles havørn showed up. On my way home I heard the first Willow Warber løvsanger of the year:)

Curlew storspove at Dåvøy

Herom gråhegre at Dåvøy

Twite bergirisk at Tjeldstø

On Thursday 18.04 I took the morning off work and headed to Hernar for the second time this year. Although nothing remarkable was seen it was a very nice morning out with plenty of activity and over 40 species recorded. Small numbers of Twite bergisik and Linnet tornirisk had returned. Singles of Goldfinch stillits and Brambling bjørkefink, a couple of Siskin grønnsisik, a few Chiff-chaff gransanger, Skylark sanglerke and good numbers of Wheatear steinskvett.

I had three Otters in front of my house and a couple more whilst waiting for the boat to Hernar:)

Linnet tornirisk

Meadow Pipit heipiplerke

Raven ravn

Twite bergirisk - showing the importance of "weeds" early in the season

Otter too close to photograph:)

Typical eating of smaller prey

This made me regret not having my "real" camera with me. Could have been a pretty good image:)