Herdlevær 16 October 2012 - Stonechat mayhem

Another day of light easterly wind and sunshine.

Today there was plenty of action to go with the superb conditions - even more so than yesterday. The Siberian Stonechat Asiasvartstrupe was present again but rather more flighty and sometimes in the company of a "normal" Stonechat svarstrupe (still a county rarity in its own right).

 Siberian Stonechat asiasvartstrupe

 Above and below: heavily cropped record shots of Stonechat svartstrupe

 Another excessively cropped shot of a Waxwing sidensvans

One of the Chiff-chaffs gransanger present at Herdlevær today

Plenty of other good birds seen including a Waxwing sidensvans, a Lesser-spotted Woodpecker dvergspett, at least one Yellowhammer gulspurv, a few Goldfinch stillits and more.

Other migrants included at least three Chiff-chaffs gransanger, some small flocks of Twite bergirisk and Brambling bjørkefink. 

Herdlevær 15 October 2012 - The first to Dip? / Sibe Stonechat

Stronger Easterly winds with high cloud cover.

Started the day at Herdlevær where pretty much the first bird I found was an apparent Siberian Stonechat Asiasvartstrupe! Initially I "dismissed" this bird as a European Stonechat svartstrupe (still an excellent find locally!) but late in the evening when I looked more closely at the downloaded pictures I saw the rump was clearly unstreaked. The bird promptly disappeared but I relocated it later with another birder and several birders twitched it later in the day.

 No obvious eyebrow in this shot but clearly pale underparts

This flight shot clearly shows the unstreaked rump

This shot shows the rather white throat - and a hint of an eyebrow

 Red-throated Diver smålom

Rock Pipit skjærpiplerke

Wigeon brunnakke at Tjeldstø

Some birders, including at least two from Stavanger made the long drive up to try for the Buff-bellied Pipit myrpiplerke but as far as I know were unsuccessful. This is therefore the first day this bird failed to show.

Three patient birders waiting for the pipit to show (these guys are easily identifiable on the original image!)

Other good birds reported from Tjeldstø inlcuded the first Waxwing sidensvans of the autumn, a flock of 20 Goldfinch stillits, a Merlin dvergfalk and the first Woodcock rugde of the autumn. A Yellowhammer gulspurv was another good bird in a local context.