Øygarden 21-31 August - Mum visiting and more dog sitting

 On 21 August I did an all day visit to Hernar - a place I have being paying scant attention to this year. There were almost no migrants as such although I did notch up a few Hernar year ticks in the form of Great-spotted Woodpecker flaggspett, Nuthatch spettmeis, Greenshank gluttsnipe, Ruff brushane, Common Crossbill grankorsnebb and more. Didn't even reach the 40 species mark although two unidentified warblers shortly before the boat home would have helped the tally along nicely.

Not birding as such the next day but a stop beside Husvatnet on the way home produced a few Swifts tårnseiler and a flock of seven Goldfinch stillits also at Tjeldstø.

A walk at Herdlevær on 23 August produced little other than small numbers of the usual waders on the move and a Green Sandpiper skogsnipe.

Dino

Not quite Whisky but close enough💗

First year Redshank rødstilk, photographed from the same place as where I stood to take the dog picture

Taking both the dog and my mum out for some fresh air at Tjeldstø the following day showed that there were quite a few waders hidden in the reserve with 10 each of Ruff brushane and Golden Plover heilo, nine Curlew storspove, a few Lapwing vipe, Greenshank gluttsnipe and Ringed Plover sandlo present. A flock of around 500 Starling stær  at Oen and a several early duck movers were at Kollsnes in the form of Wigeon brunnakke and Teal krikkand.

Since "the dog needed to go out" I covered Tjeldstø again on 25 August and clocked up a similar selection of waders with an extra Spotted Redshank sotsnipe flying up out of the reserve. An afternoon stroll with the dog at Nautnes (the usual walk with him) produced a surprise first year Black-throated Diver storlom - thank you Dino:) The third new species for Nautnes thus far this year:) This is the rarest diver locally and most often seen migrating rather than up close and personal.

First year Black-throated Diver storlom - and the first record of this species at Nautnes

Didn't quite make it onto the house list though😥

I kept things simple on 26 August too, doing another repeat of Tjeldstø - being the closest walk with any chance of success. Spotted Red again and Golden Plover heilo numbers up to 40 along with several Snipe enkeltbekkasin , a few Wigeon brunnakke and a Kestrel tårnfalk.

On the last day of dog-sitting I predictably did the same again - but almost all the waders had cleared out.

After the dog left I didn't get out of the house, something I hope at least work might be happy about.

Great-spotted Woodpeckers flaggspett continued to turn up where they have not been present, so there is definitely something going on there.

My tripod head broke meaning that I couldn't really use my scope for over a week until the new one arrived, not that this made a difference as the problem was almost purely hypothetical.

Red Deer hjort

Skogsøy 01 June 2023 - Decent variety

With a fresh northerly wind blowing the only real choice was Skogsøy. At this time of year it is often a case of quality rather than quantity - today was more a case of variation with quite a number of species passing including a couple of Arctic Skua tyvjo, a flock of Sanderling sandløper, a lone Brent Goose ringgås, a Black.-throated Diver storlom, a small flock of Long-tailed Duck havelle and a 2cy White-billed Diver gulnebblom heading north. A flock of  9 Barnacle Geese hvitkinngås flew south along with a Shelduck gravand - nice that autumn migration is underway already:)

Black-throated Diver storlom

Experience has shown that this species often flies faster than the much commoner Red-throated Diver smålom. Illustrated in this pictures where it rapidly overtook its smaller relative.

On the way home six Black-tailed Godwit svarthalespove were present on Husvatnet, Tjeldstø. Previous max this week was four:) 

Four Black-tailed Godwits svarthalespove at Tjelstø earlier in the week

Lesser Whitethroat møller still very obvious and singing "everywhere"

Earlier in the week I wasn't out that much but two pairs of Tufted Duck toppand on Rotevatnet may be worth following - not often Tufties are around this late and the habitat is quite suitable:)

Lots of young birds about with a couple more Lapwing vipe families out and about and of course the increasing numbers of Greylags, UK9 is still hanging around with what I presume is a flock of non-breeding birds.

Greylags with young of varying ages at Tjeldstø

Skogsøy 16 May 2022 - Black-throated Diver

Light N breeze and sunny.

After over a week of not actually going birding I was finally back in the field today. 

A singing Sedge Warbler sivsanger on the pre-dawn drive to Skogsøy was the first of the year for me.

Singing Lesser Whitethroat møller and Cuckoo gjøk were Skogsøy year-ticks on the way out and there was more to follow.

Not a spectacular seawatch but a fair bit of movement with the highlight an adult Black-throated Diver storlom. Just one White-billed Diver gulnebblom and just shy of 200 Red-throated Diver smålom. 

In 5.5 hours the following birds were noted:

Red throated Diver smålom N 194

Black throated Diver storlom N 1

White Billed Diver gulnebblom N 1

Northern Gannet havsule N 22, S 27

Great Cormorant storskarv N 10, S 1

Eurasian Shag toppskarv N 16, S 73

Eider ærfugl N 3, S 9 (all but one male)

Long tailed duck havelle N 2

Common Scoter svartand N 11, S 39

Velvet Scoter sjøorre N 3

Merganser siland N 11, S 3

Oystercatcher tjeld N 157, S 5

Ringed Plover sandlo N 1

Whimbrel småspove N 3

Black headed Gull hettemåke S 2

Common Gull fiskemåke N 68

Lesser black backed Gull sildemåke N 2

Black-legged Kittiwake krykkje N 9

Arctic Tern rødnebbterne N 11

Common Guillemot lomvi N 3, S 1

Razorbill alke N 8

Some 35 Common Scoter svartand fed in the area and a Black Guillemot teist turned up relatively close in on the sea too.

Mergansers siland heading north

Gannets havsule

Black Guillemot teist

Hernar 02 October - All day sesh II

 Easterly winds, overcast and with about an hour of light rain early on.

Hernar at dawn

With seemingly ideal conditions the island was slightly disappointing with no real rarities, just three Yellow-browed Warbler gulbrynsanger. Other migrants included a Garden Warbler hagesanger, three Blackcap munk, at least five Chiff-chaff gransanger, a Ring Ousel ringtrost and a flyover Lapland Bunting lappspurv. 

Generally a little less about that a couple of days ago - I managed to cover rather more of the island today. Still plenty to see though including migrating Bullfinch dompap, Grey Wagtail vintererle, Common Crossbill grankorsnebb and good numbers of Redwing rødvingetrost and Song Thrush måltrost.

Raptors were thin on the ground today with just a Kestrel tårnfalk and a first year Peregrine vandrefalk seen. Few waders too, just an Oystercatcher tjeld, small numbers of migrating Golden Plover heilo and a Ringed Plover sandlo in addition to the ever present Snipe enkeltbekkasin.

Back on the mainland I thought I should check up again on yesterday's diver and this time saw it in better conditions confirming its identity as Black-throated Diver storlom

Various views of Black-throated Diver storlom

A Grey-headed Woodpecker gråspett called repeatedly somewhere close to my house in the evening

Herdlevær 01 October 2020 - SURF SCOTER!

 A morning walk at Herdlevær really produced the goods today. Light SE winds, overcast with  hint of rain turning sunny later.

As we neared the place where I normally stop for coffee and breakfast a scoter came flying past at close range. For some reason I thought I should lift my binoculars and check it out - and was immediately struck by the massive orange bill, white forehead and a large white neck patch - male SURF SCOTER brilleand!!. It then promptly vanished behind some rocks and was lost to view....the fifth county record and the third in Øygarden (previous two were migrating birds in May). Interestingly the only autumn record for the county turned up on 01 October - back in 1996 which is the only time I have seen this species in Hordaland / Vestlandet.

During our breakfast break a Great Northern Diver islom headed south along with several Red-throated Diver smålom. 

A total of five Yellow-browed Warblers gulbrynsanger, Grey Plover tundralo, Grey Wagtail vintererle and a good selection of other migrants were also noted.

On the way home a diver came in to land on a lake at Breivik. I called it as Black-throated Diver storlom at the time but when I looked at the pictures later it looked a bit more interesting than that....

No white flank patch despite a variety of poses and a hint of a chin strap made me think again when I downloaded the images in the evening.....

Also on the way home the Yellow-legged Gull gulbeinmåke was back to looking more like a Yellow-legged gull with strikingly different moult to the surrounding Herring Gulls gråmåke.

Herring Gulls gråmåke with very streaky heads

Yellow-legged Gull gulbeinmåke looking much more the part.

This bird is a regular pain and has not been identified with certainty - although many come down on the YLG side of the debate. I swing from omissus to YLG on this one. The clear white head clearly sets it apart from the local Herring Gulls so right now I am back on the YLG side of things:)

After a brief pause at home which produced a Guillemot lomvi on the sea in front of the house, a calling Grey-headed Woodpecker gråspett and a few Swallow låvesvale I headed out again.

At Tjeldstø a Lesser-spotted Woodpecker dvergspett called several times, a couple of Grey Wagtail vintererle headed south as did a few Kestrel tårnfalk and a Sparrowhawk spurvehauk. Three Lapwing vipe besde Husvatnet were a little unseasonal but this species has been recorded in every month of the year here.

One of a few Kestrels tårnfalk migrating today

Lapwing vipe

Skogsøy 28 April 2020 - Loonatic kick off. All four divers!

Sunny with light easterly winds.

A cracking day for migration with very nice conditions.

Despite some efforts no other loonatics were present today.

In almost 5.5 hours there was plenty to see with the highlight being 24 White-billed Divers gulnebblom - including two flocks of four! Over 400 Red-throated Diver smålom, two Great Northern Diver islom and a single Black-throated Diver storlom.

A Red-necked Grebe gråstrupedykker was a bonus bird - not often we see them migrating here - they are normally seen on the sea. Three Shelduck gravand were another local year tick too.

Common Sandpipers strandsnipe displaying in front of the house in the evening were the first of the year for me too.

Black-throated Diver storlom

Most of the migrating Cormorants storskarv now are immatures

Gannet havsule

Meadow Pipit heipiplerke

Still some Oystercatcher tjeld heading north

Single Red-throated Diver smålom

Nice flock of Red-throated Diver smålom

White-billed Diver gulnebblom

Four White-billed Diver gulnebblom

White-tailed Eagle havørn (4th or 5th year bird)

The totals were as follows:

Red throated Diver N	441
Black throated Diver N	1
Great Northern Diver N	2
White Billed Diver N	24
Red necked Grebe N	1
Northern Gannet N	109
Northern Gannet S	12
Great Cormorant N	24
Great Cormorant S	1
Eurasian Shag N	7
Eurasian Shag S	13
Shelduck N	3
Eider N	4
Eider S	3
Long tailed duck N	9
Common Scoter N	1
Common Scoter S	17
Merganser N	7
Merganser S	3
Oystercatcher N	78
Oystercatcher S	7
Black headed Gull N	2
Black headed Gull S	1
Common Gull N	240
Common Guillemot N	5
Auk N	13

Bonus sighting was a pod of at least five Orcas feeding and heading slowly north

Engerdal 26.09 - 01.10 Heading East instead of West

In the last week of September most birders of a sound mind head to rarity islands off the west coast of Norway. I decided to do the opposite and leave my rarity island off the west coast and head inland instead. Largely to avoid having to write the inevitable rarity descriptions up 😊.

The destination was somewhat predicatably Engerdal in Hedmark, eastern Norway

I managed a fair bit of time out and about and enjoyed quite a bit of quality birding in what were, for the most part, fantastic conditions. Vast numbers of thrushes and finches were seen pretty much everywhere - obviously on the move and preparing to go. Waxwings sidensvans, a variety of wildfowl and some of the eastern specialities such as Siberian Jay lavskrike, Three-toed Woodpecker tretåspett and Black Woodpecker svartspett were also noted.

This Black Redstart svartrødstjert was the second record for Engerdal and arguably the best bird I saw up there. It turned up immediately after a brief flurry of snow and was still present the next day. It was incredibly restless and the flight shots were taken as it seemed to want to join some of the many flocks of passing thrushes and finches.

Siberian Jays lavskrike were as cooperative as they usually are - once one has actually found them!

This one is in the process of swallowing a blueberry.

This Three-toed Woodpecker tretåspett flew over the road in front of me seemingly with a flock of thrushes. Always a nice sighting for a birder from the west of Norway....

Adult Black-throated Diver storlom

First year Black-throated Diver storlom

Several lakes in the area still held Black-throated Divers storlom. Largely this was a case of a lone adult together with a young one. Many were vocal.

Dunnock jernspurv

A rather distant Great Grey Shrike varsler

Jays nøtteskrike were very much in evidence as they frantically gathered their winter food supplies

Long-tailed Tit stjertmeis

Red-breasted Merganser siland

Pinkfeet kortnebbgås

Ring Ousels ringtrost were seen up towards the treeline

Crippling view of Snipe enkeltbekkasin (not even cropped!)

Willow Tit granmeis are very common in Engerdal