Øygarden 29-30 May 2020 - 2cy Arctic Terns

Calm and sunny.

A trip to Hernar was relatively uneventful with just the Carrion Crow svartkråke of interest. Plenty of birds on the island though and lots of activity.

View on the way to Hernar

Arctic Terns rødnebbterne including a 2cy bird.

2cy Arctic Tern rødnebbterne

Carrion Crow svartkråke

Male Eider ærfugl

Arctic Terns rødnebbterne are getting on with finding mates and on one of the usual islands there were at least three second year birds present. A fluke chance meant that I managed some decent flight shots of one of them - Arctic Terns are not the easiest of birds to photograph in flight and nigh on impossible from a small boat:)

Eiders ærfugl starting to moult and a couple of Ringed Plover sandlo dropped onto one of the islands. 

Roding Woodcock rugde in the evening - always nice to see!

On 30 May I took my usual walk at Herdlevær. Again relatively quiet but still some migration over the sea including a Black-throated Diver storlom and a flock of 30 Common Scoter svartand. Again, a few Ringed Plover sandlo dropped in briefly - "singing" as they did so before moving on after a brief period of foraging on the rocky shore.

Inner islands, NW Øygarden 15 July 2018 - Game on

Southerly winds and overcast to start with (rain during the night), hot and sunny later.

Two of this year's Common Tern makrellterne (left and right)

Note that the second bird from the right is an Arctic Tern rødnebbterne.

Two Common Tern chicks - fingers crossed!

Another day, another boat trip. The aim of the day was to check out potential tern colonies. Bad news for Arctic Terns rødnebbterne as we found no definite nests, although we did see a number of adults (and there ARE some pairs breeding in the area as I see adults with fish flying over my house every day). Common Terns makrellterne seem to be fairing better - another look at the site I checked in on yesterday revealed six fully fledged young and two chicks still at the nest.

Not the easiest of conditions today.....

Adult Knot polarsnipe

Young Oystercatcher tjeld almost "good to go"

Wader migration is now picking up with the first Knot polarsnipe of the autumn. Two flocks, one of eight and another of six were seen, though there is some potential for these being the same birds. As usual for this time of year the birds were adults. Two Dunlin myrsnipe migrating were also the first of the autumn. Plenty of Oystercatcher tjeld again - some young looking ready to go. It will only be a couple more weeks before these birds are migrating. The only other waders were a few each of Curlew storspove and Whimbrel småspove.

This Lesser Black-backed Gull sildemåke was colour ringed but flew a couple of seconds too soon to read the number :(

Merganser siland with young

Eiders ærfugl posing around the islands.....

More Eider ærfugl with young, a Merganser siland with eight chicks and a light but steady passage of Gannet havsule were among the other birds seen.

Bleikenøvlingen, Høgskjæret etc 30 June 2017 - Some good news and some bad

Took a boat trip around the islands in the north west of Øygarden in the cracking summer weather today. Very calm and very hot.

Arctic Tern rødnebbterne diving for fish

....catches fish that was either caught in, or hiding under jellyfish

....and flies off with the prize

A couple of second year birds with all black bills made me look twice......a pitfall for the unwary.

The good news that there is at least one decent Arctic Tern rødnebbterne colony on the go with possibly 50 pairs seeming to be on eggs. There also appeared to be a few smaller colonies. Lets hope they don't just get going and then give up as they so often do.

Gull numbers seemed down, though quite a few have downy young. Great Black-backed Gulls svartbak, Herring Gulls gråmåke and Lesser Black-backed Gulls sildemåke all breeding and a number of Common Gulls fiskemåke feeding on the island but not sure if they were breeding there.

A pair of Common Tern makrellterne at Nautnes

A few moulting male Eiders ærfugl were hanging out on the islands

This female was the only one seen with a chick. 

Several Grey Seals havert were relaxing in the sun and were typcially very curious

Four Whimbrel småspove - autumn migration has started.

Very few Eiders ærfugl with JUST ONE chick seen. And no Black Guillemots teist today. Several pairs of Shags toppskarv were on their nesting ledges, plenty of Oystercatcher tjeld and a few pairs of Rock Pipit skjærpiplerke were also seen. One or two pairs of Common Tern makrellterne were near Nautnes - no doubt the same birds that have been fishing in front of my house of late.

Other birds included a few Common Scoter svartand and a party of four Whimbrel småspove - probably returning birds that have either finished or given up on their breeding attempts.

Earlier in the day I had a quick look for the Trumpeter Finch trompetfink without success - the fields close to where it has been hanging out are in the process of being cut so it may have moved to a new food source along with the finches it has been associating with.

Øygarden 14 February - I love SEAPOP

Indescribable weather! Calm and sunny - in other words perfect conditions for messing around in boats- which is just as well as today was the annual SEAPOP count - in other words counting seabirds from a small boat.

Most of this was done in Øygarden but with a brief foray into the neighbouring district of Fjell.

Black Guillemot teist

A common sight today - mixed flock of Cormorants storskarv and Shag toppskarv resting on the islands

Bachekor boys - an almost all male group of Eiders ærfugl. The lone female was getting rather a lot of attention....

Male Eider ærfugl

Male Long-tailed Duck havelle

....with a more typical shot - not easy trying to take pictures of moving birds from a moving boat

Purple Sandpipers fjæreplytt - this flock was of around 70 birds

Shags toppskarv - adult on the left, presumed 2cy bird on the right

Conditions were great even if the numbers of most of the seaduck were not. NO Velvet Scoter sjøorre seen and only TWO Common Scoter svartand seen from the boat. Numbers of Long-tailed Duck havelle and Eider ærfugl also seemed down on usual. Although I don't have the data from previous years I am pretty sure gull numbers were also much reduced compared to normal and with very few immatures.

However, Black Guillemot teist, White-tailed Eagle havørn and Purple Sandpiper fjæreplytt were around normal.

Dipper at dawn

Other stuff today included a Dipper fossekall near Alvheim and the first Black Guillemot teist I've seen from the terrace this year.

I also saw a distant flock of four grey geese (quite possibly Bean) flying north and apparently going down but I didn't see them on my way home.

Øygarden 11 February 2103, SEAPOP and the first Puffin of the year

Calm, sunny and freezing.

The annual SEAPOP count of overwintering seabirds was held today - covering the same route as previous years. As usual this was a great day out in a small boat and there was plenty to see.

Highlights were the first Puffins lunde of the year, a couple of Curlew storspove, a flock of eight Turnstone steinvender, several flocks of Purple Sandpiper fjæreplytt and plenty of the usual suspects.

Good numbers of Black Guillemot teist seen today

 Eiders ærfugl

Guillemot lomvi

Puffin lunde

Purple Sandpipers fjæreplytt

This must be the Purple sand with the shortest bill I have ever seen.....

Turnstones steinvender

Above and below: two different White-tailed Eagles havørn with fish

Most frustratingly a scoter with white on the back of the head / neck flew up and disappeared. Would have been good to nail that one.....