North Øygarden 16 December 2018 - Time for some birding!

Cold with a brisk SE wind. The weather conditions were somewhat unusual with some heavy seas caused by winds that were not that noticeable in many places.

Today I did what I used to call my usual winter round but is in fact something I haven't done for a long time. Starting at Dåvøy then moving on to Solberg and Alvheim. This trip produced a lot of the usual winter species here in Øygarden.

Curlew storspove

Grey Heron gråhegre

Teal krikkand

Dåvøy scored with a Slavonian Grebe horndykker as the best bird with a Snipe enkeltbekkasin and couple of White-tailed Eagles havørn also putting in an appearance.

Three Teal krikkand were present on Husvatnet, Tjeldstø (an increase of one from yesterday) along with a Common Gull fiskemåke and a Whooper Swan sangsvane. Other birds at Tjeldstø included a Woodcock rugde and a couple more White-tailed Eagles havørn.

Solberg produced two more White-tailed Eagle havørn, a flock of around 15 Long-tailed Duck havelle and a couple of Purple Sandpiper fjæreplytt.

At Alvheim there were at least five White-tailed Eagle havørn, two Curlew storspove and a Velvet Scoter sjøorre.

Back home I had a further two White-tailed Eagles havørn from the terrace.

Tjeldstø 17 April 2018 - Lunchbreak

Light cloud with southerly winds.

I have been travelling a lot the last few days and today I had to work from home. A short lunch break at Tjeldtsø provided some interest with a neck-ringed Greylag grågås ringed near Karstø last summer. Rather early for a young bird from Tjeldstø to have moved south so early - but who knows when the first chicks hatch late April / early May and by late June Greylag numbers are dropping in Øygarden....

It is always cool to see colour ringed birds but yet again this project has yet to be registered on http://www.cr-birding.org/

After some detective work it seems that http://www.geese.org/ is the place to report such sightings.

Greylag grågås VJ3 feeding near Husvatnet, Tjeldstø

From the life history of this bird...

This Heron gråhegre caught several stikkleacks stingsild whilst I watched.

Evidence that fish-eating birds can actually benefit game fisheries (there are trout ørret in this lake).

Hunters and fishermen often want to get rid of birds like Herons and Cormorants but time and again it is proved that they eat species that prey either eat the eggs of more desirable species and / or are in competition for food with Trout etc. 

Newborn lambs - lots more than a few days ago and very obviously a lot more imminent - judging by the size of many of the sheep....

Other species included Redshank rødstilk, a few White-tailed Eagles havørn, Wheatears steinskvett and so on.

Øygarden 18 July 2017 - Close but no cigar

Steaming in towards land (and Øygarden) I went on deck for a breath of fresh air to find a flock of six migrating Grey Heron gråhegre attempting to land on the helideck. Unusual behaviour which might have been explained by a Great Skua storjo that turned up at the same time. These birds were only just not in Øygarden....

Great Skua storjo checking out migrating Grey Herons gråhegre¨

Migrating Grey Herons gråhegre a long way out to sea and apparently scared of the skua

The skua checked the herons out but moved on. The herons continued to circle the vessel a few times making a few attempts to settle on the helideck before giving up and moving off to the south.

Nordøy, Øygarden

A few hours later we passed Øygarden.....so close yet so far from home.

Tjeldstø 24 January 2017

Strong Southerly wind with a couple of light showers.

There are just not enough hours in the day! Got out for a quick look at Tjeldstø and Solberg, whilst doing so did a drive-by at Dåvøy and that's it.

Tjeldstø held some Whoopers sangsvane, a small flock of Purple Sandpipers fjæreplytt on one of the islands and a White-tailed Eagle havørn put in an appearance.

Solberg was virtually dead with only four Long-tailed Duck havelle and a couple of eagles over and above the usual Cormorants storskarv, Shag toppskarv and gulls.

Most of the Heron gråhegre roost at Dåvøy

At Dåvøy the Heron gråhegre roost has halved in size since I was last there with only 24 birds present today.

Nautnes 12 November 2016 - Wet and wild

Very strong southerly winds with rain all day. Not that it made much difference, too busy to get out today.

Grey Heron gråhegre

Long-tailed Duck havelle - to be honest I actually left the house to take this pictures

A Long-tailed Duck havelle from the terrace provided the best photographic opportunities today despite the dull and wet conditions.

Initial view of a very dark duck with the Mallards stokkand on Husvatnet

White tail sides coming into view.....

...,.and the excitement fades

A normal coloured female Mallard stokkand for comparison.....

A driive-by at Tjeldstø on the way to the shopping centre at Sartot (!! - at least my youngest was happy) got the pulse racing for a little while - a very dark looking Mallard stokkand just had to be checked out closely - we don't see much of those daft ones with domestic duck influences like they do in the parks in town. The very dark plumage and yellowish green colour on the bill looked promising but in the end the pale tail sides showed and the pulse returned to normal. Maybe it was just a bit melanistic, maybe be had some genes from the other side of the Atlantic.....

Øygarden 10 March 2008

Long-tailed Duck havelle really living up to its name...

Grey Heron gråhegre at Tjeldstø

Red-breasted Merganser siland at Tjeldstø

Strong winds, heavy showers and a late start meant there wasn't much in the way of passage - the only birds of note were a diver lom heading south and the first Black-headed Gull hettemåke for Skogsøy this year.

Around lunchtime it cleared up nicely but it was a case of too little too late. Back home at Tjeldstø an Oystercatcher tjeld was back on its territory, Lapwing vipe around and numbers of Greylags grågås and Starling stær still increasing daily.

The wind dropped in the evening so it was off out again to get nice views of an Eagle Owl hubro in the telescope. Also worth noting was a Common Snipe enkeltbekkasin seemingly migrating.