Tjeldstø 02 May 2017 - Drive-bys

The sunny weather continues. Still no time to get out but optimistic that this will change any day now.

The day started with the first Lesser Whitethroat møller of the year close to the house.

Family and house related errands meant I had to drive a bit today so the birding was a drive by past Kollsnes where there were around 30 Golden Plover heilo, Skylark sanglerke singing and the usual Lapwing vipe, Curlew storspove and plenty of Wheatear steinskvett along with several Black-headed Gulls hettemåke.

Continuing past Breivik I added a nice male Redstart rødstjert to my local year list.

Two Pinkfeet kortnebbgås on Husvatnet

A brief stop at Husvatnet provided two more new species - a couple of Pinkfeet kortnebbgås among all the Greylags grågås and a Common Whitethroat tornsanger feeding in some juniper bushes. 

Øygarden 31 October 2014 - Not very scary

Light southerly winds with persistent light rain all day.

Not really out and about in any meaningful way. 

The day's first cup of coffee on the veranda produced a new house tick (#98) in the form of a Nuthatch spettmeis. This species varies enormously in it's occurrence in Øygarden - 2014 has been quite a good year with many observations from a variety of localities during the course of the autumn - no doubt irrupting birds from elsewhere. A Blackcap munk was also present here.

A short walk at Solberg produced some migrants - all typical for the time of year in the form of thrushes of various species, a Skylark sanglerke and a Woodcock rugde.

Part of a flock of Pinkfeet kortnebbgås at Breivk

A flock of 30 Pinkfeet kortnebbgås fed with nine Greylags grågås at Breivik.

Common Scoter svartand at Heggøy - probably a first year male given the bill colouring which isn't too visible in this image.

Otherwise all quiet on the home front.