Skogsøy 30 April 2025 - Loonatic season

A nice seawatch in good company with one of the Skogsøy regulars. As usual this was our first meeting of the year so we wished each other happy new year:)

The walk out produced the usual suspects and the first Common Sandpipers strandsnipe at Skogsøy this year.

Highlights were the first skuas of the year:)

A decent selection of species without any large numbers were seen in the period 0625-1216:

Red throated Diver smålom N 123, S 1

White Billed Diver gulnebblom N 12

Northern Gannet havsule N 15, S 36

Great Cormorant storskarv N 10, S 3

Eurasian Shag toppskarv N 15, S 95

Grey Heron gråhegre N 1

Greylag Goose grågås N 1

Barnacle Goose hvitkinngås N 288

Teal krikkand N 1

Eider ærfugl N 2

Long tailed duck havelle N 14

Common Scoter svartand N 34, S 38

Velvet Scoter sjøorre N 1

Merganser siland  N 8, S 1

Oystercatcher tjeld N 84

Red Knot  polarsnipe 13

Dunlin myrsnipe N 1

Arctic Skua tyvjo N 1

Great Skua storjo S 1

Common Gull fiskemåke N 28

Black-legged Kittiwake krykkje S 1

Common Guillemot lomvi N 1

Razorbill alke N 2

Black Guillemot teist S 1

Auk N 5

Barnacle Geese hvitkinngås heading north

Southbound Common Scoter svartand

Gannets havsule

The first Knot polarsnipe of the year

Red-throated Divers smålom

White-billed Divers gulnebblom

The Pochard taffeland pair were on Husvatnet on the way home along with a rather late Whooper sangsvaneT

Back at home unseasonal Bullfinches dompap continued to visit the feeder along with good numbers of Siskin grønnsisik and the usual suspects.

One of several Bullfinch dompap currently visiting my garden

Tvisloket 17 August 2020 - Wader time

Finally felt like getting out and about today and, despite a rather late start, the islands and skerries on the west side of Øygarden proved quite productive. At least 90 Knot polarsnipe, 30+ Oystercatcher tjeld, 23 Turnstone steinvender, 14 Ringed Plover sandlo, 5 Sanderling sandløper, 4 Purple Sandpiper fjæreplytt, a few Dunlin myrsnipe, three Golden Plover heilo, two Common Sandpiper strandsnipe and a Whimbrel småspove all fed and/or rested out there.

This young Eider Duck ærfugl was all on its own

Young Great Black-backed Gulls svartbak

Part of one of the Greylag grågås flocks

Knot polarsnipe

Sanderling sandløper

Shelduck gravand

Turnstones steinvender

A few Shelduck gravand and a small flock of Teal krikkand were among the other species around the islands. 

Several flocks of Greylags grågås passed overhead on their way south totalling at least 160.

Skogsøy 19 May 2020 - Another day, another seawatch

Northerly winds and sunny so predictably seawatching again.

The best birds today were a nice adult Long-tailed Skua fjelljo and a couple of flocks of Knot polarsnipe.

Barnacle Geese hvitkinngås

One of the Great Skuas storjo that passed

Raven ravn

Still reasonable numbers of Red-throated Diver smålom heading north

Red-throated Diver smålom followed by two Guillemots lomvi

Today's totals were:

Red throated Diver N	149
Northern Gannet N	32
Great Cormorant N	3
Great Cormorant S	1
Eurasian Shag N	5
Eurasian Shag S	24
Barnacle Goose N	64
Long tailed duck N	12
Common Scoter N	20
Merganser N	10
Oystercatcher N	10
Red Knot	23
Whimbrel N	1
Arctic Skua N	1
Long-tailed Skua N	1
Great Skua N	2
Common Gull N	47
Lesser black backed Gull N	1
Black-legged Kittiwake N	12
Arctic Tern N	23
Common Guillemot N	14
Razorbill N	16
Atlantic Puffin N	10
Auk N	23

On my way home I had to come to an abrupt stop to check out a raptor - a nice Peregrine vandrefalk causing havoc:)

Peregrine vandrefalk

Herdlevær 28 August 2018 - Flightless Golden Plover dejavu

A quick walk around Herdlevær before work.

Today I think I solved a mystery. Some time ago I found a Golden Plover heilo at Herdlevær with a wing missing (see here). I had assumed that the missing wing was due to a raptor / predator. Today I found another Golden Plover heilo with a severely damaged wing in almost exactly the same place.

Golden Plover heilo with damaged wing

I now realise that low flying birds coming over at speed are likely to collide with narrow fence posts that look like rebar and are almost invisible from certain angles are much more likely to be the cause of these injuries. With two birds found in the same place with almost identical injuries this must be the case. These posts should either be removed (there has been no fence there for years) or made more visible.

Part of a migrating flock of Cormorants storskarv

Knot polarsnipe with a few Ringed Plover sandlo - Knot flying upside down

Wheatear steinskvett

A few flocks of Golden Plover heilo headed south as did a flock of 15 Knot polarsnipe along with some unidentified smaller waders.

Otherwise it was just the usual with 30 Gannets havsule feeding offshore and a selection of the usual migrants including Wheatear steinskvett and a few Brambling bjørkefink.

A Peregrine vandrefalk took a racing pigeon over the road at Nautnes where I also had White-tailed Eagle havørn and Sparrowhawk spurvehauk.

Skogsøy 29 July 2018 - Another day, another seawatch

Sunny with strong southerly winds after some rain in the night.

I seem to have lost the ability to jump out of bed before dawn but managed to get out a bit earlier than yesterday.

Small numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls sildemåke on the move

Oystercatcher tjeld

One of this years young Rock Pipits skjærpiplerke

Flock of Sanderling sandløper

 Mixed bag of waders - Mostly adult Knot polarsnipe with two Turnstone steinvender and two Sanderling sandløper

Even more cropped to show the ID better.

With the weather very different indeed there was a distinct change in the species passing. Knot polarsnipe were the mainstay with many flocks of adult birds passing - over 130 in total and thus the most I have seen in Øygarden in a day. The best sighting was a migrating Temminck's Stint temminckssnipe - thankfully one of the closest waders to pass today giving good views in the scope. This is a rare bird out in Øygarden with only three previous sightings.

Other waders included at least 13 Sanderling sandløper (the first of the year for Øygarden - and Hordaland as a whole for that matter), two Turnstone steinvender, Greenshank gluttsnipe, Ringed Plover sandlo, Common Sandpiper strandsnipe, Curlew storspove, Whimbrel småspove and Oystercatcher tjeld.

The only other sighting of note was a single Great Skua storjo, also heading south.

Green Sandpiper skogsnipe against the light

A couple of Green Sandpiper skogsnipe were feeding at Sture on the way home.

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.