Øygarden 13-19.04.2024 - Raptor lunch break

On Saturday 13 April I did a quick round at Herdlevær before heading home to change over to summer tyres and get the garden ready for the season.

Herdlevær was fairly quiet but migrants included a Brambling bjørkefink, a pair of Teal krikkand and a few White Wagtails linerle. Encouragingly both Curlew storspove and Snipe enkeltbekkasin were displaying.

Lesser Black-backed Gull sildemåke at Herdlevær

White Wagtail linerle at Herdlevær

On the way home two Goldfinch stillits at Kollsnes and a Chiff-chaff gransanger singing at Sture.

The next day I did a few hours at Skogsøy. It was a relatively quite day migration wise with few of the usual movers. Decent numbers of Shags toppskarv heading south (ca 300), a small movement of Kittiwakes krykkje, a Black Guillemot teist, a lone Great Northern Diver islom, small numbers of Red-throated Divers smålom, an unidentified pale phase skua heading north and a dark phase Arctic Skua tyvjo attacking Kittiwakes were seen.

I spent a lot of time looking at other stuff and therefore probably missed a bit of the passage. Two all dark corvids headed out to sea before turning and coming back. Distant views in the scope showed one of these to be a Rook kornkråke and the other may have been a Carrion Crow svartkråke although I could not be certain. Chiff-chaff gransanger and Wheatear steinskvett also now present here too:)

Female Stonechat svartstrupe

On the way home I picked up the now resident Stonechats svartstrupe. My first Lesser Redpoll brunsisik of the year at Tjeldstø and during the tyre change back home Twite bergirisk, a couple of Siskin grønnsisik and more flew over. In the evening another Guillemot lomvi turned up on the sea at Nautnes.

Guillemot lomvi at Nautnes

On Monday 15.04 a Goshawk hønsehauk flew over during a session with my chainsaw and a pair of Goldfinch stillits visited my garden again. The next day was spent entirely in front of the computer.

Goldfinch stillits have been regular in the garden recently - a species rapidly colonising Øygarden.

The weather on 17.04 was just lovely and I spent my lunch break at Tjeldstø. Initially I was happy just to be away from the computer and to see some Teal krikkand, watch a pair of Wheatear steinskvett and see my first Swallow låvesvale of the year. However, scanning with my scope picked up first one, then two Goshawk hønsehauk and a Sparrowhawk spurvehauk. These were quickly followed by an Osprey fiskeørn which I followed for some time before losing it. Frantically searching the skies to re-find it I picked up a Golden Eagle kongeørn drifting south - always a good bird out here at the coast. Finally and more mundanely the far commoner White-tailed Eagles havørn showed up. On my way home I heard the first Willow Warber løvsanger of the year:)

Curlew storspove at Dåvøy

Herom gråhegre at Dåvøy

Twite bergirisk at Tjeldstø

On Thursday 18.04 I took the morning off work and headed to Hernar for the second time this year. Although nothing remarkable was seen it was a very nice morning out with plenty of activity and over 40 species recorded. Small numbers of Twite bergisik and Linnet tornirisk had returned. Singles of Goldfinch stillits and Brambling bjørkefink, a couple of Siskin grønnsisik, a few Chiff-chaff gransanger, Skylark sanglerke and good numbers of Wheatear steinskvett.

I had three Otters in front of my house and a couple more whilst waiting for the boat to Hernar:)

Linnet tornirisk

Meadow Pipit heipiplerke

Raven ravn

Twite bergirisk - showing the importance of "weeds" early in the season

Otter too close to photograph:)

Typical eating of smaller prey

This made me regret not having my "real" camera with me. Could have been a pretty good image:)

Herdlevær 12 November 2022 - A new camera, a new era:)

 As my trusty DSLR has given up the ghost and with technology changing (and unavailable at short notice) I have changed tack completely on the photography side of things.

I now have what might be the perfects birders camera. Small, light and it seems like it takes decent enough pics most of the time. I was worried about flight shots with a super zoom but a morning out at Herdlevær taking a lot more pictures than I normally do gave the impression that it just might work. 

Yes, it is a little slower to get up and running and the focusing can be both slow and wrong but it can do the job. 

I spent more time trying out the camera than actual birding today so no doubt missed a lot. There was an obvious massive movement of stuff well offshore (i.e. scope on zoom to identify) with 100's of Kittiwakes krykkje , Common Scoter svartand and auks passing.

A flock of Parrot Crossbill furukorsnebb, a couple of late Woodpigeon ringdue, several Rock Pipit skjærpiplerke and a Woodcock rugde were among the birds seen during my usual round.

On the way home more Parrot Crossbills furukorsnebb at Breivik and Tjeldstø where there were also 15 Purple Sandpipers fjæreplytt.

Here are some pics taken on the first morning out with my new camera:

GBBG svartbak - not a bad flight shot for a point and pray:)

Guillemot lomvi on the sea

More flight shot testing - this time Herring Gulls gråmåke

Parrot Crossbills furukornebb - lighting is almost always an issue when trying to photograph these birds.

Not how the head angle affects whether or not the mandibles actually cross or not.

I go through phases where I am sure I can pick up Parrot Crossibill on call. This autumn is not one of those periods - I failed big time on call with these birds:)

Rock Pipit skjæpiplerke photography training

Scaup bergand remains at Tjeldstø

A pleasing shot of a Wren gjerdesmett with the new compact superzoom.

These White-tailed Eagles havørn were further away than I normally bother with photographs for but had to try the new camera:)

Skogsøy 28 May 2020 - Quiet day

Slightly overcast with light breeze from the north-east.

The quietest day of the loonatic season thus far with very little passing - barely 200 birds in a few hours.

Gannets havsule

Guillemot lomvi (left) with Razorbill alke.

I often get the impression that Guillemots look "hunch backed" - something that comes across in this iamge

The clean underwings of the Razorbill and the dirty / streaked underwings are shown here

Razorbill regularly raise their heads - a bit like Red-throated Diver smålom do

Red-throated Diver smålom

The numbers, such as they were:

Red throated Diver N	3
Northern Gannet N	42
Great Cormorant S	3
Eurasian Shag N	8
Eurasian Shag S	45
Common Scoter N	1
Common Scoter S	12
Oystercatcher N	30
Common Gull N	25
Lesser black backed Gull N	7
Black-legged Kittiwake S	1
Arctic Tern S	3
Common Guillemot N	1
Razorbill N	10
Atlantic Puffin N	4
Auk N	2

Filleting some fish in my garden brought in a colour ringed gull and a lot of mayhem.

Herring Gulls gråmåke fighting for scraps