Breivik and Tjeldstø 16 March 2013 - Spring!

Relatively mild after overnight snow.

Part of the Lapwing vipe flock at Breivik

Some real signs of spring today with 22 Lapwing vipe at Breivik, along with 25 Greylags grågås and small flocks of Starling stær.

 Typically very flighty this Mistle Thrush duetrost did its best to avoid being photographed

A tip-off about a Mistle Thrush duetrost at Skjold proved fruitless but I found either it or another bird at Tjeldstø - it flew over just as I had given up and was about to head home. Other stuff seen during the search included several more Lapwing vipe, a Woodcock rugde (new in?), a few flocks of Starling stær, Fieldfares gråtrost and a fly over Siskin grønnsisik.

Things are on the move at last.....

White-tailed Eagles havørn on the ice at Tjeldstø

Whoopers sangsvane at Kollsnes

Skogsøy 03 April 2012 - Morning after the day before

Light northerlies and sunny after a few days of unsuitable migration conditions.

 Cormorant storskarv

 Above and below: 3rd year Iceland Gull grønlandsmåke

 Above and below: A steady stream of Oystercatcher tjeld passed during the first few hours

Part of a flock of Shelduck gravand

A perfect migration day and the birds took advantage of it. Aiming to hit such days is not always easy but today was never going to go wrong. A very hard frost and temperatures below freezing for the first couple of hours meant I was glad I had plenty of warm clothes. In a little of five hours of seawatching I logged the following (among other things):

All heading north:
Common Gull fiskemåke 1200
Oystercatcher tjeld 900
Cormorant storskarv 285
Iceland Gull grønlandsmåke 1 (3 cy bird - pale eye)
Red-throated Diver smålom 21
Shelduck gravand 5

There was some auk passage today too, however, most passed at long range. Those identified included small numbers of Puffin lunde, Little Auk alkekonge, Razorbill alke, Guillemot lomvi and a single Black Guillemot teist.

All in all a much more typical early April seawatch than a couple of days ago!

Skogsøy 23 March 2012 - Sun, migration and Orcas

Fantastic weather - sunny with a light northerly breeze.

Sat from 0640 to 1115 and had an excellent early spring seawatch. Øygarden year ticks were: Shelduck gravand (11N), Red-throated Diver smålom (3N) and Ringed Plover sandlo (3N).

Highlight was a good passage of Oystercatcher tjeld with over 1200 heading north, also almost 650 Common Gull fiskemåke, an adult Iceland Gull grønlandsmåke, 30 Black-headed Gulls hettemåke and most of the usual suspects - well over 2000 birds in all.

 Orca spekkhogger

 An overheated Cormorant storskarv heading north

 A constant passage of Common Gulls fiskemåke continued throughout the morning

 Oystercatcher tjeld

 Oystercatcher tjeld

 Oystercatcher tjeld

Virtually the first birds of the morning - Shelduck gravand

An added bonus was a pod of Orcas spekkhogger well offshore.

Øygarden 22 March 2008

Northern Gannet havsule at close range
Migrating Oystercatchers tjeld
Shelduck gravand
White-tailed Eagle havørn

A superb days birding in fantastic weather.

Kicked the day off at Skogsøy just before 06:00 with an Eagle Owl hubro.

A couple of hours seawatching was very productive with over 200 Atlantic Puffin lunde moving north - a huge total for recent years. Other stuff on the move included just under 400 Oystercatcher tjeld, a couple of Red-throated Diver smålom, a Shelduck gravand, two little auk alkekonge and small numbers of migrating Common Gulls fiskemåke.

A 2cy Iceland Gull grønlandsmåke and a 2cy Glaucous Gull polarmåke were also seen here.

A flock of 11 Snow Bunting snøspurv, a Pied Wagtail svartryggerle, the first Lesser Redpoll brunsisik of the year and a Meadow Pipit heipiplerke were the highlights at Tjeldstø.

At Svellingen the best birds were a Peregrine vandrefalk and a Great Northern Diver islom. A flock of 20 Purple Sandpiper fjæreplytt were also seen here.

A minimum of 11 White-tailed Eagle havørn were seen during the day.

Øygarden 21 March 2008

Red-necked Grebe gråstrupedykker
Part of a flock of about 100 nNewly arrived Starlings stær
Lapwings vipe

Clearer weather today but a house full of visitors meant I didn't do that much. At Tjeldstø the first Ringed Plover sandlo and Meadow Pipits heipiplerke of the year flew over and at least one Pied Wagtail svartryggerle still around.

Obviously some movement going on at Herdlevær too with eight Lapwing vipe, a few Chaffinch bokfink, a pair of Teal krikkand and a Common Snipe enkeltbekkasin. Other birds of interest included at least three Velvet Scoter sjøorre, a Sparrowhawk spurvhauk and a Red-necked Grebe gråstrupedykker.