Nautnes 14-19 January 2024 - Winter / New species for Dåvøy

 Another week chained to a computer and another work trip, this time to Stavanger. Very wintery again with temperatures at or below freezing and full snow cover.

Once again most observations were from the house. Woodcocks rugde flew over on Monday and Friday this week.

On Tuesday a first winter Red-throated Diver smålom turned up on the sea in front of the terrace and a Curlew storspove fed on the rocks - surprisingly few and far between this winter - normally this is quite an easy species to see during the winter months.

Red-throated Diver smålom at Nautnes

I also did a drive-by at Dåvøy on the way home from the shop - resulting in another new for the year in Øygarden and in fact a new species for this locality in the form of a Tufted Duck toppand. Never very common out here in the winter this bird has no doubt been forced off some lake to the sea. Winter can produce some unusual wildfowl so it pays to keep an eye out:)

Tufted Duck toppand at Dåvøy

Some of the 41 Grey Herons gråhegre present at Dåvøy

Two Tree Sparrows pilfink returned to the garden on Wednesday and a Redwing rødvingetrost put in an appearance too. Now up to 13 Blackbirds svarttrost in the garden and the Greenfinch grønnfink flock is now over 30.

On Friday two Guillemots lomvi were on the sea outside the house, one of which was in almost full summer plumage. 

Nautnes 07 February 2020 - More eagles and more year firsts

Calm and mild - a day that obviously should have been spent out in the field.

One of many goose droppings at Breivik

I popped in at a couple of places during the shop run and found evidence that geese have been in the fields at Breivik very recently. Unfortunately I cannot yet identify individual goose species from their droppings....might just have been early Greylags grågås which are expected very soon or perhaps something more interesting....which would be the norm in winter.

Female Bullfinch dompap near Alvheim

Brambling bjørkefink

Tufted Ducks toppand on Blomvatnet

This species is not a common bird during the winter months and most are seen during migration periods

At Breivik a small flock of Tufted Duck toppand were the first to be seen locally (i.e. the "old" Øygarden - this year three district councils were amalgamated and also given the name Øygarden). On the way home another new for the year locally was a Bullfinch dompap that seemed to be with a mixed flock of 50 Brambling bjørkefink and 15 Chaffinch bokfink. Bullfinch are not even annual in winter out here although late autumn and winter is the time to see them. Although there are no records in the national reporting system this year I did see that some were noted at Alvheim during the recent annual garden bird count which uses a different reporting system....

Bullfinch occurrence in Øygarden (number of sightings rather than number of birds). From artsobs.

I wonder if the flocks of Brambling out here are part of the tens of thousands currently roosting in Bergen or if they have their own roosts somewhere closer.....

Part of the view from my terrace

....zoomed in a bit

....and zoomed in a LOT

Same birds using scope and mobile phone

Video of three of the eagles using my superzoom

Back home I took a mug of coffee out on my terrace before a job interview on Skype. This was not very sensible as I saw four White-tailed Eagles havørn feeding on what seemed to be an angler fish. The coffee went cold but I did the interview, maybe I seemed interested enough and maybe mentioning the eagles was not a mistake.....

A Curlew storspove also fed on the shore near the eagles.

Herdlevær 14 July 2018 - Back to normal(ish)

Calm and sunny.

It felt very good to be out for a couple of hours at Herdlevær. Almost normal in fact.

Common Sandpiper strandsnipe

Young Meadow Pipit heipiplerke

Shag toppskarv

Whimbrel småspove

Male White Wagtail linerle with food

Birdwise there were no real surprises other than that the Ringed Plover sandlo pair seem to still have young. The other breeding pair I know of had fledged young looking good to go three weeks ago....

A couple of Whimbrel småspove, small numbers of Gannet havsule and loads of birds with young were also seen here.

Common Gull fiskemåke making last minute preparations before attacking a Peregrine vandrefalk

Common Gull fiskemåke attacking Peregrine vandrefalk

Male Tufted Duck toppand - an unseasonal appearance.

At Tjeldstø the usual breeding waders were still going strong and an unseasonal male Tufted Duck toppand put in an appearance. It was a fantastic experience to watch a squadron of Common Gulls fiskemåke take off to attack a Peregrine vandrefalk. Very Battle of Britain like......

On my way home I checked out some tern activity at Nautnes where there was at least one fledged Common Tern makrellterne. Good news. A Sparrowhawk spurvehauk also showed up again.

Nautnes and Blomvatnet 05 December 2017 - Calm after the storm pays off.

Strong onshore winds and rain for most of the daylight hours today.

Moorehen sivhøne

Above and below: Female Scaup bergand (right hand bird) together with four Tufted Duck toppand and a Goldeneye kvinand

Four Tufted Duck toppand

Still too much to do to be out and about but whilst running errands I popped in at Blomvatnet - this proved quite successful with the first Moorehen sivhøne of the winter (and the year for that matter) - quite possibly a returning bird from the east of the country. A female Scaup bergand was another good find here. Otherwise it was just four Tufted Duck toppand along the usual Goldeneyes kvinand, Mallard stokkand etc.

Very often I am almost surprised how many birds there are about as soon as the weather calms down - today was yet another example of this.

Around 1430 I noticed the wind had dropped and it had stopped raining and whilst waiting for several pages of work documents to go through my scanner I looked out of the window to see what I have looked for many times before - a Hawk Owl haukugle sitting in trees a fair distance off. I managed to confirm the observation in the scope but it flew before a camera could be brought to bear....Species 131 from the house:) Also in the area a couple of Willow Tit granmeis and a small flock of Parrot Crossbill grankorsnebb.

Not bad going to get two new for the year in Øygarden on a bad weather day in early December!

Skogsøy 30 April 2017 - Back in business at last - Pallid Harrier

After what seems like an eternity I FINALLY went birding for a morning. I really should not have spent the time doing this and should not be writing this blog post either.

I spent the morning seawatching. Despite the light easterly winds the only place to go today was Skogsøy even though the conditions were not ideal. We had a decent seawatch with quite a lot of stuff passing.

Oiled Gannet havsule. An all too common sight.

Adult Gannet havsule as it should be

Mergansers siland heading south

Quite a good day for Oystercatcher tjeld despite it being quite late in the season

Two male and a female Shelduck gravand heading north

Four of the over 70 Tufted Duck toppand that headed north today

Highlights were all four diver species including six White-billed Diver gulnebblom,  a Black-throated Diver storlom and a 2K Great Northern Diver islom heading north. Low numbers of Red-.throated Diver smålom though. Other decent sightings included an Arctic Skua tyvjo, a Whimbrel småspove and what is quite possibly a record count - a massive 71 Tufted Duck toppand.

Red throated Diver N	23
Black throated Diver N	1
Great Northern Diver N	1
White Billed Diver N	6
Northern Gannet N	10
Northern Gannet S	18
Great Cormorant N	27
Great Cormorant S	5
Eurasian Shag N	1
Eurasian Shag S	13
Grey Heron S	2
Shelduck N	3
Teal N	2
Tufted Duck N	71
Eider N	9
Eider S	3
Long tailed duck N	12
Long tailed duck S	4
Common Scoter N	133
Merganser N	25
Merganser S	6
Oystercatcher N	367
Oystercatcher S	10
Golden Plover N	1
Whimbrel N	1
Arctic Skua N	1
Black headed Gull S	1
Common Gull N	190
Lesser black backed Gull S	1
Common Guillemot N	2
Razorbill N	8
Auk N	7

2cy male Pallid Harrier steppehauk

Shortly after two of us left something made me turn around and I glimpsed a wingtip disappearing behind a rocky outcrop, I just knew I had to see what it was - and sure enough a cracking Pallid Harrier steppehauk came into view, circled us briefy and moved rapidly onwards and we lost the bird gaining height over Herldevær. This is the first spring record for the county (and only around the 10th all in).

Øygarden 12.12 - 20.12 - Hanging in there

Short hours of daylight, several days at the office and Christmas getting in the way of any meaningful birding.

Tufted Duck toppand pair at Blomvatnet, 20.12

Velvet Scoter sjøorre at Heggøy, 20.12

However, some species still hanging in there for an attempt at overwintering. These included a Woodpigeon ringdue and a Woodcock rugde at Nautnes, at least one flock of Greylags grågås seen at various locations, a couple of Snipe enkeltbekkasin at Herdlevær, singles of Redwing rødvingetrost, Curlew storspove etc.

Other than this fairly quiet with only small numbers of Long-tailed Duck havelle, up to three White-tailed Eagles havørn at various sites, Whoopers sangsvane, Velvet Scoters sjøorre and a flock of 42 Herons gråhegre at the Dåvøy roost.

Herdelvær 21 August 2016 - Third August record

Calm, hot and sunny again,

Tufted Duck toppand at Herdlevær

Best bird was the third August record for Øygarden of Tufted Duck toppand.

A small selection of waders included Knot polarsnipe, Sanderling sandløper and Whimbrel småspove.

Elsewhere both Sparrowhawk spurvehauk and Kestrel tårnfalk seen migrating at Nautnes and Tjeldstø.

Other than that just the usual White-tailed Eagle havørn etc.

Common Crossbill grankorsnebb seem to be on the move with birds seen "everywhere".

Nautnes 17 January 2016 - The second new species for the house list this year

Calm, sunny and frozen.

Best bird today came in the form of a female Tufted Duck toppand which flew past the house and landed nearby. This was in fact the second new for the house list this year - the first being Razorbill alke a few days ago but I didn't consider the possiblity that this was a garden tick at the time. Other stuff at Nautnes included a couple of flocks of Common (Mealy) Redpolls gråsisik heading over. House list is thus now up to 112 species.

After this I checked out Hjelme Vest where there was generally a lot more on the sea but none of the hoped for species were seen. Best birds were a Red-throated Diver smålom, a Guillemot lomvi and several Black Guillemot teist. Long-tailed Duck havelle numbers were up to a bit more than 50 and there were several Common Scoter svartand present too.

Elsewhere the first Golden Eagle kongeørn of the year was reported.

Øygarden 23 February 2015 - More new in

Southerly winds, largely sunny after 10:00.

Two male Tufted Duck toppand

A errand to the southern end of Øygarden resulted in two male Tufted Duck toppand on Nordlavatnet - this locality is probably the best place to catch up with this species during the winter months in Øygarden.

Also stopped at Blomvatnet where a Moorehen sivhøne was seen yesterday but there was no sign of it.

Elswhere a lone Greylag grågås at Blomvåg and a pair beside Husvatnet, Tjeldstø were obviously new arrivals.

At another locality a number of White-tailed Eagle havørn pellets showed them to be eating large gulls - several pellets were found which all largely consisted of gull feathers. Perhaps they are collected gulls caught in netting around one of the local fish farms?

Tjeldstø 21 October 2010

Tufted Duck toppand
Female Tufted Duck toppand showing very dark upperparts

Female Tufted Duck toppand

Tufted duck toppand. Left hand bird showing much white on the face but not over the top of the bill

Inside working all day but managed a very brief stroll out as the light was fading. Rather frustrating as large flocks of thrushes etc were passing throughout the day.

A flock of six Tufted Duck toppand on Rotevatnet and the female Common Scoter svartand on Husvatnet were the only sightings of interest. One of Tufted Duck toppand, probably a first year female, looked rather like a Scaup bergand but closer views revealled the hint of a tuft on the back of the head and the upperparts were rather too dark for this species.