Many birds today at Herdlevær but only a few species. Thrushes and finches...
Got some nice recording of a Brambling. Hear below (best with headphones). The first with only the nasal call, on the second recording below you can hear the soft "tep" as well
📡Brambling 📡Brambling soft "tep"
Fine, dark autumn weather on Turøy. Most birds gone, but still some Robins and the like. Two Grey-headed Woodpeckers (male and female), two Tree Sparrows and two Blackcaps made the day
Today after a period with heavy rains tried on Herdlevær. Lots of birds. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker best bird with two flyby Grey Wagtails coming in second place. Further lots of Robins, wrens, thrushes and so on, but all usual suspects...heard three times a call which reminded me of Humes Leaf Warbler, but I couldn't find the bird...I don't want to claim that one, but it sounded really good.
Nice recording of a Redwing below
📡 Redwing
Much rain today and loads of thrushes on the ground. Fieldfares, Blackbirds, Redwings and a few Song Thrushes at Flesland gård and the Marin biological Station. Further a Goldfinch and four Tree Sparrows. Below a recorded of a Eurasian Treecreeper
Today a visit to Herdla. It is October, so have to get out when possible😊. It was nice, but no shocking events...
A group of 24 Pink-footed Geese, two Northern Pintails, some 80 Wigeons, three Grey Plovers and some Dunlins on the fields. A walk at Herdla Fort produced a very vocal male Grey-headed Woodpecker, some Common Crossbills, two Nuthatches(!) and a flyby Goldfinch. Lots of Fieldfares, Common Starlings and Robins, as well as a few Willow Tits made the trip worth wile. Listen some sound recordings below.
📡 Grey-headed Woodpecker and Common Crossbill
I think it's difficult to judge which type crossbill is involved here. There are described 6 different types, based on differences in calls (A, B, C, D, E and F). I think the recorded crossbills are type A...or C...
One can read and hear more about this in Dutch Birding 22:61-107 and the CD Introduction to vocalizations of crossbills in north-western Europe, both by Magnus Robb, both published in 2000
It was fantastic weather today...tried Herdlevær, but it was as expected very quiet. The only birds worth mentioning were a Grey-headed Woodpecker, which was calling a lot and flying around and a few Goldfinches...and of course Robins and Wrens I around very corner😊
I missed on a little group of three Bearded Reedlings at Herdlevær yesterday😑. I wasn't able to visit, so I went to Herdlevær today without any expectations or hope at all, because they were not seen after 15:00 on wednesday. It was by the way a group of Norwegian birds, ringed this year in southern Norway...
But at a totally different place I found them back. It went quick. I couldn't believe my ears first. I only heard them vaguely and couldn't locate them. Then I decided to get a bit closer as they were calling again. After that I could make a few sound recordings. Then the four (!) birds flew away after about ten minutes, during which I could take more sound recordings. Searching afterwards with a few present birders was fruitless. It could well be that they slept on the spot and flew away after my encounter...
The sound recordings are quite distant and not very good as I could not get closer than about 50 meters, but one can hear the unmistakable calls of the birds😊
📡 here and here (best with headphones)
Further rather quiet with among others one Lesser Whitethroat (curruca), 10 Goldfinches, only one Chiffchaff (collybita) and lots of Goldcrests. At Breivik I saw one Northern Pintail and further the group of Pink-footed Geese with two Barnacles still present.
Went to Herdlevær this morning and arrived when it was still a bit dark. Started with a fly-over Hawfinch at Breivik. Spent almost three hours which produced no less than six Yellow-browed Warblers! They were calling good, but difficult to see. Tried to get some pics, but didn't get good enough result to publish here.
📡 XC592264
Lots of birds about with two migrating Grey Wagtails, groups of seven and six Goldfinches, two Blackcaps, three Chiffchaffs and a Willow Warbler. Further at Breivik a group of 61 Pink-footed Geese...
Later on the day I paid a visit to the Mandarin Duck in Bergen, which was nr 140 for the Bergen yearlist (countable in Norway). Only one short now for a record😊 (the Stonechat at Kalandsvannet yesterday was a new bird for Bergen for me...). To make the day even more special I heard another YBW at Christieparken, totaling the day number at 7!
