Common Pochard

 After a week at Hemsedal in the snow, I visited the Common Pochard at Angeltveit on Øygarden. Nice male. The two Mute Swans there were an Øygarden tick for me...

On the way back home a I had a flyby Golden Eagle and in the city center the Caspian Gull still going strong. An early Lesser Black-backed Gulle there as well. There I met Jørn Opsal, who showed me his own made app, which he uses to report birds in artsobservasjoner real time. Cool, but for now only for his own use. I hope it's going to be be something for all in the future

More ducks at Tveitevannet

 No Ring-necked Duck today at Tveitevannet. In stead there was a young male Greater Scaup around today. Much less rare, but still nice. The ducks come and go as it seems. Below some pictures of some of the ducks...

2nd calendar male Greater Scaup

female Eurasian Wigeon

male Eurasian Wigeon

Mallard

Twitch at Tveitevannet: Ring-necked Duck!!

 I was at home preparing for pizza when Oddvar Heggøy (who else there) reported a Ring-necked Duck in a hole in the ice at Tveitevannet. I was there within 10 minutes and together with some other birders we got the bird. The light was bad and it was sleeping a lot, but I managed a decent picture. While watching the duck Oddvar noticed the Caspian Gull standing on the ice, same bird as in the city centre. Nice Friday afternoon!!!

female type Ring-necked Duck

Caspian Gull with the J9100 ring

hole in the ice at Nesttun

 After a few days illness and being inside, I had to do some errands and took the opportunity to check Nesttunvannet for ducks. Two Common Mergansers (difficult to photograph) showed well, as well as some 15 Whooper Swans and a few Tufted Ducks and Wigeons. Nothing out of the ordinary though...

male Goosander, Nesttun

male Tufted Duck, Nesttun

female Tufted Duck, Nesttun

Tawny Owl, Espeland

Øygarden again

 Today northern Øygarden in beautiful winter weather again. I began at Hellesøy, where Terje Hansen Stein Rune Risa and Kåre Skarsvaag already were present. Together we checked the sea between the islands for birds. There some 8 Long-tailed Ducks, a few Velvet Scoters, Purple Sandpipers, Black Guillemots, a Common Loon and a Red-throated Loon were present. Via Svellingen (Rook still present) we checked Sjåneset. Much the same there with some more Common Loons, more Long-tailed Ducks and more Black Guillemot's. A few Eurasian Curlews present there and a large group of Purple Sandpipers flying around.

Thereafter I checked Tjeldstø where the first Greylag Geese were on the breeding grounds, I presume. A Goldfinch and a few Redwings present at the back of the reserve.

At Herdlevær I came across Cecilie Hansen and Daniel Taranger. Not many birds there, but I saw a Common Snipe and some Crested Tits were very noisy, probably in spring mood...

Caspian Gull in Bergen centre

 Yesterday Anita Rude (who else) found a Caspian Gull. She did that before! It was a second year bird. Today it was seen before 12:00. The little group of birders that were too late had to wait until 15:00 before it appeared again. At the same moment Arild Breistøl og Sindre Molværsmyr had come to try to ring the bird. They succeeded immediately. Large bird with large bill, so probably a male! Also a Black-headed Gull present, which is a scarce bird in Bergen...

first winter Caspain Gull

first winter Black-headed Gull

Arild Breistøl ringing and showing the bird

Alver

 On Sunday the 2nd of February I birded the area around Manger in Nord-Hordaland. I do not visit that part of Hordaland very often (only on summer nights for nightbirds), but I should do that more often...The weather was dark grey, making photographing difficult...Anyhow, at Byrkelandsvannet a Great Grey Shrike was present. It was a difficult bird to see, hiding most of the time. At Byrkelandsvågen a Slavonian Grebe was showing itself only shortly and at Manger a small group of geese (three Barnacles and a Greater White-fronted)was flying around. Further birds like singing Common Crossbills, a lone Parrot Crossbill and a Green Woodpecker made the day good. I tried for Greater Scaups at Eikangervåg without luck, but here a group of about 1000 Common Eiders was present. Don't see those numbers very often...

Herdla

 Today a round at Herdla, which was quite good. 'Lots of waders' with best bird Sanderling in pristine (first) winter plumage. It is a scarce bird on migration here with only a few each year during the summer months. In winter it is very rare!! It is in fact the first winter record for Herdla and the third for Vestland as a whole. 

Further a touch-and-go Lapwing, some ten Purple Sandpipers, a Ruddy Turnstone and five Eurasian Curlews. Out on the water a Red-necked Grebe, calling Long-tailed Ducks, two Common Scoters and 14 Velvet Scoters.

Nice day in quiet weather😊

Visit to Øygarden for winter species

 I had the Wednesday off, so I decided to visit northern Øygarden. Started at Hellesøy, where I met Roald Hatten and Terje Hansen. After we saw the Rook at Svellingen we spent a few hours at Sjåneset, Sele. Calm conditions made it very worthwhile. Most bird were very distant but with a scope and patience one can see good numbers. Best bird was an adult White-billed Loon. Further three or four Common Loons, Black Guillemots, Shags, some 50 beautiful Long-tailed Ducks, 25 or so Purple Sandpipers, Curlews, Oystercatchers, three White-tailed Eagles and a Peregrine. Special were also two flyby White-fronted Geese. 

On the way back I saw the two Little Grebes at Dåvøy and at Breivik I found a group of seven White-fronted Geese. Today there were reported more than usual of this goose-species in other parts of Hordaland, even a few in Bergen (see below). Finished the day at Lyreneset at Nygårdsviken in Bergen, where both the first-winter Iceland Gull and Black-headed Gull were present. 

 White-fronted Geese at Breivik

Iceland Gull at Lyreneset

adult White-billed Loon       photo by Roald Hatten

one of the five  WFG at Nesttunvannet

Winter

 Lots of snow the first days of January, which meant birding in the neighborhood. Bird variety is not high, but a group of about 20 Hawfinches and a Common Moorhen are worth mentioning.

birds gathering

first winter (second calendar-year) Common Moorhen

On Sunday a quick round at Biologen, which produced the usual with among others a Sparrowhawk, a few Goldeneyes, three Common Scoters and a tight group of about 80 Wood Pigeons 

Red Squirrel Sciurus vulgaris

hungry young Blackbird

The second weekend of January had still lots of snow with wildfowl gathering at open water such as Hamretjern. The Whooper Swans there were very vocal. Didn't have my recorder, though...

Canada Goose

Goldeneye

Teal

Whooper Swans