a classic fall on the 5th of May

When I woke up in the morning, I saw snow, the last thing you want in May. And it was cold! And the bad weather continued during the day. I had some errands to run, but in the afternoon I tried some birding around Bergen. At the biological station I saw my first Common Terns of the year, but things were otherwise quiet there. I decided to check some spots for the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker at Nesttunvatnet. Not finding the woodpecket I noticed that there were more swallows than usual flying around (Barn Swallows and Sand Martins). Nice, but not unusual in the first week of May..

Kristianborgsvannet is also worth checking for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, so I went there afterwards. There were lots of birds about as soon as I entered the area. A very large group of swallows was foraging over the water; about 50 Barn Swallows together with some 20 Sand Martins and four House Martins. In the reed I saw an astonishing 25 Willow Warblers, two Blackcaps and two Meadow Pipits trying to catch insects. One does not often experience so many birds in such a small area. It was a classical fall of birds on the move that were forced down by snow and cold showers!

Yellow-billed Divers

 On the third of May the weather forecast promised northerly winds, so I went with 9 others to Geitingneset at Herdlevær. In this period White-billed Divers are almost guaranteed. And indeed, during a 4-hour seawatch, we saw eight birds fly by, all in summer plumage! 

It was a nice count with some a Pomerine Skua, two Arctic Skuas, some 80 Red-throated Divers and nice numbers of Razorbill and Guillemot, as well as 6 Whimbrels. After the seawatch we birded Øygarden, but it was cold due to the strong northerlies. As a result, it was calm, but three House Martins, a pair of Stonechats and a calling Wryneck are worth mentioning...

two of the eight White-billed Divers

nice male Chaffinch at Tineskogen

the crowd at geitingneset

0105 Nordhordaland

 May first promised to be a nice day with sunshine and southeastern winds. So Stein Rune Risa and I decided to spend the day in Nordhordland, i.e., Radøy, Alver, and a bit of Lindås.

It was a nice day with lots of singing birds. We had two Common Cuckoos, a singing Green Sandpiper, a flyby Common Crane, a vocal Green Woodpecker, the first Common Whitethroats of the year and a fantastic Capercaillie, along with loads of summer species back, such as Willow Warblers, Blackcaps and a few Common Sandpipers😊

🎤 Common Cuckoo

Some early arrivals on Herdla

 This afternoon, I did a round at Herdla with Stein Rune Risa. Although it was quiet, it was enjoyable with some species I never saw before in April: a Blue-headed Wagtail and four Bar-tailed Godwits. I think the wagtail is a second calendar year because of the difference in the greater coverts. Moult limits are visible in the greater coverts, with the inner ones fresh and the outer ones worn (see picture below).

Further, a large group of European Golden Plovers, a nice summer-plumaged Red-necked Grebe, a flyby Northern Gannet and the first Common Redpolls coming in with 6 noisy birds.

second year male Blue-headed Wagtail

distant flyby Northern Gannet (rare at Herdla)

this White Wagtail was at Kalandsvatnet on the 27th

April...

 I've been out quite a lot lately, often in bad weather with rain and wind...Anyhow, I tried my new lens and made a few nice shots of common birds. At Lindås kulturområdet, I saw two Common Cranes, probably breeders. But I managed to take pictures with the camera in video mode 💤 Otherwise, summer breeders are coming in with loads of Chiffchaffs and Dunnocks and even a few swallows. And a Great White Egret on Øygarden coloured the period a bit...

I keep a kind of year list for Bergen, but seem to miss out on most good birds, although the Eurasian Curlew at Biologen on the 16th was a nice one...

Great White Egret at Tjestø

Common Gull in full summer plumage

flyby Eurasian Curlew at Biologen

Fieldfare at Nesttunvatnet a few days ago

drumming White-backed Woodpecker

 Today the weather forecast predicted nice, sunny and calm weather. So I went out to Kjenes edellovsskog on Lindås to try to record the drumming of White-backed Woodpecker.

It took me about two hours to find a steady White-backed after seeing some flyby's and hearing distant drumming. Being patient (I didn't use playback because it can have the opposite effect), I recorded both drumming and calls of a female. Happy with that. You can hear the results below. Otherwise, a distant calling Nutcracker, a calling White-tailed Eagle, a noisy pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers, three Nuthatches and at least three singing Marsh Tits.

🎤 White-backed Woodpecker drumming female

🎤 White-backed Woodpecker calling female

For comparison, listen to the recording of the drumming of Great Spotted Woodpecker (the day after at Gimmelandsdalen)

🎤 Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming male

The drumming of the White-backed reminds a bit of a quickly bouncing ping pong ball, becoming weaker as it ends, while that of the Great Spotted is short, monotonous and abruptly ending. 

new lens

 I bought a Nikkor Z 180-600mm and had to try it out, of course. So I went to Tveitevannet in very grey light and tried for the Common Ringed Plover at Flesland. I didn't see that one, but a singing Yellowhammer made me happy. It is not going well with that species. Also, a Skylark was singing there. How long is it going to take before that one disappears? My first singing Song Thrush of the year, a flyby Goldfinch and a few migrating Lapwings are also worth mentioning. On the way to Kalandsvannet, I found two Pink-footed Geese along Skeievegen. These were quite distant birds, so it was a good opportunity to try the new lens, see below.

Nothing to mention at Kalandsviken and at Tveitevannet the Gadwall was still present.

 Pink-footed Geese

Herring Gull at Tveitevannet

Kingfisher in Bergen

 Last week a Common Kingfisher was found by Terje Hansen at Hamretjern in Bergen. It was seen only briefly a few times and photgraphed tw days after discovery. After one-and-a-half week of absence I found it back today. At first I heard it call frequently. After searching for about 20 minutes I saw it fly by. After that i found it perched three times. As it was shy, the bird flew away almost immediatly. Therefore the pics were not very good, but at least I got a few record shots. I managed to get  a sound recording. Anyhow, nice bird for Bergen!

record shots of the Common Kingfisher

🎤 Common Kingfisher

beautiful Whooper Swan at Hamretjern

drake Common Goldeneye at Hamretjern

the Tawny Owl at Stend

Earlier in the week I recorded Whooper Swan and White-throated Dipper as you can hear below...

🎤 Whooper Swan

🎤 White-throated Dipper

Azure Tit

 On Monday an Azure Tit was discovered at Brekstad near Trondheim. A bird I wanted to see! So on Friday I took together with Terje Hansen and Anders Heien a flight to Trondheim, and with a hired car we drove a two hours drive to the spot. We arrived as late as 13:35. The bird was seen 10 minutes before we arrived. Knowing it would be dark around 15:30 we waited, quite nervous about the chances of seeing the bird before dark... But after about three quarters of an hour it came to the feeders. What a bird. It was difficult to take pictures in the fading light, so I concentrated on watching it through my bins. I got one useful picture though😊

After-Christmas ducks

Between family dinners, I took the opportunity to visit Kalandsvannet for the pair of Smew reported the last few days. I couldn't find them in Kalandsviken, but after checking Gorvika twice I succeeded in finding them. Saw them for about ten minutes before they disappeared again, flying off.

Not often one sees such a fine male here, only my second time

fine male Smew