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 in the greater coverts are visible, the inner ones being fresh and the outer ones worn.

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

Spectacled Eider

 As the Spectacled Eider returned in October, I booked a long weekend in the Netherlands to see it. On Friday the 5th I visited Texel with my brother Sybrand, Lazar, Dusan and Lory Brinkhuizen and Enno Ebels. A dense fog made it difficult to find, but after two hours I located the bird. And there it was,  preening at only 25 meters, giving superb views and photographic opportunities for almost an hour. What a bird👊!!!

Otherwise, a bit of birding around Groningen with birds such as two Corn Buntings, a Hen Harrier, a nice Woodcock, some flyby and calling Water Pipits, lots of geese (with a few Tundra Bean) and a distant third-winter Caspian Gull😊

cosmic views of a cosmic bird

me taking pictures

foggy conditions don't bother us

together with my lifelong friend Enno Ebels

 (the bird in the background)

Eurasian Woodcock

Caspian Gull

the two Corn Buntings at Warffum

Fana late November

 On Sunday I birded with Stein Rune Risa and Terje Hansen around Fana. It was just late November easy-going birding in very nice weather. We visited Lysekloster, Kalandsvannet, Hordamuseet and Espeland.

We had a good daylist with two Nutcrackers at Lysekloster and three White-tailed Eagles, three Common Buzzards and a Sparrowhawk that killed a pigeon at Kalandsvannet. Nice bonus was that I could record a singing White-throated Dipper and calling Common Mergansers...

second calender-year White-tailed Eagle

🎤 White-throated Dipper

🎤 Common Merganser

Ducks still present

 While feeding birds with my daughter at Tveitevannet I keep my eyes open of course. There are the Gadwall and some Wigeons still present, now in pristine plumage. Otherwise the usual birds there...

male Eurasian Wigeon

Western Jackdaw of the monedula race

the handsome Gadwall still present