Unexpected gull!

A Caspian Gull that showed up in Lørenskog near Oslo in the first days of the new year, was quite an unexpected guest!
It exposed very well, and gave a great opportunity to study details in plummage, shape and proportions.
The bird is a rather large individual, and appeared larger than the average herring gull. It is slim and long-legged, the bill is rather long and the head appears proportionally small. The bird gives the impression of being very out-stretched, with a long wing projection.
The bird also show some typical features in the plumage. Note the anchor-formed notches on the mounted, grey scapulars. The contrasting colors in tail and rump almost resembles a Rough-legged Buzzard, and the the white head with some extremely fine streaking on the upper head and a greyed shadow around the eye.
A great and very pedagogic experience!

Birdlife around New Year

I enjoy photographing birds around the bird feeder in mid-winter. Even if the days are short, photographing can be very rewarding as long as you take advantage of the low light!

European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) - rødstrupe

Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) - blåmeis

Nuthatch (Sitta europaea) - spettmeis

Coal Tit (Periparus ater) - svartmeis

Great Tit (Parus major) - kjøttmeis

Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris) - grønnfink

Late fall rarities!

Usually the birdlife slowly dies out trough fall, as most migrants leave our northern regions. But this autumn has been different, as a handful of extremely rare birds has showed up in late October and early November. 

The first alarm came in the last week of October, when an Oriental Turtle Dove (Streptopelia orientalis) showed up at Ramberg, followed by a Hume's Leaf Warbler at Fredvang a few days later. It all culminated with an highly unexpected Western Bonelli's Warbler at remote Mulstøa the first week of November!

The Oriental Turtle Dove (Streptopelia orientalis) at Ramberg
- mongolturteldue

Colors of outer tail feathers suggest subspecies meena, but there has been
som discussions about the id of subspecies of this bird
- mongolturteldue

The Western Bonelli's Warbler (Phylloscopus bonelli) at Mulstøa.
The Bonelli's Warblers makes a difficult id-complex, but diagnostic
calls where heard by Martin Eggen, who found the bird. Details in
plumage also supports bonelli
- eikesanger

Also, some more common birds have shown unusual behavior in the Lofoten Islands. Grey-headed Woodpeckers are more numerous than usual in the eastern islands, and Black Grouse gather in large flocks along the coast.

A female Grey-headed Woodpecker (Picus canus) near Henningsvær
- gråspett

Female Black Grouse (Tetrao tetrix) near Henningsvær
- orrfugl

The Coot (Fulica atra) is a rare winter guest in the Lofoten Islands.
 This bird has been in Borgpollen since early November
- sothøne

A lonely Pink-footed Goose (Anser brachyrhynchus) at Leknes in
November - probably an individual that lost its flock during
September migration
- kortnebbgås

Aurora!

Last night was beautiful, cold and clear, with an almost full moon and the first layer of white powder covering the mountain peaks. When an intensive northern light flashed the sky for when I was on my way home from work, it was time to stop and get out the camera...

Old friends back in the Vestfjord

From the 1980'ies and up to 2006 Killer Whales where a regular sight in the Vestfjord between the mainland and the Lofoten Islands, as they followed the herring to their wintering grounds from October. But then the herring decided to change their migration route, and started wintering in the open sea in the north-west, and with them the Killer Whales disappeared.
However - every now and then the Killer Whales come by on «scouting trips» to check out if there are any signs of herring in the fjord. And last week they where here - a group of some 20 animals - some of them well known individuals from twenty years ago!

September at Røst

Røst is widely known for its seabird colonies. For many birders, however, the fall migration is the most interesting period on this remote island. Situated far off the Lofoten Islands, Røst becomes a magnet for rare, out-of-course migrants.
When I visited the island in September, we combined the search for passerines on the main island Røstlandet with a pelagic trip to the waters off Skomvær lighthouse.

Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) are gathering everywhere on the island, and
seems to like it around the sheep. Stær.

The siberian Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) is regular on
fall migration at Røst - gulbrynsanger

A group of first year Red Knots (Calidris canutus) - polar sniper

First year Pomarine Skua (Stercorarius pomarinus) at Skomvær - polarjo

A couple of Sooty Shearwaters (Puffinus griseus) showed up around
the boat off Skomvær - grålire

A soon as we had loaded some chum in the water, the Fulmars
(Fulmarus glacialis) showed up around the boat - havhest

A first year Greater Black-backed gull (Larus marinus) - svartbak

August in Lofoten: shorebird migration.

Late August is the peak period for migrating waders in the Lofoten Islands, and with right weather conditions the numbers can be rather good:

A first year male Ruff (Philomachus pugnax) - brushane

A flock of Curlew Sandpipers (Calidris ferruginea) - tundrasniper

Little Stint (Calidris minuta) was the dominating species on the mudflats
this August, with flocks up to hundreds - dvergsnipe

A Little Stint (Calidris minuta) deeply consentrated in search for food
- dvergsnipe