Lista Bird Observatory

In Norway, we have very few bird observatories. Even fewer that has done long term ringing and observations in a standardized way. Lista bird observatory is the one with the longest tradition, and together with Jomfruland (in the outer Oslo fjord area) – the most important bird observatory in Norway today. The Lista area at the very south tip of Norway, is not only one of the very best places to watch birds in Norway but also a place which attracts a lot migrants. This area is therefore very important to keep track of the bird migration and to monitor the trends of the different species. These trends are very difficult to pick up, unless you do things in a standardized way for a long time. Long time series are therefore crucial for acquiring this sort of knowledge.

The observatory is placed next to Lista lighthouse, where they have been monitoring the bird migration in a standardized way since 1990. As well as ringing and count all the birds, the Lista bird observatory has also made a very informative web site about their activities. I highly recommend to visit it regularly, as here are daily logs put out and also a lot of fun statistics for many of the species that migrate past Lista. To be honest, it is actually one of the more interesting bird web sites I know of, as a lot of information is gathered and put out there in an interesting and informative way.

I also used their website to target in some of the species I needed for my Big Year that I knew would be difficult to see elsewhere in Norway. By using their statistics, you can pinpoint when the migration peaks for the different species are. In that way, if you really want to see certain species, you can increase your chances a lot by using information put out on their web site. I spent most of May at Lista, as this is one of the best places in Norway for birding as well as a very scenic and beautiful place to just be. It is placed on the south tip of Norway, but reachable with bus from Kristiansand from the east or Stavanger from the west. If you drive yourself, it takes about 6 hours from Oslo, 2hrs from Kristiansand and about 2,5 hours from Stavanger (If there is a rarity you will make in 2…).

So if you are a birder living in, or visiting Norway, you should definitely make a trip to Lista. The planning of the trip you will for sure do by visiting their web site which is in both Norwegian and English.

Lista Bird Observatory web

Here are a few pictures from the Lighthouse area.  

Entrance road to the light house and bird observatory area.

View inland from the light house over Gunnarsmyra. Early mornings and
late evenings - this is a very good place to keep an eye on as it has more
than its share of rarities through the years.

The ringing garden in the very right of the picture, and the light house property.
From the top of this hill, it is a very nice view over the ocean and this is where
a lot of the observations are done. On calm days this is also a good spot
for watching the passerine (spurvefugl) migration that will pass just over
your head.

The ringing "office" is the building immediately to the right of the light house.
There is also an information scenter here, where you can get all the latest news. Open
during tourist season and otherwise a few days a week. 

I am still out at sea, and in a little bit of pain as the very first Great black-headed gull (steppemåke) for Norway is in Oslo at the moment. I am stuck at sea until 10 September, but am still hoping for the gull to be real long stayer. At the moment, it seems that early morning and late evenings is the best time to see as it is out in the fjord feeding during day time and only come in to town to roost next to the new fancy Opera house. 

-EG-

May o'hoi!

May has arrived, and as promised in the previous blog, I have made my way south. For most of May I will be having the very southern tip of Norway as a base. I will stay at one of Norway's finest birding areas - Lista. Thats the plan anyway, lets just see if the birds want to have it otherwise.

29 April
Let's just step back a todd. It has started off very good indeed. On the way south, I went by the now, long staying, Black-necked grebe (svarthalsdykker) near Hamar. For once, things was easy, and once I had navigated all the small roads by the help of my phone GPS and Bird Alarm's very handy tool "Find Directions", it took me only three minutes from the scope was up until I found the bird. A beautiful one indeed as it was in full breeding plumage. Very actively fishing and moving a lot back and forth. Suddenly close to shore, then just as suddenly far out. Another birder I met there, and myself sat down at the water edge, and it didn't take too long before the bird was fishing close to our chosen seats. Through my spotting scope, I could study every detail of the plumage, and it was indeed my best views of this species ever. Happy with this delight, I continued south. Stopping by a roadside pool, where 4 male ruffs (brushane) were displaying their odd, but beautiful collars. Two white morphs and two orange ones. A very welcome Big Year list addition. I arrived my destination for tomorrow's birding - Mølen at 1:30 am and had another good night sleep in my car.

Black-necked grebe (svarthalsdykker) silhouette. It was interesting to see how the
 head shape  constantly was changing according to mood. Here it is in a more
 Slavonian (hotndykker) like posture, and it shows that picking out these amongst
slavonians isn't necessarily always straight forward. 

New birds: 2
Total: 180

30 April
Mølen has had its share of rarities through the years, and needless to say, I started the morning with a careful enthusiasm. It was soon proven to be a very nice morning indeed as bird activity was very high, and big year birds startet to appear one after the other. Whitethroats (tornsanger), Lesser whitethroats (møller), Redstart (rødstjert), Common tern (makrellterne), Whimbrel (småspove), and a Whinchat (buskskvett) were all new to my list. I also heard very briefly at 09:15 some calls from what I am pretty sure as a Common nightingale (sørnattergal). A bir rarity in Norway, but from the little I heard, I could just not exlude Thrush nightingale (nattergal) for sure. I waited and waited and waited in hope of hearing it again, but it never did sing. At 17:30, I gave up, and decided I just had to leave this bird unidentified and continued my travel south. In the night, at about midnight, I arrived Lista where another night in the car was awaiting.

New birds: 7
Total: 187

01 May
Up at 05:30 - which was earlier than some birds even - I started the short drive towards the lighhouse area. At Lista, the normal procedure is to start the day at the lighhouse, as many of the migrating birds pass here, and this is a very good spot to get a feel for what is around - both seabird migration and landbird migration can easily be observed. I was just nearly there, when a big white bird flew across the road in front of me. A Great egret (egretthegre) came in to land! A great start on the day, and a flying start on May - traditionally the best month for rarities in spring. It was only a short visit this time, as it took off only about ten minutes later and continued norh west. A great start and a great addition to my Big Year list as this species normally is seen 10-20 times a year in Norway.

Great white egret - the first Big Year rarity for the year that I find myself. 

The day continued at the lighhouse, and one new bird came in after the other. Wryneck (vendehals), Marsh harrier (sivhauk), Yellow wagtail (gulerle) and House martin (taksvale) were all enjoyed and ticked off. Even a short-eared owl (jordugle) made its appearance far out at sea in the horizon. As did a Black crow (svartkråke). It is something special about witnessing the bird migration like this - when you so clearly see it happening. The land birds, that need to cross vast stretches of ocean to reach their destination. However, the bird of the day arrived just as the wind turned a bit. A big group of about one hundred Barn swallow suddenly started swarming around the area we were staying, and then the one that we all hoped for, but didnt dare to mention. The Red-rumped swallow, was suddenly sitting on a wire. It was there for about three minutes before it took to the wings and was never seen again. A real touch and go bird, and for once, with two rarities in one day, and both of them extremely short stayers - I could call myself lucky.

Well, what can I say....when rarities turn up and adrenalin is pumping, you
sometimes forget to focus....Red-rumped swallow on a wire. The bird only
came in with a large flock of barn swallows, and only stayed for about 3 minutes.

New birds: 7
Total: 195

02 May
Pretty uneventful day, with the same weather more or less as the previous days. A bit stronger wind, made things a little more difficult. The only new bird of the day being a migrating Sanderling (sandløper), but my favorite will be three wrynecks that had a singing contest between them. Especially one of the birds was sitting all in the open and gave extremely satifying views....I even made a photo of it :)

In the evening, searched the fields a bit, and found a very handsome flock of 12 Dotterels (boltit). These are beautiful birds indeed. These were also making a show, as they were fighting and flying a bit back and forth over the field. In the afternoon, I finished with two Bar-headed geese that had decided to spend the night at small estuary next to the ligh house. Bar-headed goose does not count on my Big Year list as they are in the same category as the mandarin duck - namely birds that has originated from escaped birds at some stage.

Wryneck, showing off - something which is fairly unusual for this rather
skulky species.

1st of May is often made into a long weekend, and even though Norway has
very few birders, a lot of them find their way to Lista during these days. Early
morning migration counts.

New birds: 1
Total: 196

Tripple dip, and a near hit

Birding is exciting and full of surprises and not to mention unpredictable. This is what makes this hobby so great! Bird has wings, and you never know when the bird uses them. I've just returned from a one week trip to Southern Norway. The main goal was to pick up some long staying wintering birds, and also to look for a red kite (glente) - a rare bird with 15-30 records a year in Norway. The absolute best time to see this species is the last week of March and first week of April, and the best place to do so is the famous birding area at Lista in the very south of Norway. So here we go...


20 March
On the island Sandsøya in western Norway, a Yellow-legged gull (gulbeinmåke) has been visiting since 12th of Februrary. This species is still a huge rarity in Norway. The problem with this bird though, is that it has been very elusive and irregular at the harbour where it has been seen. It tends to be out at sea fishing for long periods and then follow the fishing boats into the harbour when they come to deliver their catches. But it rarely stays for more than a day or two, so I have been awaiting my great opportunity to get this one. So today, I went. The weather couldn't possibly be worse. Pouring meters of rain and a forecast of 55 knots wind! But the gull had been seen three days in a row, so my hopes was up. Sandsøya is not particularily easy or cheap place to get to by the way - as you need 5 ferries from my home to get there, and the travel from Trondheim actually takes about 8 hours. Anyway off I went. The local birder and discoverer of the gull - Ingar - was searching the harbour all day. The rain didn't stop for one single second since I left home, but luckily the wind was a bit easier than forecasted.

Of course, this ghost of a gull had decided to leave since yesterday, and it was nowhere to be seen despite our optimistic effort. However, we did manage to see a local Eagle owl (hubro) on its dayroost in the distance and a pair of White-fronted goose (tundragås) which became the only Big Year tick of the day!

White-fronted goose flying in the rain.

In the evening - I turned south.

New species: 1
Total: 132

21 March
Finding myself in eastern parts of Norway after a long drive for most of the night. My plan was to search all flocks of Whooper swans (sangsvane) that migrates through this area this time of the year in hope of finding a Bewick's swan (dvergssvane) that so far has eluded me this year. Needless to say, I did not succeed, but luckily no rain anymore. However, I did manage to find a flock of Mistle thrush (duetrost) and a single Reed bunting (sivspurv) that both were new to the Big Year list.

Further south, I stopped briefly by the long staying Black duck (rødfotand) near Tønsberg, that I saw already 2 January. However, at that time, it was raining so hard, so I didn't manage to document it for my Big Year portfolio. I am not a hundred percent sure of the true identity of this bird, but will await the decision of the rarity comitee if it will count on my list or not.

The somewhat disputed, American black duck.

 

I also stopped by the famous bird area Borrevannet, to see if there were any raptors about (red kite - remember? ) I had a fly by Little woodpecker (dvergspett), which was also a new addition for the year.

A cold notherly was blowing and the only raptors seen during my two hours visit was a Buzzard (musvåk) and Goshawk (hønsehauk). I hurried down to meet my friend, to join him for some insect trapping with his fancy light trap. Waiting for the dark to come, a Woodcock (rugde) displayed over our head in its typical laps around what probably will be its territory,

New species: 4
Total 136

22 March
The idea was to do some raptor watching, but weather was not very cooperative being cloudy and with a icy cold northeasterly blowing quite strong. We quickly changed our tactics, as it was clear that there was lots of passerines about in the bushes despite the wind. A fly by mistle thrush (duetrost) was the bird of the day, even though a couple of Linnet (tornirisk) was the only addition to my Big Year list.

In the evening I headed more south and west. I was going towards the jewel of birding areas in Norway - Jæren. Here, the plan was to see the American wigeon (amerikablessand) that had been  present since last November as well as the long staying Surf scoter (brilleand). Both of them, rare but annual visitor from the US. On the way there, in the very last of light, I manage to stop by a Caspian gull (kaspimåke) that has stayed in the harbour area of Mandal for some time. Contrary to when I had to seach two days for it Fredrikstad, and ticked this species for the first time 12 Februray - this one came immediately. I guess my bread throwing excersice in Fredrikstad payed off, and my previous 1600km drive to tick the species in Fredrikstad could have been spared.

Caspian gull, Mandal. This bird is even colourringed. It was marked as a chick
in a pure caspian gull colony in Belarus! 

A very caspian gull like bird, also seen in Mandal havn. Black bill, whitish head
and breast and the general pale and contrasty and elongated appearance makes this
a good candidate for caspian gull when scanning through a flock of large gulls.
However, details in feather markins on the secondaries and secondary coverts,
as well as on the back reveal its true identity - herring gull (gråmåke).

New species: 3
Total: 139

23 March
After a short, but comfortable night sleeping in the car, I was ready at the wigeon site at first light. Both this one, and the surf scoter have been our so long, that people have become a little bit relaxed about reporting them on the different bird news networks. None of the birds had been reported for a while, but I (stupidly) assumed they anyway were around. It turned out the last sighting of the American wigeon was 9 days ago. It had decided to leave its wintering site much sooner than normal. A strong wind picked up, and even though I searched three hours for the surf scoter this was nowhere to be seen either. The surf scoter normally dont depart its wintering site before  April some time, but appearantly it the birds are getting affected by this very unusually warm and dry winter as well. Two major dips in one day - birds that I felt was going to be easy pickings. I should have learned by now - nothing is easy. I can only hope these rarities will return back for next winter in time to be included on my list.

At a field, nearby I did find a Black crow (svartkråke) which turned out to be the best year tick of this whole trip.

Black crow (svartkråke) - shape of wings, and bill are some of the features that
distinguish this from a juvenile rook (kornkråke). Also, when seen well, it lacks
the shiny colour of that the rook sometimes show.

New species: 4
Total: 143

24-26 March
Now I was really in Red kite (glente) territory. A bird, that for all these years of birding has eluded me on all its visits to Norway. I was spending most days standing on the one spot to look for  raptors. A total of some 30 Buzzards (musvåk), 6 peregrines (vandrefalk) and at least 2 white-tailed eagles (havørn) wasn't very impressive numbers, but it kept my hopes up. Especially since there was a sighting a little bit east of Lista the day before. Normally, birds sighted east of Lista, tend to end up on Lista the next day, and here I was - ready for it to appear and shine! Red kites are a bit difficult, as it is kind of a there and then bird. Meaning, it rarely stays around for others than the one who sees it first to be enjoyed. Weather was shifting and by the third day, it strond winds and even rain set in. Forecast for the next days didn't look promising either, so I decided to change tactics. I was heading north, just after reassuring myself that a long staying Gyr falcon (jaktfalk) that had lingered around for months had decided to leave two days before I arrived.....

Lista light house, a famous land mark both for seamen and birders.

The news about Big Year coming to Lista, and I had appearance both in the regional radio in prime time, as well a page in the local newspaper. The Big Year project is really reaching out to the people!

New species: 5
Total: 148

27 March
I suddenly find myself just south of Oslo, at a place known to be good for raptor migration and where red kites have been seen now and then. This morning, hopes was good, as the weather forecast was promising with blue skies and no wind. Everybody knows, at least if you are coming from the west coast of Norway, that weather forecasts rarely get it right. This was also true for this day, when a heavy cloud cover layed as a thick carpet over the landscape. It even rained a bit, and ice cold notherly breeze set up just to make sure to stop every single raptor that even remotely was thinking about soaring a little to stay on the ground. A passing white-tailed eagle was anyway trying its wings, and is actually a local rarity in this area. I stayed for 3 more hours, and one single sparrow hawk (spurvehauk) and single buzzard (musvåk) was all that stretched their wings this day. Weather forecast quite similar for the next days, so I decided to start the 7 hours drive home. So I did.

At 10am the next morning - a message peeped in that a red kite migrated past the exact spot I was standing yesterday only 22 hours ago..........Birds can certainly pull some practical jokes on birders some times...

Total: still 148.