Big Year Norway Results

Well, soon it's February. Lots of rarities and semi rarities have already been spotted in Norway - unlike last year - my Big Year. When aiming as high as I did, I certainly needed some luck as well as skills and time to be able to succeed. This year has certainly started better than mine did, and I was almost tempted to go for two in a row. But no...this year I need to focus on my photography business. Yes, I do. Or, do I? hmm. Yes, I should.

Last weekend, I did a presentation of my Big Year for a bird club. It forced me to think back on the year and again realising all the great birding and experiences I had through the year. Despite not taking the record, I must anyway be very happy with the result.

I had a lot of time to do my own birding. This was important to me as the very best birds are always the ones you find yourself - without anyone pointing their whereabouts out to you. In Norway, we call these edelkryss - or the nobel twitches.

And to be honest - to find 254 bird species out of a total of 303 seen in Norway within one year myself is something most birders in Norway is going to struggle to beat. On my list of 254 species, some obvious ones are missing - like corncrake and spotted crake for instance - both realtively easy to find myself with some effort involved. The truth is, that this list was not really on my mind - I just realised while thinking back on the year that 2014 was actually a very good year for birds found myself.

Of the 254 species, these are some of the rarer birds I found myself: Great egret (egretthegre), Surf Scoter (brilleand), Black Kite (svartglente), Red kite (glente), Montagus's harrier (enghauk), Red-footed falcon (aftenfalk), Caspian tern (rovterne), Greater short-toed lark (dverglerke), Red-rumped swallow (amursvale), Olive-backed pipit (sibirpiplerke), Citrine wagtail (sitronerle), 2 x Rose-colored starling (rosenstær), Melodious warbler (spottesanger), Corn bunting (kornspurv). 

My Norwegian list increased by 18.

Of the 348 species recorded in total in Norway during 2014, I missed only 19 that was twitchable. Most of these I did actually try for, but came too late for different reasons - mostly because of work. I have defined a bird as twitchable if it was seen at least once more after it first was discovered with at least one night in between. This means I potentially had the time to get there in time if I would have made the effort or time.

To make 303 species in one year in Norway - you need to travel a bit. This also
means seeing places you never have seen before - some of them extremely beautiful.
This is picture show the sky above Northern Norway somewhere.

The effort can maybe be summarised like this:

- 33048km driven in my own car.  
- 28 nights spent in my own car
- 6 roundtrip flights
- 3 times (total 9 days) rental car.
- Visited all the counties of Norway (3 times in Finmark). 
- Did get yearticks in 61 different municipalities.

So, if you are out there wondering what it takes to do a Big Year - this is at least a guiding line to your planning.

Myself and my Swarovski - two inseperable items in 2014.

- EG -

Melanistic Montagu's harrier!

10 May
The day started rather slow, and with few birds seen in the morning. I decided to go to a local decidious forest to look for Wood Warbler (bøksanger) - a new Big Year bird. Havnehagen just inside Lista is a beautiful place - a protected pristine forest. Wood warblers were plenty, and I got a bonus of a hunting Tawny Owl (kattugle).

In the afternoon, I was not sure what to do. But a phonecall about some possible Bee Eaters (bietere) made me go out at 17:00. No luck with the Bee Eaters, but on my way to a the store I suddenly saw a slim harrier roadside. Before I even managed to stop the car, my first thought was Montagu's Harrier (enghauk) - a very rare bird in Norway indeed, but Lista usually has one or two each year. To my surprise the bird was all black, and I had to look twice to make sure I wasn't mistaking the bird for a Marsh Harrier (sivhauk). A confusion which is actually not very likely as the Montagu's has a totally different jizz with its slim body and long and narrow wings. Even so, the bird were all black, and it was soon clear that this was a Montagu's Harrier of the rare melanistic form. To my knowledge, the first record of this form in Norway! I quickly got a few shots with my camera just before the bird dissappeared behind some trees. I alarmed the local birders in the area, but despite searching in the evening it was not seen again.

Black (melanistic) morph of Montagu's Harrier (enghauk) - as far as I know,
the first record for Norway of this form. This picture show the upperside, and
note that it doesn't even show a white rump.

Marsh Harrier (sivhauk) just to show the difference in the jizz. A much more
powerful bird with broad wings and short and large tail.

Melanistic Montagu's Harrier from below. Again pictures only from a distance,
but note the jizz - long narrow wings, especially the hand. Only four "fingers"
visible and long narrow tail. The Montagu's has indeed an unmistakeable shape and
elegancy to itself.

A friend and I waited at a big reed marsh (Slevdalsvann), where harriers that visit the area often spend the night. Heavy rain ment less then ideal conditions for raptor watching. Then, just before dark, at about 21:15, a big raptor that I assumed was one of the local Marsh Harriers took to the air. It made a circle and I instantly saw the triangular tail marking - and made the comment " Black Kite!" I more or less threw myself out of the car to confirm the id with my spotting scope. Fog on the lens ment no view at all and before I got to look it again it had disappeared behind the trees. The whole observations took no more than 5 seconds, and I couldn't positively id the bird - even though I was almost certain it was indeed a black kite. My friend, Geir, amazingly managed to shoot a few pictures of the bird, and they confirmed my suspition. But because of the picture quality, we decided to let the bird go unidentified for now and hope we got better views later. Something that didn't happen before the next morning. A Grasshopper Warbler was singing in the rain and made a nice ending to the evening being the third new Big Year bird of the day.

New birds: 3
Total: 223

11 May
The morning started with the message that a Black Kite had been positively identified at the exact same place we had our bird yesterday! A great start, and I was on it to get better views myself so I could include it on my Big Year list. I have a policy, that I will not include any bird which I don't see the identification clues myself - I needed to see this bird again! Searching for it, the melanistic harrier from yesterday showed again in the distance, and before long I received a message from other birders out looking for the rare harrier that both the Kite and the Harrier were sitting on a field nearby. By this time, I had also received a message via Bird Alarm that two White-winged terns (hvitvingesvartterne) had been seen hunting at Orrevannet - a two hours drive north. I quickly got some views of the Kite as it lifted off from the field and it was only seen once more this morning before it probably left the area.

Black Kite (svartglente) at Lista. 

As the terns are usually very brief on their visit before moving on to the next place, time was of an essence and I soon found myself on the road going north. Only 3 hours since the first message on Bird Alarm went out to the public, I was watching these beautiful birds hunting insects over the lake. Not only a Big Year tick, but also a new bird to my Norwegian list! Since we so quickly got the birds, we decided to bird the area a bit and found a female Black-Redstart (svartrødstjert) at Reve, which also was new Big Year bird. This day was nothing short of excellent!

The rest of the day was rather unexciting, and I returned back to my base at Lista in time to do some afternoon birding here. Adding a Moorhen (sivhøne) and Spotted Redshank (sotsnipe) ment that my total now got up to 228.

New birds: 5
Total: 228

12 May
Northwesterly rather strong winds for most of the day stopped most of the migration. A few good birds such as Spotted crake (myrrikse), a few Wrynecks (vendehals), Quail and a rather late Iceland gull kept the hopes up, but was not adding anything to my Big Year list.

In hand - the Wryneck (vendehals) - really lives up to its name. It bends the neck
 in the most unlikely angels. Here it is pictured in a less embarrasing way -
looking more like a normal bird without any super skills.

13 May
Another day with rather bad northwesterly. Pomarine skua (polarjo) migrating and a flock of 7 Dotterels (boltit) was virtually the only birds worth mentioning. We also saw a submarine with German flags - not sure what that means. This became the second day of May without any new Big Year birds.

A Marsh Harrier (sivhauk) in its favoured habitat - reeds.

14 May
Still northwesterly - not ideal at all for bird migration at Lista. A few hours of seabird watching in the morning gave a Great Skua (storjo), which was expected yet new for my Big Year list.  Luckily, the wind eased a bit over the morning, and I decided to take a long walk in the areas I hadn't visited for a few days. You never know, and after all it is indeed mid May and one should always be ready for something unexpected. When conditions are not ideal, it is just about spending time outside. The only place you are guaranteed not to get anything new, is when sitting inside on the sofa feeling sorry for yourself. And so it was - a beautiful male Citrine Wagtail (sitronerle) made its appearance. So brightly coloured in yellow that it can compete with the easter chicken any day. Unfortunately, the bird stayed rather far out on a field, so that it was not possible to take any decent pictures.

In the afternoon, I visited a nesting site for White-backed Woodpecker (hvitryggspett) nearby. Thanks to the local birder Asle for excellent guiding and help with this sometimes very tricky species. We waited only for about ten minutes before the female appeared with a mouthful of fat insect larvae. She almost directly flew into the nest to feed the chicks before she went off for another foraging trip. Another ten minutes and there she was again. In the meantime, a male Lesser-spotted Woodpecker (dvergspett) had started drumming just next to us and Green Woodpecker (grønnspett) flew by just to emphasize the quality of this beautiful forest. Overhead, no less than five Common Buzzards (musvåk) were having an airborne display to draw the territory lines between them. Getting the White-backed Woodpecker on the Big Year list means that I have now seen all woodpecker species in Norway this year - the first group to be completed. A very nice evening indeed.

The globally rare White-backed Woodpecker
(hvitryggspett) will most likely be one of my top 4 Big Year birds when
it comes to small population numbers globally. The species is very
dependent on old forest, something that unfortunately is dissappearing
every day. In Sweden, the species is already virtually extinct, while in Norway,
thanks to steep fjords and mountains, it is still at least locally fairly common.

New Birds: 2
Total: 230

Green-winged teal

03 April

The day started way too early. Already at 3 am I found myself on the road! I received tip of a Lynx (gaupe) that was eating on a roe deer (rådyr) kill a few hours away (thanks to local newspapers!). This is a mammal I have worked a lot with, but never actually seen wild in Norway. I just had to try for this! In short, I didn't see it, but got Long-tailed tit (stjertmeis) as a comfort prize instead.....This was only the start of my journey this time though.  News of a green-winged teal (amerikakrikkand) that seemed to have settled down a bit reached me the other week, I went for a visit :)

Every year, along with the common teal (krikkand) migration, a few of this American vagrants also show up. April is indeed THE month to see it in Norway, so no surprise with timing or the locality which was Starene - a flooded field near Hamar in southern Norway. Actually, this was my first visit ever to this place. A very nice bonus of doing a Big Year is indeed that I get to visit places and bird localities I have never seen before. After half an hour searching - I found the green-wined teal amongst the other ducks. The evening sun was setting, and with no wind and in the company of some local birders - I truly had a nice time at this site. Birding wasn't too bad either as species such as Pintail (stjertand), Long-eared (horn-) and Short-eared owl (jordugle), White-fronted goose (tundragås), Stock dove (skogdue) and a Stout (røyskatt) made an appearence. Only the short-eared owl was new for the Big Year list.

Look very careful here, and you will see the Green-winged teal's diagnostic
 vertical white line in front of the wing. Ths place is very open, and not
 made for photographers as it is impossible to get close to the bird without
 disturbing them - at least that's the excuse I am haning on to in excuse
 for this rather poor and severly cropped image.

I had timed this trip with the weather forecast, to go south for a day with blue sky in hope of searching up a Red kite (glente). The night was again spent in the comfort of the front seat of my car so that the next morning I would be ready for some birding at Kurefjorden, Rygge. A famous bird site that sometimes also get kites flying by - missed it by one day a week ago!


New birds: 3
Total: 153


04 April
Most of the day was spent at this site and I got plenty of migration and new birds for my Big Year list. Nothing rare, but species such as, Marsh tit (løvmeis), Merlin (dvergfalk), Kestrel (tårnfalk), Rough-legged buzzard (fjellvåk), Dunnock (jernspurv), Chiffchaff (gransanger), Green woodpecker (grønnspett) were all new birds to the Big Year list. However, probably the three best birds were a flock of 8 bean geese (sædgås), a Crane (trane) and a Bar-tailed godwit (lappspove) but none of these were big year ticks. While standing looking for migrating raptors I got a message about some Garganeys (knekkand) a few kilometers further south. So since the raptor migration was rather slow, I decided to have a look in the afternoon. Garganeys are semi rare in Norway, so why spoil this chance. Yet again, for the 3rd time this year already, I found myself in Fredrikstad - about 600km away from home.

Two out of 6 Garganeys seen at this place :)

This day also brought me on top of the year tick listers for the first time this year. Many people have seemed a bit worried that I have been displaying so far down on the lists so far this year. I do have a plan, and all that really matters to me is where I am on this list at the end of this year.

New birds: 8
Total: 161


05 April
I spent the night at a friend's place in Oslo before I decided to search for swans. I am really getting a bit nervous that my chance of Bewick's swan (dvergsvane) has eluded me this year because of an unusually early swan migration. Normally last week of March is the peak for these, but this year warm winter made them travel through already first week of March. On top of this, they seem to get a bit harder to get in Norway as only three birds have been seen this year - two of them I missed by only a few hours!

I searched all the traditional places for swans in the inner parts east of Oslo and the large valley all the way up to Trondheim (a roughly 560km drive), but only about 40 whooper swans (sangsvaner) were seen.  I did find a flock of 4 Green sandpipers (skogsnipe) at Hærsetsjøen, which was the only big year tick of today.

The next evening I tried again for the lynx, that still was reported to feed on its kill. I spent three evenings here. That is my excuse for not have kept the blog updated, but more on that later.

New: 1
Total: 162


-EG-

Nature is the greatest artist

As a photographer I often try to make my pictures something special - something close to art. However, sometimes, it is just to point the camrea and shoot. Welcome to the world of the mandarin duck (mandarinand). Big year tick # 149.

A mallard (stokkand) can sometimes look nice as well

Mandarin duck originates from East Asia, where they are freshwater birds often hanging out in big rivers or shallow lakes. They breed in hollow trees. Appearantly, in Korean culture they represent peace. I like that.

The birds seen in Europe originates either directly or indirectly from captivity as this species understandably is popular amongst bird collecters and as park ornaments. A relatively small population is breeding in Southern England and that originates from escaped birds from captiviy. These two males turned up in the river next to my garden.

New species: 1

Total: 149

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.

Owl magic

Parts of South Eastern Norway has always been attractive for those of us that has a little bit more than an avarage interest in owls. A friend and myself set off from Trondheim rather late, and after the six hours drive we had arrived at our destination - the owl forest - at 10pm. The two main targets for this trip was two of Norway's both most sought after and rarest breeding birds. Both Great-grey (lappugle) and Ural owl (slagugle) has a breeding population of 10-50 pairs in Norway, and both are difficult to get even when you know where they are. Great-grey because its song is of such a low frequency that it is audible for human ears at no more than about 500m distance. And even though a very few can be seen hunting during daytime, most of them are actually strictly nocturnal. Ural owl is not only rare, but also a very silent owl. It is amongst the owls with the biggest sound repertoire, but at the same time most seldom sing.

Both of these owls are amongst the larger owls, and need lots of old forest in their territory. They are relatively common in our neighbouring countries like Sweden and Finland, but in Norway, they continue to be an extremely rare sight. Why this is isn't completely understood, but the fact that only about 3% of Norway can be classified as wilderness, and that even though we have lots of forest, we have extremely little old healthy forest left certainly must be part of the reason.

One of our main target, the Great-grey owl. So rare, so mythical and so ghost like.
Often just referred to as the shadow of the forest. As the only one we saw, crossed
the road and was visible only for a second or two, I do need to dive into my archive
to find a picture to set the atmosphere. Hopefully, a true great grey big year owl will
show up on the blog later some time.

So here we are, on a small forest road in a remote corner of Norway. The sky is clear and crisp, dotted with million of stars that fight between them to shine brighter than the full moon that is just about to rise. We stop the car next to a forest clearing, and not only ten minutes go by before we both hear something that none of us has ever heard before. A rythmical woof-woof-woof sound. So unmistakable and characteristic - yet totally new to both of us. The first owl magic had happened, as we realised that a great-grey owl actually was singing only a few hundred meters away from us! I've seen the species several times before, but never heard it. A tengmalm's owl was hooting nearby as well - just to add a little to the atmosphere!

We had decided to spend two nights in the forest, but with one of the targets already safely bagged we drove to another area we knew would give us a decent chance for hearing ural owl (slagugle). We arrived at site at midnight, and waited. Then we waited some more, and after that even some more. A distant tengmal's owl was singing, and the full moon was now accompanied by a northern light high on the sky - something very rare to see this far south. It was a special atmosphere staring up in the sky, listening to all the different sounds that the forest reveals during night. Despite standing there for two hours, no ural owls were heard. The forest certainly could hide its secrests well. We decided to search a bit around in the area before returning later in the morning. Another tengmalm's owl, singing close to the road was whistled in by my mimickry, and gave us some brief views before it realised I was no owl. On the other side of a forest clearing, some calls of a mammal started to fill the air. I have been working on a lynx project (radio tracking) earlier, and are well used to the calls of this rare forest cat from some captive animals at my University back in the student times. This one was certainly the right tone for it, but lacked the steady rhytm that lynx usually gives. The call from Red fox is very variable and can sometimes be is very similar. Even though I feel almost certain that what we heard was indeed a lynx, I won't exclude red fox one hundred percent....but it certainly helped the adrenaline rush up a bit! Bits by bits, the nocturnal secrets reveal itself.

Back for another hour at the ural owl site, but without any calls heard. Very silent indeed. The temperature had now dropped to about minus 5, and with a strong flu that had grew on me the last day, it felt rather cold. We decided to try again tomorrow and rather to search for other territories.

A couple of weeks ago, there were reports of more than 30 tengmalm's singing in this area - we only heard 5 for the whole night out in perfect conditions. This mean they have most likely already laid their eggs, and so have started the breeding season early this year.

A picture from the archive a few years back. Not as big as
the great grey, but the tengmalm's owl is certainly worth a piccture
or two as well. This bird was singing next to the road, just as several
of the tengmalm's we had on this trip were doing.

When light slowly faded out the exciting dark hours, the powerful drumming from black woodpecker (svartspett) started to sound like machine guns going off all over the forest. At one place, we had a male three-toed woodpecker (tretåspett), two Great-spotted woodpeckers (flaggspett) and one or two Black woodpeckers calling at the same time. Talk about quality birding! We continued to drive around on the small forest roads in hope of seeing the grey shadow of the forest. It was excitement around every corner, as we never knew what was waiting.

And then - suddenly - at 11:30 in the morning - a grey large owl flew across the road. Great grey! What an amazing bird. Fantastic, though frustrating at the same time as it dissappeared as quickly as we saw it. It flew straight across the road and went into the forest. We searched the area for an hour without any luck of finding it back. We did however find a big stick nest, where it might choose to breed later in the season.

Great-grey habitat. Despite searching for a couple of hours on nearby marshes and in
nearby forest, we never managed to find back the great grey that just was in too
 much of a hurry to truly let us enjoy its whereabouts and ghost like soul. 

Reports of a bewick's swan (dvergsvane) further south, and still no sleep since we left home made us leave the magic forest for a while. Searching through 500 whooper swans saw no signs of the bewick's that only hours before was present. This is the second time in a couple of weeks that I miss this species by a few hours only....maybe this is going to be my bogey bird in my Big Year?

3pm, and we now decided to get some much needed sleep - it had been 32 hours since last time....
Since the weather was so nice, we decided to camp out and just put our sleeping bags out in the forest close to a well known breeding site for Eagle owl (hubro), which was our next target. Three hours later, we both woke up by an eagle owl singing not far away - the best alarm clock one can possibly imagine and another great experience and big year tick!

After enjoying the eagle owl for some time, and since owl song activity usually is at its best just after dark - we decided to head straight back to the ural owl site. Eight o'clock we arrived, and what we waited more than 3 hours in vain for yesterday night, we now only had to wait about 10 minutes before contact calls from a female ural owl started to echo through the forest! Wow! As we enjoyed this for a few minutes, we suddenly heard a call in another direction that made both of us simultanously shout (in a whispering way) Great grey owl! This is way out of any known areas for it, and we decided to investigate this further and went in the direction of the call. While standing there, trying to hear more of what we only heard one time, the male ural owl decided to start singing from up the road. This is one of the most magic bird calls you can ever hear. A hollow, deep hooting - yet musical in a way was echoing from far away. The strong call can easily be heard a few kilometers away, and now, after a total of more than four hours within hearing distance of its territory, we got our reward. The male was singing for no more than 10 minutes tops, before it all went as silent as if there was never an owl around. This proves just how difficult it can be to locate ural owls during night time. After this amazing experience, we decied to leave the area and listen for any singing great greys where we earlier in the day saw one flying over the road. We stopped about 500m away and heard a distant, great grey singing. However, the direction where this birds was sitting might very well mean it was yet another great grey - but it is difficult to say for sure. Rest of the night was spent searching for more forest magic, but apart from a tengmalm's, the forest was very silent. Some sleep, and more searhcing on the forest roads the next morning gave 3 singing Pygmy owls (spurveugle), a hunting Hawk owl (haukugle) a fly by Hazel grouse (jerpe) and then finally another Big Year tick when 8 males and at least 3 females Black grouse (orrfugl) were feeding in top of a roadside tree.

One of three pygmy owls, that entertained us on the many forest roads. 

A total of 1340km on smaller and bigger roads, and we were back home. Despite almost not a single image taken, this certainly rank as one of the most exciting and successful birding trips in my career. We were welcomed home by a blizzard, but who cares - we had witnessed owl magic!

New species: 6
Total: 131


-EG-      

Owling

During a birding year, one comes across many great experiences with wildlife and birds. Some of these, are glued to my mind a bit stronger than others. Within a birding year, there are also many seasons. Different times of year which have different things to offer. One of these seasons, and my personal favourite is the owl season (ugle). The owl season is essentially the month of March. Thats when these fantastic birds start their breeding season, and their song activity is at its peak. Most of the owls only sing after dark, and luckily, daylight hours are fairly short in Norway at this time of year, so we are getting plenty of great owl time!

However, this year has been a bit slow so far in my home area. A steady easterly has ensured to shut down the owls. In my experience, if the trees make any sound - it is too much wind and owls won't sing. The last week, I have been three trips to try for Eagle owl (hubro) nearby, but nothing to be heard except a couple of Tawny owls (kattugle).

The next days though, even though there are forecastet  50 knots wind at home, in southern Norway the forecast seems perfect. Not too cold, a nearly full moon and absolutely no wind. The birds I will be looking for is not only one of my favorites, but also one of the rarest and most difficult breeding birds in Norway to see. I will make sure to keep you posted on how my little owl adventure goes!

This ural owl I photographed in Finland a few years back. It was actively
hunting in the forest edge, but to make it perform like this
in front of the camera we used a bait. 

The last week, has, apart from preparing for the upcoming owl trip been very much a office week. A few short trips to make another tv interview, look at the local gulls (found an iceland gull! (grønlandsmåke) ) and working on the upcoming book some colleagues and myself are working on. Hope to get it out there before migration season seriously kicks in!


-EG-

Big Year project in media

Part of my purpose with my Big Year project is to increase interest for birds and birding in Norway. Saturday, my project reached the national news. A nice article featuring some of my images and my project was at the front page of the largest broadcasting company in Norway - NRK.

The article is still (while writing this) on the front page, and can be viewed here: Big Year in NRK

If you don't understand Norwegian, you can always look at the pictures - Enjoy!


-EG-

Easy pickings

The last week was spent back in the area where I grew up and learned my way around the birds back in the days. This is in fact one of the better areas for birding in Norway, so I’m sure I will return many times during the year. Because there has been a very mild winter in Norway so far, there are still a lot of birds around that normally should rather have been way further south along a sunny beach somewhere. The brutal truth came real in the beginning of last week, when frost and temperatures well below minus 10 celsius for most of the country finally arrived. This means that birds get pushed out to the coast. So did I.

A long awaited winter seems finally to arrive. Minus 10-20 celsius in most of
the country, makes hoar frost on the trees and landscape very pretty.

13 January

Conveniently, last night, a report of a Wood lark (trelerke) appeared on the Bird Alarm system just in the area I anyway was thinking of going. This is a species that only breeds in the very south eastern parts of Norway, and sparsely so. Getting this species already this early in the year means saved time searching the breeding areas later in the season. As far as I know, this is only the 7th record of this species in my county Møre og Romsdal, where the first being a bird myself and a friend found in 2003.

I started the day by doing my regular route along the coast of Hustadvika. A nice surprise, and a bit unexpected in one of the harbours looking for any Arctic gulls was Grey-headed woodpecker (gråspett). It was feeding in the old nests of a seasonly abandonned Kittiwake (krykkje) colony. In the bushes below was also a Robin (rødstrupe). Another unusual winter bird in this part of the country, and another new species of the year for me. Actually, there was going to be a good day for new species for the year as I got 19 in total this day. Top birds such as Lapland longspur (lappspurv), Dunlin (myrsnipe), Peregrine (vandrefalk) topped the hall of fame for the day – of course sharing the place with the Wood lark. A little bit of a nerve wrecking experience appeared when a Sparrowhawk (spurvehauk) flew by (making my first of the year) and scared all the birds at the moment I stepped out of the car. Above me flew a short-tailed bird, and the gentle fluttering calls of the wood lark revealed its identity. It dissappeared bound north. Although certain of the species, I didn’t want this shitty observation to be the only one on my year list. Waiting has never been a problem for me, and about 30 minutes later the lark was back at the bird feeder (!). A nice year tick was safely bagged. Just after this, an adult male Northern Goshawk (hønsehauk) made a scene, the woodlark luckily excaped its razor sharp talons. I enjoyed the lark some more, before a beautiful moon rise made me grab the camera and run for a nice exposure.

New species: 19

Total: 79

The wood lark that escaped both a hungry sparrowhawk
 and a goshawk attack. 

Moonrise in winter wonderland.

14 January
Up early to reach the ferry to the islands. Outside Molde, there are a group of islands which always produce some good birding year round. Between these islands, there are extesive shallow waters, which also means that this is one the best places in Norway to see sea birds such as divers (lommer), grebes (dykkere), alcids (alkefugler) and other feathery critters connected to the sea in some way. My main goal for the day was to find White-billed diver (gulnebblom). In the right condition and season, one can see as many as 30 in one day in this area. Nowhere else in Norway is the density of this species as high as here. Most of the birds wintering here, is believed to arrive from the breeding areas in Arctic Canada. We saw six on this trip, but unfortuntely the new ferry makes space outside very limited and thus photographing them much more difficult now than a few years back.  I easily saw the usual alcids such as Puffin (lunde), Razorbill (alke), Little auk (alkekonge), Common guillemot (lomvi) and Black guillemot (teist) giving great views from the ferry’s lounge area. White-tailed eagles were plenty and at least 8 or so were seen perching on the small islets in the area.
 Finally arriving Sandøya, the main destination of the day. This island is flat, bordered by sandy beaches and small bays where lots of kelp are pushed up by the sea during any winter storm. The middle of the island is dominated by agricultural fields and gardens. A nice mix for birds any time of the season. The island is small, and birding is best done by walking around the island. Didn’t find any big surprises, but my year list increased for every beach we visited. Best birds being unusual high numbers of Meadow pipits (heipiplerke) for the season. At least 15 were feeding in the kelp, as did a Snow bunting (snøspurv), about 30 Ruddy turnstones (steinvender), a Lapwing (vipe) and a group of 30 Teals (krikkand) just to mention a few. Walking a ditch with open water flushed at least 7 Snipes (enkeltbekkasin), but the best was saved for last as a group of at least 6 Orcas (spekkhugger) passed by while we were waiting for the ferry (yes, I know they are not birds, but whales are cool too). 

New species: 13
Total: 92

A grey heron (gråhegre) enjoying winter light. Short days, also means that it
is easy to experience sunrise and sunset without staying up at unearthy hours
of the day. Even I can make it.

15 January

Decided to go birding south in the county. The island Giske, is another flat but very interesting bird locality at the coast. Before getting there, I stopped by a small frozen lake. The river that runs out from it usually attracts a few birds. Apart from the usual ducks, there was also a Little grebe (dvergdykker) feeding. In the trees surrounding the lake, there were at least 4 Collared doves (tyrkerdue). This is a species that fluctuates somewhat in Norway as it doesn’t seem to cope with strong winters very well. The last years, there have been a couple of winters with much snow and cold weather and the population of collared doves is at the moment very low. It can actually be a tricky bird to find, if you don’t know exactly where to search for it.

At Giske, there were again lots of birds with highlights being Bar-tailed godwit (lappspove), 9 Dunlins (myrsnipe), 12 Redshanks (rødstilk) and 4 Scaups (bergand) as well as 5 Skylarks (sanglerke) and lots of pipits (piplerker). Nothing I wouldn’t for sure see later in the season, but very nice birds and numbers for a winter day birding in Norway. A flock of at least 63 Chaffinch (bokfink), was also a unusually high number for this species in the season. In the kelp washed up on shore were lots of pipits. I found a very strangely coloured one. Much paler and browner than the others, and hopes were immediately raised of this being a buff-bellied (myrpiplerke) or a Water pipit (vannpiplerke). Both of them being extremely rare in Norway, as well as a bit tricky identification vice. Spending quite some time with this bird, and photographing it from all possible angels, I was at the end more or less convinced it had too much and too washed out streaking as well as not white enough underparts to belong to either of the rarer species. An unusual coloured Rock pipit (skjærpiplerke) was all it was. But it was for sure fun as long as it lasted. These are the things that make the adrenalin rush, and excitement being born. The challenge of not only finding these strange birds, but also to identify them correctly and compare them to (almost) identical species with all their plumage and jizz variation are very fun indeed.

A look alike rarity - but is in fact just a rock pipit.

On the way back, a disturbing noise from my car appeared uncomfortably loudly. Is this the end of my Big Year? Make sure to follow to see how it goes….

New species: 3

Total: 96

-EG-

Big Year Norway 2014!

Soon, it's kick off time! The last years I have been so absorbed in my photography, that I almost lost touch of the birder in me. In 2014, this will all change.

I decided to do a BIG YEAR. That means trying to see as many bird species as possible within one year in Norway. It has never been done (officially at least) in Norway before. For one year, I will travel here and there to all the far flung corners of this beautiful country to attempt to see every species - breeding or not - that decide to pay Norway a visit. Within ethical limits, I will also try to document as many of the species as possible with my camera. My goal for the year is 320 species, a number higher than anyone ever before has managed to reach, but to manage that I need more than hard effort. As there are "only" about 242 regular breeding bird species in Norway, I need also to have a bit of luck with the different rarities that might turn up. The area covered in this project is Norway and Svalbard.

Through Big Year Norway 2014, I also try to raise some money - not for myself, but to facilitate birding in a suitable locality somewhere in Norway. This will hopefully include boardwalks, bird hides and whatever the locality needs to make birds available to people and at the same time not disturbing the birds. The idea is to increase the birding interest amongst the public in that area, and through that making more people want to protect our birds. As I have been out in the field, with almost no time in front of computers or within phone reach since early May, I must admit that the planning of Big Year Norway 2014 has suffered a tiny bit. So if you reading this works in a company that might be willing to contribute, or you know someone that does, please don't hesitate to contact me. The money raised will not go to sponsor any of my birding trips - but everything will go into making a nice birding locality for the public. Since I am little behind with the planning, there are still some details left to settle on the exact choice of birding area.

There are already a few collaboration partners in Big Year Norway 2014 - but there are still room for more! Don't hesitate to contact if you want to contribute to this bird saving project!

Updates on Big Year Norway 2014 will happen on a regular basis on this blog and in other media, so be sure to visit often.

This will be an interesting year - full of birds and stories. Kick off time is 1st of January 2014!

This buff-bellied pipit I found in Svalbard in June 2011. It was only the 4th for
 Norway, and the first one to be seen in breeding plumage. Will this species
be included in my Big Year?

-EG-

Searching for years....

I remember the very first time I came to Svalbard. It was 6th June 2001. As many of the other people visiting Svalbard, one of my biggest hope was to see the Ross’s gull. After all Svalbard is part of the Arctic, and the ross’s gull is an Arctic species.

Many years have passed since 2001, and I have visited Svalbard virtually in every one of them. I have searched the flocks of kittiwakes, I have searched south of Svalbard, east of Svalbard, west of Svalbard, north of Svalbard, in the sea ice, outside the sea ice. In summer and winter, in autumn and spring. I have even searched some of the remote eastern shores of Greenland, but I’ve never seen a ross’s gull (apart from the one bird I saw in southern Sweden in 2002). Every year, herds of tourists are visiting Svalbard, many of them birders, and apparantly many of them see the ross’s gull on their brief visit. Why not. After all, they are visiting the Arctic, and ross’s gull is an Arctic species. What I have always found very strange, is that despite more cameras than ever before are coming with these human visitors there has as far as I know not been a single one of these ross’s gulls that have been documented since 2001. You have probably guessed already, since I have bothered to write this blog that this has now changed.

Frankly, I started to think that ross’s gull was one of those species that only exists in bird books. I’ve almost given up my hopes for this species, when I suddenly saw a very peculiar marked bird flying along side our research vessel. The flight was actually not very much different from a kittiwake, but the markings were a give away. A beautiful juvenile ross’s gull! Outside the window I have so many times before looked through in the hope of seeing one. Here it was, alone but not lonely. The gull was soon joined by a kittiwake, and then I could appreciate the size difference between the two. A few minutes went by, and as it left us into the horison westwards I couldn’t help thinking that this was nothing like I imagined the jizz of a ross’s gull. The plumage I just had seen is actually not illustrated in any bird book – not mine at least. So I had to look at my images carefully to double check. Yes indeed – a juvenile ross’s gull.

A couple of blue whales later and a few days had passed – north of Svalbard somewhere I was still smiling from the nice ross’s gull observation when I again looked out the window. Two ross’s gulls! This time, they behaved much more like I’ve always pictured them in my head. Very swift, elegant, and throwing themselves from side to side rapidly changing directions. They reminded me not at all about kittiwakes, but much more of pratincoles hunting for insects. Even though these birds where exactly similar patterned as my first one, they gave a very different appearance and experience. Best of all – I managed to document them all J

It seems to be an exceptional good year for the species in Svalbard this year as two other obersvations have also been reported and documented. One from June and another from August - both concerning single adult bird.

-EG-

Payday!

After two weeks on my prime local birding spot, not a single new bird was seen. Nice observaitons of Greater short-toed lark (dverglerke), Citrine wagtail (sitronerle) and numerous rather confusing varieties of Arctic redpolls made the hopes stay high for the whole period, but we all felt like the star was missing. I tried to make a star of myself when I was interviewed by the Norwegian Broadcasting Radio (NRK) in a 2hr show about nature, but that was about it of fun events on the magical island. Hard work in the field despite, no big rarities wanted to pay us a visit this year.

It wasn't until I arrived back home that the nice message turned up on my cell phone - Stilt sandpiper! Only a short drive away, and what a bird! A long wanted "lifer", and he was a real crowd pleaser. For once, a bird that was cooperative, and the ever increasing crowd of happy birders could enjoy the spectacular bird until few meters distance. The Stilt sandpiper (styltesnipe), is only previously recorded two times in Norway with the last one all the way back in 1993. It breeds in subarctic and Arctic North America, and if they don't get lost on their way south like this one - they should spend the winter in Central- and South America.

This morning, some friends and I went out for an early morning photo shoot of the very welcome celebrity.

A big thank you goes to the local birder Per Inge Værnesbranden for passing on the message of this extraordinary recording, and let the rest of Norway's bird community take part in the nice experience.

Now I'm off to London to take part in a big nature photo award ceremony I was invited to join. More on that later.

-EG-