Sunnmorsbirder - Birding the northwest coast of Norway

torsdag 29. desember 2016

Birding 2016

With only a couple of days left of 2016, I think it's time to take a look back at the highlights of the past year. It has not been the most exiting year rarity-wise, but I have had my hands full doing field work in the seabird cliffs at Runde and in Ålesund, and working on my own personal projects on the Common grasshopper warbler (gresshoppesanger) and the European Stonechat (svartstrupe). It's not all about the rarities...

January
The year started of with gulling, as it usually does. You see, when we come in to January the fisheries starts. And with a lot of fishing boats going in and out from the fishing grounds, it brings a lot of gulls to shore. We have a fish landing site in the harbor on the island were I live. This attracts, on the best days, thousands and thousands of gulls. And with such numbers everything i possible.

Not many days had passed until the first "white winger" of the year showed up. On the 3rd of January I saw a 4th winter Iceland gull (grønlandsmåke) on my local harbor at Sandshamn, Sandsøya. This was followed by 6 more throughout the month. Other local rarities that was seen on my islands, Sandsøya and Voksa, in January, was a Northern Shirke (varsler) and a Northern harrier (myrhauk), both very unusual to see here, especially in winter.

Iceland gull (grønlandsmåke) 2cy, Sandshamn, Sandsøya 9. January 2016

Northern shrike, Voksevegen 15. January 2016

The highlight of January came on the 5th. when I caught and ringed a 2cy Iceland gull in Volda. I went there to pick up my mother. Before I left for Volda, I knew that a Iceland gull had been seen there a few days earlier. In fact this was not the same gull, but a Iceland gull is a Iceland gull. This became the first color ringed "iceland" in the county of Møre og Romsdal.

Iceland gull (grønlandsmåke) 2cy, Volda 5. January 2016

Iceland gull (grønlandsmåke) 2cy, Volda 5. january 2016

Iceland gull (grønlandsmåke) 2cy, Volda 5. January 2016

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February
February brought more of the same, with more white winged gulls. In fact the highlight of february was also a "white winger", specifically a Glaucous gull (polarmåke). This bird was found on the Island where I live, Sandsøya, after a hurricane on the 29th of January. I was out driving, just looking for damages after the strong winds, when the Glaucous gull suddenly just stood in the middle of the road. I then took it with me home and placed it in the shower i our bathroom for a few days, so that it could get its strength back. The gull was probably far out at sea when the weather was at its worst, so it's no surprise that it was a bit beaten up. On the 4th of February I released the gull. It stayed at my local harbor for a couple of days before moving on. Before releasing the bird, it got both a metal and a color ring around its legs, so that I could see how it went with it. To this date, after it left the harbor, I haven't had any sightings of the gull.

Glaucous gull (polarmåke) 2cy, Støyle, Sandsøya 3.February 2016

Glaucous gull (polarmåke) 2cy, Støyle, Sandsøya 3. February 2016

Whilst I kept the recovering glaucous gull, I also had a Great black-backed gull (svartbak). I found the Great black-backed a couple of days after I had taken in the Galucous gull. The Great black-backed was completely wet, probably from falling in to a container with fatty fish water. Fatty water like that would completely ruin the water repellent feathers, so that the feathers would work like a sponge, becoming heavy and full of water. Completely wet and incapable of flying, the bird would either freeze to death or get caught by a predator. After I got my hands on it, I took it back home and placed it in our second bathroom. Firstly I showered it with relatively hot water, so that it got its body temperature back up again. After 30 minutes of this treatment, I used a hairdryer to dry the feathers properly for another two hours. After this treatment the bird quickly became more nimble. I could probably have released it right there and then, but to be sure that the gull cleaned its feathers properly and jet again became water repellent I took it in to care for another couple of days. The gull was starving, and as soon as I gave it some fish it started to eat. After eating fish and cleaning its feathers for a couple of days I released it back where I found it, at Sandshamn. The gull flew off, and seemed to be as strong as ever before.

Great black-backed gull (svartbak) 2cy, Støyle, Sandsøya 3. February 2016

But that was not the last I heard from this bird. Before releasing it I ringed it the same way as I did with the Galucous gull, with a metal and a color ring around each leg. On the 4th of may, 90 days after its release, the bird was sighted at Tangen garbage dump in Askim in the southeastern part of Norway. The distance from Sandsøya to Askim is about 429 km. A few days later the gull was seen again. This time it was seen in a seagull colony just a few kilometers outside our capital, the city of Oslo. And the bird looked healthy and in good condition. It's when you get results like that, you really see that the time you put into getting the the birds back on its wings was time well spent. And for me there's no greater feeling than knowing that you saved a life!

Here is a map showing the movements of the Great black-backed gull.

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March
In March there was not much to talk about. A Northern harrier (myrhauk) was seen on the 15th of march at Helland, Sandsøya. This was probably the same bird that I first saw in the middle of january, and that spent the winter in the area. There was also seen a Glaucous gull (polarmåke) at Sandshamn, Sandsøya on the 26th of march. This was only the second Glaucous gull of the winter. The lowest number I have had since I started gulling i 2007. In addition to the Glaucous gull, there was still a few Iceland gulls (grønlandsmåke) around...

Glaucous gull (polarmåke) 2cy, Sandshamn, Sandsøya 26. March 2016

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April

April is a month that I really look forward to each year. This is the month that many passerine species and other birds start to arrive the country after spending the winter further south. The species I'm looking forward seeing the most each spring, is the Common grasshopper warbler (gresshoppesanger). Since 2010 I have worked really hard monitoring these birds. And for me they are just like close friends. In good years with warm southerly winds and good weather, the grasshopper warblers can arrive as early as around the 20th of April. In more normal years they arrive their territories from around the 1st of may, and throughout the moth, with a peak in arrival mid may. This year I came across my first male Common grasshopper warbler on the 30th of April, as the first in Norway in 2016. This was my first April record since 2011. The bird was sighted in Våge at Sandsøya, the place, that to my knowledge, has had the highest nomber of grasshopper warblers recorded at one time in Norway. In May and june of 2011 there were no less than 10 males at this location.

Common grasshopper warbler, 2cy+ male, Våge, Sandsøya 30. April 2016

Other observations that was worth mentioning from april, was a Carrion crow (svartkråke) that was seen at Bringsvor, Sandsøya on the 24th of april, and that stayed on the island at least until the 9th of may, when it was last seen. This was my second record of this species on the islands of Sandsøya and Voksa. Furthermore species like Common crane (trane), Northern herrier (myrhauk) and Rough-legged buzzard (fjellvåk), was seen in the second half of the month. On the 28th of April I also came across the islands second ever Hawfinch (kjernebiter) at Myklegard, Sandsøya. But the biggest rarity of the month was probably a bird that I unfortunately could't id with a 100% certainty. The bird I'm talking about was small harrier with a clean orange underside and a well marked neck "boa". All the characters that I saw pointed towards Pallid harrier (steppehauk), a 2cy bird. Unfortunately the bird flew away before I got a good enough glimpse of it, or a photograph.

Carrion crow (svartkråke), Bringsvor, Sandsøya 24. April 2016

Northern harroer (myrhauk) 2cy, Støyle, Sandsøya 29. April 2016
With a Hooded crow (kråke) to the left.

Birding 2016 part 2

May
At the start of May I used a lot of time to look for newly arrived Common grasshopper warbler (gresshoppesanger) males. Since 2011 I have used the same methodology. To get the most accurate arrival date on the earliest grasshopper warbler males, I check each potential territory for males using playback. If there's a male, it will react with either song or a call, or it will fly towards the speaker playing the sound, to scare away what it believes to be an intruding male. If I do this daily I will get an extremely accurate arrival date. It's a lot of work, but it's wort it.

In May of 2016 I came across six new Common grasshopper warbler males. If we add the male that I first came across on the last day of april, the total for 2016 stopped at seven males. On the island were I live, Sandsøya, and the neighboring island, Voksa, the total of males stopped at a record low three. This is the lowest number I have had on the islands since I discovered my first grasshopper warbler here in the mid 2000s.

But it wasn't all bad... On the 7th of May I came across, for me, the rarity of the year. After one of my many field days looking for grasshopper warblers on the islands, I came home and sat down at my kitchen table. My uncle was also there. Suddenly he asked me if I knew what kind of creature it was that ran over our lawn. I took a quick glance, and I almost could't believe my eyes. It was a EURASIAN STONE CURLEW (triel)! This is a huge rarity in Norway with under 30 records in total. Following a record from Frei in 2008, this was the second observation of this species in the county of Møre og Romsdal. The Eurasian Stone curlew resides in central and southern parts of Europe north to northern Germany and the UK. And to have a bird like that running just outside your house door is quite unreal!

Eurasian stone curlew (triel) 2cy+, Støyle, Sandsøya 7. May 2016

Another observation worth mentioning was a pair of Corn crakes (åkerikse) heard on the south side of Sandsøya on 23rd of May. There was a singing male accompanied by a vocal female. This was my first encounter with a female Corn crake.

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June and july
When we came into June the field work in the seabird cliffs at Runde started in earnest. There I monitor species like the Atlantic puffin (lunde), Black-legged kittiwake (krykkje), European shag (toppskarv), the Great skua (storjo) and so on. I have been doing field work here since 2009, so that means that this was my eight season at Runde.

Other than fieldwork at Runde and in Ålesund, both on the same seabird monitoring project, there was little to mention in June. The Corn crake male first heard on the 23rd of May was still around singing. It was followed by a second singing male. That meant that for the first time ever I had two singing Corn crake (åkerrikse) males at Sandsøya at the same time. There was also heard a singing Common quail (vaktel) at Voksa on the 26th of June and on the 4th of July.

This is a archive photo of a singing Corn crake male from 2011. This bird was in fact heard singing as early as on the 2nd of May, as one of the earliest spring sightings of this species in Norway ever recorded.

Corn crake (åkerrikse) 2cy+ male, Våge, Sandsøya 3. May 2011

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August
This month there was once again not much to talk about, at least not rarity-wise. On the night of the 19th and 24th of August, I did something that I have been doing since I got my ringing license i 2013, namely ringing European storm-petrels (havsvale). This year I caught 30 petrels in two ringing sessions. 29 of them got a metal ring, and one had a ring from before. Just to be out in the late summer night and at the same time get close to a small seabird species like the European storm-petrel, is for me the best. I think that many more people should get the chance to do something like that...

European storm-petrel (havsvale) 2cy+, Hellandsvågane, Sandsøya 19. August 2016

Birding 2016 part 3

September
September started off the best way possible. You see, on the 8th I came across a Greater short-toed lark (dverlerke). This species is a huge rarity in Norway with just a few recorded each year. The bird was seen at Runde. My colleague Alv Ottar Folkestad and I were on our way to do field work on the island, when the lark suddenly was sitting in the middle of the road. To my knowledge this was the second record of this species at Runde. Normally you have to travel to southern Europe to see the Greater short-toed lark. But sometimes, specially in spring and autumn some birds fly to far and end up as far north as Noway. This was my second record of this southern lark species, just following a bird I saw outside my house at Sandsøya in May last year.

Greater short-toed lark (dverglerke) 2cy+, Hammarsneset, Runde 8. September 2016

After the lark encounter, there was not much to talk about before the second half of the month. From the 17th and out the month, I came across species like Yellow-browed warbler (gulbrynsanger), Water rail (vannrikse), Jack snipe (kvartbekkasin), Glaucous gull (polarmåke), Yellow wagtail (gulerle) and European stonechat (svartstrupe). They were all seen on the islands were I live, at Sandsøya and Voksa. These islands are located on the northwest coast of Norway just north of Stad.

Yellow-browed warbler (gulbrynsanger) 1cy+ Støyle, Sandsøya 21. September 2016

Glaucous gull (polarmåke) 1cy/juvenile, Sandshamn, Sandsøya 22. September 2016

Western marsh-harrier (sivhauk) 1cy/juvenile, Våge, Sandsøya 22. September 2016

European stonechat (svartstrupe) 1cy female and male, Våge, Sandsøya 25. September 2016

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October
October is one of the best months of the year when we're talking about finding rare birds. With the autumn migration well underway, everything is possible . I didn't really find any extremely rare birds this october, but I still can't complain. I started the month off with catching and ringing the young male European stonechat (svartstrupe) that first had been seen in Våge at Sandsøya on the 22nd of September.

European stonechat ssp. hibernans (svartstrupe) 1cy male, Våge, Sandsøya 3. October 2016

This was followed by a sighting of what had to be a 1cy/juvenile glaucous gull x herring gull hybird. The gull looked at first glimpse like a good Glaucous gull, but pigmentation inwards on the bill, on primaries and on tail feathers, suggested that there was some herring genes involved here.

This month also produced the highest count of Water rails recorded (vannrikse) at one time on the islands. On the 21st of October I came across six vocal birds, and in addition to those I scared up a seventh bird. They were all seen and heard at Voksa.

In addition to the gull hybrid and the Water rails there was also seen a couple of small groups of European goldfinches (stillits). There was also a small invasion of Long-tailed tits (stjertmeis). Before this autumn I had just seen Long-tailed tits three times on Sandsøya and Voksa. But for a few days in october they seemed to be everywhere. The biggest group of tits I saw had a number of at least 25 individuals. This was probably many family groups joining forces.

Long-tailed tit (stjertmeis) 1cy+, Støyle, Sandsøya 15. october 2016

Furthermore I heard the islands second ever Gray wagtail (vintererle) when it flew over Støyle at Sandsøya on the 12th of October. I also had a couple of sightings of a adult female Northern harrier (myrhauk) at Voksa on the 18th and the 21st.

The most awaited bird was the Richard pipit (tartarpipleke) that I came across at Voksevegen, the road between Sandsøya and Voksa, on the 21st. This was in fact the only record of this Siberian species in the county of Møre og Romsdal this year. Normally there is at least one or two handful sightings of Richard pipits in Møre og Romsdal each autumn. But not in 2016.

Here is a archive photo of a Richards pipit taken at Ona on the coast of Romsdalen back in 2013.

Richard pipit (tartarpiplerke) 1cy, Ona 27. september 2016

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November
November started of with me traveling to Ervika on Stad, a one and a half hour drive frome Sandsøya, to take a look at a SIBERIAN STONECHAT (asiasvartstrupe) that was seen there earlier the same day by my good fried Ståle Sætre. I got a couple of short glimpses of the eastern rarity before a European Stonechat (svartstrupe), its western relative, managed to scare it away. It didn't look like it wanted company...

The Siberian stonechat is a huge rarity in Norway with not many tens recorded in total. This was the second record of this species in the county of Sogn og Fjordane. The first record came a few days earlier on the 23rd of October at Bulandet in Askvoll municipality.

And now when we're talking about stonechats, on the 22nd of October i located a female European stonechat (svartstrupe) in Sandsvågen at Sandsøya. This was the third stonchat sighting at Sandsøya in the autumn of 2016. The bird stayed in the same area, and was seen on the 4th, 13th and 30th of November. After the 30th of November I haven't been able to locate the bird, but it probably will try to spend the winter somewhere on the west coast of Norway. In fact it might still be on the island.

European stonechat (svartstrupe) 1cy+ female, Sandsvågen, Sandsøya 3. november 2016

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December
This is usually the quietest month of the year. But this year that wasn't the case at all. It all started in the morning on the 12th of December. I came out of the shower, and was just a few seconds to late to answer the call i got on my cell phone. It was for me, a unknown number, so I looked it up. It was one of the owners of the fish landing site at Sandshamn. I instantly thought, before I called back, that they had to be calling either about a injured seagull or a European storm petrel (havsvale). It showed itself to be the latter. You see in late November and early December, the last of our storm-petrel chicks leave their nests. It's these young and inexperienced newly fledged birds that have a tendency to end up stranded on land. Often in combination with bad weather and strong winds. This time that was not the case. The night before it was found the weather couldn't have been better. It was a cold night with moonlight and no winds. After I talked to the woman that called about the petrel, I quickly drove to pick it up. As soon I got my hands on it I could feel that the bird was quite heavy and had to be healthy. And it didn't look like it was injured in any way either. After taking it back home I put it one a scale to see how heavy it in fact was. The scale stopped at 27,73 grams. This is above the average weight of 25 grams of that of an adult bird. That meant that I was correct, this young storm-petrel was in very good condition. The only thing I could do now was to wait for it to get dark and then to release it back into the wild.

Storm-petrels are nearly completely useless on land, and as a result of this they only come to shore after dark. This means that it's nearly, if not completely impossible to get a storm-petrel to fly on land when it's still daylight outside. The young bird in this case probably got attracted by small pieces of fish around the fish landing site, and then later on got mesmerized by the floodlights lighting up the key where it was found. If it somehow got stranded on the key just as the light of day was coming on, its instincts could have stopped it from flying off.. If it had stayed there throughout the day it probably would have been killed by a predator of some kind, either a cat, a crow etc. But luckily it was located before it came to that.

I placed the storm-petrel in cardboard box so that it was disturbed as little as possible. Just before dark I ringed the bird, so that if the bird is sighted again it will be possible to identify it. After it got a ring on its foot I took the cardboard box with the storm-petrel inside, and drove it all the way out to the westernmost part of Sandsøya. I could not drive all the way, so I had to walk the last stretch. After arriving the release spot, I took it out of the box and placed it on top my hand. As soon as I let go, it started flapping its wings, still sitting om my and. And after a few seconds it flew off strong. Hopefully this bird will live a long and good life. I have at least given it all the possibilities to do so...

European storm-petrel (havsvale) 1cy, Støyle, Sandsøya 12. december 2016

The day after I released the storm-petrel I drove around the islands to see if I couldn't find a cool bird of some kind. And that is just what I did. Right next to the road that goes between the islands, Voksevegen, on the south side of Sandsøya, I came across, a for me, new species. A female King eider (praktærfugl). This high arctic duck is a really rare bird in southern-Norway. And as said, for me this was the first encounter with this beautiful bird. This became my 225th bird species seen at Sandsøya og Voksa.

King eider (praktærfugl) 1cy+ female, Voksevegen, Sandsøya 13. December 2016
Here with a White-winged scoter (sjøorre) to the left.

King eider (praktærfugl) 1cy+ female, Voksevegen, Sandsøya 13. December 2016

The day after, on the 14th, I went for a hat-trick. Initially I intended to get better photos of the female King eider, but it was nowhere to be seen. It probably was on migration and just rested here for a short while before moving on.

So when I didn't find the eider I went for a drive around the islands to see if I once again couldn't come up with something new. And I actually did. On the southern side of Sandsøya, at a place called Sande, i came across a group of Eurasian curlews (storspove). This is a usual sight even at this time of year, because some remain here throughout the winter. Among these curlews there was something smaller hiding. Yes, smaller indeed. The bird that I'm talking about was a Whimbrel (småspove). This is not a rare bird in Norway, but in winter it's extremely rare. There's just under 10 winter records of this species in Norway in total.

The Whimbrel was once again sighted on the 21st of december, a few hundred meters further west on the island.

Whimbrel (småspove), Sande, Sandsøya 14. December 2016
Here with a Eurasian curlew to the left.

Whimbrel (småspove), Sande, Sandsøya 14. December 2016

Whimbrel (småspove), Kinna, Sandsøya 21. December 2016

But I wasn't completely finished with that. Just about a week before Christmas a lot of Greater white-fronted geese (tundragjess) started to show up many places throughout Norway. On the 18th of December there was seen a group of 103 birds at the island of Aukra, just outside Molde. On the same day there was also seen a group of 65 birds at Giske, a small island outside Ålesund. This meant that there was quite a lot of Greater white-fronted geese around. And on the 21st of December it was my turn. When I arrived Voksa, on the ferry, i saw a group of geese flying and landing on a field just a bit further northwest on the island. This was a group of 41 Greater white-fronted geese (tundragås), and a single Barnacle goose (hvitkinngås).

Greater white-fronted goose ssp. albifrons (tundragås), Voksa 21. December 2016B

tirsdag 27. desember 2016

New blog - now in english...

My name is Ingar Støyle Bringsvor and I’m 27 years old. I live on the northwest coast of Norway in a place called Sandsøya in the county of Møre og Romsdal. This is for me the best place on earth. And for a keen birder like myself, this is the ultimate birding spot. On the islands were I live, at Sandsøy and Voksa, we have many different habitats, all frome cultivated farmland to big areas of coastal heath, shallow shorlines and more… In short termes this means that all kindes of birds can show up. So far the total of bird species recorded at Sandsøya and Voksa is around 230. My personal number is 225. Hopefully this number will increase in the years to come.

In this blog I will write about the rare birds that I encounter. For the most part on my Islands, Sandsøya and Voksa. I will also write about the field work I do at the bird cliffs of Runde for the Norwegian Ornithological Society of Møre og Romsdal, on behalf of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research. In addition to this I also have a couple of personal projects that I will keep you updated on. Since 2010 I have monitored the Common grasshopper warbler (gresshoppesanger) on my islands, and the surrounding areas. Sandsøya and Voksa has shown them selves to be one of, if not the best locations for the Common grasshopper warblers in Norway. I also started a project on the European stonechat (svartstrupe) in 2014. At Sandsøya this species nests nearly each year, as one of the few places in Norway. At the most here were about 8-9 pairs on the island. Unfortunately after a hard winter with cold weather, and a lot of snow, this number decreases drastically. Most, if not all, of the wintering stonechats will die under conditions like that… To learn more about these species, is for me very rewarding. Yes, it’s as good as finding an extremely rare bird, if not even better!

Common grasshopper warbler (gresshoppesanger), 2cy+ male, Remøya 26. May 2015

European stonechat (svartstrupe), juvenile and adult male, Sandsøya June 2015

I also use a lot of time on seagulls. So far I have seen 13 species of seagulls at Sandsøya. Many of which are extremely rare in Norway. Fore example I have the northernmost recording of Yellow-Legged Gull (gulbeinmåke), and the second northernmost recording of Caspian Gull (kaspimåke) in Norway. In the winter here is also usually many white winged gulls around. Then I’m talking about Iceland- and Glaucous gulls (grønlandsmåke og polarmåke). The reason that Sandsøya is a really good location for gulls, is that we have a fish landing site at Sandshamn. This attracts a lot of gulls. On the best days we are talking about thousands and thousands of gulls, and endless possibilities.

Caspian gull (kaspimåke), 3cy/3rd winter, Sandshamn, Sandsøya 19. October 2012

Yellow-legged gull (gulbeinmåke), 5cy-type, Sandshamn, Sandsøya 18. September 2015

I will update this blog as often as possible, so stay tuned!