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.
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| Iceland gull (grønlandsmåke) 2cy, Sandshamn, Sandsøya 9. January 2016 |
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| Iceland gull (grønlandsmåke) 2cy, Sandshamn, Sandsøya 9. January 2016 |
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| 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.
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| Iceland gull (grønlandsmåke) 2cy, Volda 5. January 2016 |
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| Iceland gull (grønlandsmåke) 2cy, Volda 5. January 2016 |
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| Iceland gull (grønlandsmåke) 2cy, Volda 5. january 2016 |
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| Iceland gull (grønlandsmåke) 2cy, Volda 5. january 2016 |
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| 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.
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| Glaucous gull (polarmåke) 2cy, Støyle, Sandsøya 3.February 2016 |
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| 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.
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| Great black-backed gull (svartbak) 2cy, Støyle, Sandsøya 3. February 2016 |
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| 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...
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| Glaucous gull (polarmåke) 2cy, Sandshamn, Sandsøya 26. March 2016 |
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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.
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| 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.
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| Carrion crow (svartkråke), Bringsvor, Sandsøya 24. April 2016 |
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Northern harroer (myrhauk) 2cy, Støyle, Sandsøya 29. April 2016
With a Hooded crow (kråke) to the left. |
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