Finally home again (arrived on the 2nd). Had no time to update in between trips, so here's a little something about the trip to Skåne (Scania). It will be mostly pictures I think...
Day 1 (June 6)
The first field day of the trip resulted in five life ticks (White Stork, Woodlark, Kingfisher, Golden Eagle and Corn Bunting) and additional year ticks (Black Tern, Honey Buzzard).
Woodlark (Lullula arborea)
Red Kite (Milvus milvus)
Corn Bunting (Miliaria calandra)
The fairly odd assembly of lifers is in my opinion a quite good indication on how large the biotope diversity in Skåne is.
Day 2 (June 7)
We had no Golden Orioles the first day, which was well made up for day two with perhaps as many as seven singing at the same time and at least three flying over. No lifers this day but year ticks of Barred Warbler, Wryneck and Firecrest. Also life-second ticks of the afforementioned plus Tawny Pipit and Serin.
Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio)
Common Lizard (Zootoca vivipara)
Serin (Serinus serinus) Singing male
Black redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) male
Black redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) female
The above Black Redstarts were found among some high buildings near the harbour in Åhus, where we went on an evening stroll from our hostel. The following morning I also found two juveniles in a nook on one of the buildings.
Day 3 (June 8)
Last day of the trip. No year ticks but life tick of Hobby. On our way home we stopped at a spot for a very long time to look for Red-breasted Flycatcher without success, which resulted in a tired busdriver declining to stop by Galtabäck for a Little Egret.
White Stork (Ciconia ciconia)
Blue-headed Wagtail (Motacilla flava flava)
Four-spotted Chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata)
Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)
Soon there will be a post about the trip to Padjelanta. I got six lifers up there :)
Monday the 26th of May we went to Getterön and successfully ticked White-winged Tern with a bit of difficulty owing to distance. We also saw a fox trotting past a group of cranes in the shallow parts.
Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes)
Thursday the 29th we went out in the evening to listen for Nightjar. Not only did we hear at least two, we saw one of them sitting in a birch and then quickly and silently flying very near us before vanishing in the dark. A Blyth's Reed Warbler was reported about a half hour drive away, but we decided to skip it since it was quite late.
The morning of the 31st was spent looking for Common Rosefinch in Oxhagen (same spot as last year). Apart from six rosefinches (at least two of which were in complete breeding plumage) we had for example Whinchat, Kestrel, Marsh Warbler and Sedge Warbler. I spent the rest of the day photographing this and that, mainly the Blue Tits nesting in a vent on my house.
Hoverfly (No idea what species or even subfamily. ID help appreciated)
Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus)
We started the June list in Halland with a total of about 80 year month ticks. Year ticked Little Gull and Curlew Sandpiper and saw my first Grey Plovers in full breeding plumage. I've only seen intermediates and juveniles before.
Tomorrow I'm leaving on a four day birding trip to Skåne (Scania). After that I'm only home for less than two days before going to Padjelanta National Park up north to help surveying the populations of Rough-legged Buzzard, Merlin and Snowy Owl for three weeks. It will truly be an adventure since we have to go the last leg of the trip by helicopter. No power, no phone and of course no internet, so if I can't find time to update sometime sunday-monday, the blog will be inactive for almost a month.
I meant to post a summary of this week's birding today, but I didn't get around to it and now I have to go to bed because we're starting out for Halland at 4:30. I will post a proper post when I get home tomorrow. Have a Blue Tit on the house while you wait :)
As I've mentioned before, I spent May 22-25 on Öland taking part in a course about how to recruit and work with volunteers for the purpose of promoting bird conservation and getting more members for the Swedish Ornithological Society. With me were society members from all over the country and also two gentlemen from the RSPB. Of course there was also plenty of time for birdwatching.
I started out early, spending four hours on the train to Kalmar and then another two hours in Kalmar waiting for people arriving with the next train before going onward to Öland and the birds :) If we had gotten there earlier and hitched a ride down to the observatory I could have life ticked a Nightjar, sleeping in a tree in the lighthouse garden.
A walk in the woods south of the hostel generated only one year tick, but one quite hard to find at home, Collared Flycatcher. By the coast east of the forest we also got Sanderling. Supposedly there were Broad-billed Sandpipers there as well, but we couldn't distinguish them properly from the Dunlins.
Fallow Deer (Dama dama) Feral herd, introduced in the 16th century.
Back at the hostel I got another year tick, and well deserved it was. My first Bluethroat since 1997!
Bluethroat (Luscinia svecia)
The next morning almost all of the participants were set on Golden Oriole. After a while I decided to go down to the observatory area to meet up with an old birding friend. Twenty minutes of brisk walk later I found two men with parabolic microphones who pointed and whispered 'Oriole'. I walked on more cautiously and managed to hear the distinct song a bit down the road. First life tick of the trip! (As mentioned elsewhere in the blog, according to swedish rules, identifying a bird by the sounds it makes also counts as a tick, even for example the sound of a fleeing Capercaillie). My sound recording below actually has the song of two Golden Orioles, but they are perching rather close to each other.
Golden Oriole (Oriolus oriolus)
Further south I year ticked Red-breasted Flycatcher and Brent Goose and down by the observatory Red-necked Phalarope. During lunch break I also year ticked Common Rosefinch and Little Stint. Later in the evening I year ticked Marsh Warbler near the hostel. Reasonable catch for a single day nowadays.
Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) They were all over the place! Swarms!
Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)
The third day started very early with going to the observatory and lighthouse area in search for the Kentish Plover resident since late April, but instead of heat shimmer being the problem like the day before, this time he was seen further north east and only at a great distance, but when we arrived to the tower by the reported spot he had just flown away again. Year ticks that morning: Grey Plover and Red Knot and also ssp. tick of Light-bellied Brent Goose. After an outdoors assignment during the morning I also life ticked Grey Partridge on the way back south and later in the afternoon life ticked a newly ringed Serin in the observatory garden.
Serin (Serinus serinus)
Little Tern (Sternula albifrons)
The last morning of the trip we also went down to the southern point of the island (after dipping a River Warbler near the hostel), except those who still hadn't seen or heard Golden Oriole. This resulted in the fourth life tick of the trip, Black Kite. It was spotted going southwest at good height but reconsidered and started working it's way against the wind to the northeast and therefore could be seen very nicely from where I stood for almost two minutes. No course activities this day, so the focus was on birdwatching until lunch. Managed to year tick Caspian Tern, but not a very good observation. Spent an hour or so photographing the resident Jackdaws. At the time of departure a Black-winged Stilt was reported further north along the eastern coast, but we didn't have time to go look for it.
Jackdaw (Corvus monedula)
A good trip and very interesting course, but there were quite a few irritating dips such as Red-footed Falcon, Great Reed Warbler, Common Guillemot, Spotted Crake, Turtle Dove and probably a few more.
On Monday the 19th I initially suggested a short afternoon trip targeting Marsh Warbler, but we ended up with a trip to Halland to life tick Terek Sandpiper. While there, we decided to go a few kilometers further south to look at a Dotterel which showed itself very nicely. As a bonus, a Short-eared Owl turned up and put on a very good show, first idly patrolling over the fields and then suddenly decided to have a snack. Another life tick! Now properly warmed up we decided to go another couple of kilometers south to Båtafjorden, where an Egyptian Goose had been reported. While we were there it got too dark to distinguish one goose species from another, so we went home again, happy even without the goose.
Since I seem to have caught a cold I haven't been able to keep up with events lately, but here goes.
Sunday, May 18 was the day of this year's spring 'square hunt'. Me and E weren't participating but went on a competition of our own, to compare two locations - Torslandaviken in western Sweden and Roxen in the east. We were supposed to start at 5 and stop at 17, but our competitor at Roxen overslept and couldn't start until 5:15. As the day went, we agreed to quit at noon.
The dredge pond, normally a paradise for stints galore at this time of year had dried up quite a bit and there were only Redshanks and Ringed Plovers to be seen, and not many at that. We also saw the first Red-backed Shrike of the year. Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio)
We searched thoroughly around all of Torslandaviken but found nothing really specatular, except maybe that we had in all 23 singing Common Whitethroats. The Sand Martins had increased from about six last time to several hundred this day along with lots of House Martins, Barn Swallow and an ever increasing number of Swifts.
House Martin (Delichon urbicum)
Blue-headed Wagtail (Motacilla flava flava)
As we doubled back and then went up the western shore we stopped by where a square hunt-team stood, and catched a brief glimpse of a Long-eared Owl before it got back into hiding in the treetops below us. Very unexpected life tick for Torslandaviken.
Further north on the west side we had the second shrike of the day, an adult this time, and also a nice Sedge Warbler. As we had a lunch break in the tower there, we observed a perching Cuckoo and another adult Red-backed Shrike.
Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio)
Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)
In the end, we lost the competition, 67 to 70, but we were distinctly in the lead for most of the day, save the last few hours... We'll have to do it again sometime.
A Great Snipe was seen in Välen this morning. The observers suggested in their report commentaries that there might be lekking tonight, which resulted in a lot of birders going there this evening. We went to the tower, mainly because that's easiest. Reed Warblers, Lapwings and Water Rail (year tick) were heard amongst others, but no Snipe. Rounded off with a couple of minutes by the nearby river, which resulted in at least three Grasshopper Warblers and a Thrush Nightingale.
I put up a nest box about two hours ago at convenient viewing distance from my balcony. Not twenty minutes later, a Pied Flycatcher arrived to inspect the estate
Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)
Since Pied Flycatchers like nest boxes to the point that they sometimes evict other birds from them, it's not very surprising, but I expected a day's time or so to pass before any birds at all showed interest. Now I'll just have to wait and see if he liked what he saw.
I put a shoutbox in the menu to the right, just above the counter. Feel free to use it! I like feedback and the post comment thingy is rather cumbersome in my opinion.
The Little Egret at Båtafjorden had apparently moved on or found a good hiding place before we got there, so we didn't see it. Year ticked Corn Crake though and had for example Shoveler, Garganey, Ruff, Spotted Redshank, Marsh Harrier and Sedge Warbler, so the time there was well spent at least.
Edit: right now, 21:43, the damn bird was reported some distance west of where we were. Silly :(
Took a trip to Hårssjön this morning. We had for example Reed Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler, Jay, Coal Tit, Little Grebe and a possible Goldfinch. Hoped half-heartedly for Marsh Warbler, Water Rail or Hobby, but they refused to show up.
Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaecus)
Afterwards we stopped by Brudarebacken and saw a Common Buzzard at very nice distance flying pretty close to the hilltop (would have been even nicer if we had actually been on the hill and not in the parking lot below). We also had Raven, Whinchat and Goldcrest.
In an hour from now, we're leaving for Båtafjorden to check on a reported Little Egret. As some of the readers might recall, we missed a Little Egret in the very same spot by a few hours in May last year. Excitement! The proper birding season is here :)
Instead of a trip for Dotterel we took an afternoon walk along river Lärjeån (the Lärje river). As the river valley is just behind my house I went out a bit before we were supposed to meet and tried to get pics of Wood Warbler. Also found a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.
Wood Warbler (Phylloscopus sibilatrix)
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos minor)
When we got down to the river, the first birds we observed were the resident Mandarin Ducks, which I had known about for a long time but never seen before. No tick though, since they've obviously escaped from a park or suchlike.
Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata) Feral couple (part of the female is visible top center)
We had hoped to year tick Spotted Flycatcher but failed, so no year ticks (except Mandarin Duck) but some month- and year-month ticks. The strangest observation was a Yellowhammer, quite out of it's element, perching on a branch near the water surface.
This time we focused on the Getterön area, starting at the westernmost point, known as 'Gubbanäsan' (en: old man's nose). Not optimal weather for sea migration watching (way too nice) but not entirely empty. Year ticked Grasshopper Warbler on the way out and Razorbill while there.
Grasshopper Warbler (Locustella naevia) Digiscoped with DSLR.
After Gubbanäsan we worked our way back towards the Getterön center, stopping here and there. Year ticked Icterine Warbĺer at Bengtssons häck (en: Bengtsson's hedge), basically a broadleaf grove surrounded by low pines and junipers, renown for attracting rare passerines such as Yellow-browed Warbler and Firecrest. We also saw a calling Cuckoo flying past - a rather rare event. I photographed it, but the pictures didn't turn out very good; the bird in the picture could just as well be a Kestrel or similar.
Sandwich Tern (Sterna sandvicensis)
At the west end of the main Getterön area we found a Black-tailed Godwit, which was my fourth year tick for the day. There were also quite a lot of warblers and some Lapwings with chicks.
In just a week, the number of geese had gotten notably lower, since most of the Barnacle Geese had moved on. More waders had arrived though, along with for example Housemartins and Thrush Nightingales. An Egyptian Goose had been reported from there the day before but seemed to have moved to a lake in the next county. Year ticked Dunlin.
Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata)
On the way home we spent some time in the tower by Tjolöholm castle. Not very much interesting apart from a trio of Bar-tailed Godwits (year tick six) and an increase in raptors (Common Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Osprey).
No life ticks this time, but I'm quite satisfied with six year ticks, which brings the total up to 178. This year's list will most probably be a new record since last year's was 210.
Spent the morning at Kråkudden, Hönö. We had our minds set on migrating Bluethroat with no luck. The warblers had arrived though and we had all the common day-active species on the way out to the shelter, including a slightly early Garden Warbler (year tick). Almost no wind today so we stood on the cliffs south of the shelters instead of inside. Rock Pipit (Anthus petrosus)
Since there weren't much wind, most of the migrating birds flew past at great distance. Luckily, I had my new scope and for example managed to pick out a group of Red-throated Divers as they rose from behind the horizon. Nice observations today: Migrating Merlin and Marsh Harrier, European Shag (year tick) and Common Cuckoo (year tick).
Afterwards we went to see the Penduline Tit which is building a nest in about the same spot along river Säveån as last year. Saw it for a short moment while it stopped by the nest, but most of the time we only heard it.
Penduline Tit-nest. Photographed with digital SLR through scope.
Saturday, May 3rd. We left at 4 in the morning and went all the way to Mellbystrand in southern Halland. Arrived a bit past six. The people already there told us we were a bit late and that migration activity had already peaked. A bit discouraged...
Not before long, however, someone called out Red-throated Divers. Accustomed to Hönö conditions, I began scanning the horizon. But the divers came in hundreds, several hundred feet above us in a large cloud. After a while a White-billed Diver/ Yellow-billed Loon was spotted among them, being obviously larger and with proportionally larger feet. First life-tick of the day. A little while later a passerine flew by heading north. At first I thought it was just a wagtail, but with help of the more seasoned twitchers we could identify it as a Tawny Pipit. Life tick two was a fact.
Some time passed, a good number of year ticks ticked in (hur hur). Then reports of Pomarine Skua heading south began to come in (by BMS, Bird Message Service, a mobile phone service thingy administered by Club 300). After a while it was apparent the skua would eventually get to our location. An exciting half hour later it was spotted, firmly heading south at reasonable range. Very nice third life tick of the day!
Reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus)
After Mellbystrand we went to Trönninge ängar, a classic spot for nesting Penduline Tit, but we didn't find any. Lots of ducks and geese though and some more year ticks.
Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus)
The most unusual year tick there was a very early lone Swift. The climate changes becomes apparent if one turns to phenology records...
Swift (Apus apus)
We missed some good stuff such as Short-toed Lark somewhere along the way, but at least the year ticks and nice observations kept coming in.
Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)
We also stopped by Getterön to have a well earned muffin and more than 1500 Barnacle Geese. Just as last year (see May 19 2007 I think) we had a posing Sedge Warbler and the Barn Swallows nesting in the hide.
Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus)
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
After a last stop at Båtafjorden we could count to a total of around 95 species seen in a day. Had we felt more twitchy or started out earlier (fat chance) the tally could have been higher, but still a damn good result in my opinion. And some rather nice pictures too.
We set out with Great Snipe in mind this evening. There has been some activity of the sort in Halland this weekend but we got none up here. At Ragnhildsholmen, however, we heard two very early Thrush Nightingales. We also had Snipe in several places and a Green Sandpiper at Ragnhildsholmen, but nothing exciting.
My new scope in evening light. Photo by A. Andresen
I haven't yet had time to sort out yesterday's trip to Halland. Will do that as soon as I can. Got some nice pics and a rather splendid trio of lifers as well as a total of 18 year ticks.
I'm disrupting the chronology slightly now. Sunday was too interesting not to :)
Morning trip to Hönö. Weather and visibility bad but a bunch of year ticks none the less. The new scope was really put to the test and performed rather good. I managed to pick out male and female velvet scoters more than over more than a kilometer in drizzle and slightly foggy conditions. Fun observations were fishing Red-throated Divers in summer plumage and an Arctic Skua/Parasitic Jaeger migrating north.
In the evening I went to Brudarebacken to help setting nets for delousing. Caught nothing but as night fell we saw four Ring Ouzels far away, some Woodcocks patrolling and heard three Tawny Owls, two of which made a more seldom heard tremolo noise, commonly known as the xylophone trill, which can only be heard about 50 meters away.
Here, finally, is what we did in Torslandaviken April 22-23, or at least part of it. Will write more tonight.
Met up with D and arrived in Torslandaviken at about 6 AM. We wanted to collect lice from Linnets. A flock of over 30 had spent most of the early spring around the nearby golf course but were nowere to be seen this morning, so we went to mudderdammen (en: the dredge pond - Torslandaviken is a bay sealed off from the sea by a large deposit of dredging spoils on top of which a marsh-like environment has formed.). We put up two nets and scattered some hemp seed to lure the Linnets. They, however, persisted in flying past at higher altitudes and over the nets. We only got a Great Tit in five hours, so the expedition wasn't very successful scientifically. We got us some year ticks however (Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Sand Martin for me) and the weather was very nice, so it wasn't a wasted morning.
Since I earned quite a lot of money, by my standards, for the job I did in Stockholm, I decided to get a new spotting scope. I decided on a Focus naturescope WP85 a long time ago since it's really a lot of scope for that kind of money. Usually it costs around SEK 5000 bunched with a decent tripod, but yesterday I saw an ad offering a 20% discount. Acting quick is not my trademark move, but I did today :)
Too tired now to relate at any length the story of our adventures by Torslandaviken. That has to wait until tomorrow (later today, depending on time zone...)
Instead I can tell you that I really love Brudarebacken! :)
Stonechat (Saxicola torquata) young female.
I managed to hitch a ride to Brudarebacken and did not only get the life tick of Stonechat, but also Black Redstart and a year tick in the shape of an early Whinchat. As a nice bonus we also had six Ring Ouzels and a Kestrel eating a vole or similar. Got some pictures, but they are soo bad quality because of high ISO, too great distance for the lens and no tripod.
Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)
It's probably not a bad idea to tell all non-Sweden dwellers that Black Redstart breeds in Sweden but isn't exactly common, while Stonechat is a semi-common guest that turns up 10-35 times a year in the country according to svwiki.
26 year old birder from Gothenburg, Sweden.
My goal for 2007 was get above 200 life-ticks. I managed 215 and will attempt to get to 250 in 2008. A lot harder!
Woodlark (Lullula arborea)
Red Kite (Milvus milvus)
Corn Bunting (Miliaria calandra)
Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio)
Common Lizard (Zootoca vivipara)
Serin (Serinus serinus) Singing male
Black redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) male
Black redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) female
White Stork (Ciconia ciconia)
Blue-headed Wagtail (Motacilla flava flava)
Four-spotted Chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata)
Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)
Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes)
Hoverfly (No idea what species or even subfamily. ID help appreciated)
Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus)
Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus)
Fallow Deer (Dama dama) Feral herd, introduced in the 16th century.
Bluethroat (Luscinia svecia)
Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) They were all over the place! Swarms!
Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)
Serin (Serinus serinus)
Little Tern (Sternula albifrons)
Jackdaw (Corvus monedula)
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) Help protect birds worldwide! Join RSPB!
Terek Sandpiper (Xenus cinereus) DSLR-digiscoped, hence quality.
Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio)
House Martin (Delichon urbicum)
Blue-headed Wagtail (Motacilla flava flava)
Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio)
Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)
Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)
Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaecus)
Wood Warbler (Phylloscopus sibilatrix)
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos minor)
Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata) Feral couple (part of the female is visible top center)
Grasshopper Warbler (Locustella naevia) Digiscoped with DSLR.
Sandwich Tern (Sterna sandvicensis)
Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) DSLR-digiscoped.
Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata)
Rock Pipit (Anthus petrosus)
Penduline Tit-nest. Photographed with digital SLR through scope.
Reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) 
Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus)
Swift (Apus apus)
Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)
Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus)
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
My new scope in evening light. Photo by A. Andresen
Great Tit (Parus major) The catch of the day...
Stonechat (Saxicola torquata) young female.
Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)