Saturday, August 9, 2008 - A bit of apathy
Would seem I can't really muster the energy to sort through the vast amount of pictures from Padjelanta. So many other things to do... But I will get there eventually...
Saw an Eagle-Owl today. My second ever and a Gothenburg tick :)
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Wednesday, June 4, 2008 - The sum of all week
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.
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Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - Torslandaviken Big Day
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.
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Thursday, May 15, 2008 - Great Snipe Dip
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.
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Thursday, May 15, 2008 - Nest box
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.
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Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - Hårssjön and Brudarebacken
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 :)
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Sunday, May 11, 2008 - Riverside stroll
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.
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Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - Warm morning at Kråkudden
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.
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Sunday, May 4, 2008 - Evening trip with unexpected year tick
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.
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Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - Brudarebacken by night
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.
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Saturday, April 26, 2008 - Torslandaviken adventures part one
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.
 Great Tit (Parus major) The catch of the day...
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Thursday, April 24, 2008 - Silly Stonechats
Today was the second time this week someone reported a female Stonechat in the Gothenburg area. Last time was in Torslandaviken and today at Brudarebacken. It's probably not there anymore but I might go and have a look in a couple of hours.
Also added more pictures to the Lake Hornborga entry
Later today I'll post about the adventures in Torslandaviken Tuesday to Wednesday :)
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Sunday, April 20, 2008 - Lovely lovely Brudarebacken
Yesterday we decided to go to Brudarebacken this morning. Went at eight o' clock-ish and weather looked promising save for a cloud bank coming from east.
The first hour didn't give anything unusual so I took some 40 pictures of Skylarks.
 Skylark (Alauda arvensis)
A bit after nine a Ring Ouzel suddenly appeared and decided to have a sit down in a tree east of the summit. A while later, a Lapland Bunting (life tick) flew around us once and then landed out of sight . The other gentlemen decided to go look for it, but I chose to stay and guard the scopes and watched a Kestrel working it's way north over the city. I then noticed another bird seemingly a raptor, going the same way, soon it was an abvious falcon and judging from the difference in size it was a Merlin (life tick 2). By the time the others were back it was long gone, but I'm certain it really was a Merlin, despite never having seen one before.
Perhaps an hour later both the Ring Ouzel and the Lapland Bunting flew past once more. Very nice!
We also had a good number of Common Buzzards and Sparrowhawk. The weather also successively got better with more sun and less wind. Spring was really in the air. A good day at Brudarebacken!
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Sunday, March 30, 2008 - Picking up the slack
Haven't blogged in 26 days, despite three life ticks in the meantime. A bunch of decent photographies have been taken, but most of them will be uploaded next weekend or so, since I need to sleep tonight and leave for Stockholm by train early tomorrow.
But first things first. Ticked (Eurasian) Bittern in a small lake some way away from Gothenburg. Wasn't very windy that day, so one could clearly hear him breathing in several times in sequence before going boom.
Twite was ticked at Torslandaviken a week later or so. A flock of about 20 birds had been seen there frequently during the winter, but were surprisingly hard to determine even at close range. After gathering some patience we got them in our scopes and the tick was clear.
The third lifer of this entry has been a major pain since at least early december I think. The Three-toed Woodpecker of doom. I've been to the reserve Klippan to look for the apparently resident couple four or five times with no luck at all. Then, a couple of weeks ago another one shows up at the old fish farming ponds turned bird paradise Svankällan. The trip there this morning was my second attempt, the first one offering nice nature experience but no 'pecker. Since DST kicked in last night, getting to the bus in time today wasn't very fun... The tick was not a very good one, since we only heard him (which is sufficient for tickning in Sweden), but on the other hand we heard him very well, both call and drumming. It's also worth noting that we saw or heard five of the eight species of woodpecker breeding in Sweden in less than three hours. And added six ticks to my year list which is now up to 107.
 Coal Tit (Parus ater) Picture taken March 22.
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Saturday, March 1, 2008 - February 08: Worst birding month in a very long time
February saw a total of 13 month ticks. Not since 2005 have I ticked fewer birds in one month. There is of course an explanation; We had six performances in three weeks with my theatre club thingy and on top of that I caught an evil cold that kept me indoors for 11 days.
March has now begun and tomorrow holds a trip to Halland. With reasonable luck I could rake in five or more life ticks, but more probably only one or two.
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Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - The craziest birding day of my life so far...
The January Hunt, a 'big day'-like competiton (though we only got to be at it for 17 hours :)), was by far the craziest field day I've had. We started at 03 in the morning, looking for Moorhens with the aid of flashlights. Fourteen hours later we rounded up with dipping Dipper (groan at the bad joke at will) and heading for the debriefing and pizza dinner. Save for an hour when we stood in the shelter at Kråkudden, rain fell all through the competition day.
We got 45 species in the end. Last place in the competiton, but quite satisfied with year list going up to 59. Less satisfied with the serious disturbance in sleep schedule. Luckily, I'm not expected to go to work again until January 31st. Yay for being a sub!
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Thursday, January 10, 2008 - Winter city birding
Last weekend we actually had proper snow cover for more than 24 hours. Doesn't happen every year nowadays...
Worked a bit on the year tick list which went up from 18 to 36. Got a good chance to take photographs of this winter's gasometer Peregrine Falcon. Since the light was quite bad the pictures weren't much good though...
 Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus)
We also went to Jonsered to look for Kingfisher again, with no luck again... Got some more year ticks and not too great photos of Dipper.
 White-throated Dipper (Cinclus cinclus cinclus) (North-european ssp.)
Saturday at 00:00 hours, the 'January Hunt' begins. From then until 5 PM we (team of five) will try to see as many species of birds as possible. Exciting, exhausting and probably quite a bit of rain. Afterwards there will be pizza :)
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Saturday, December 29, 2007 - Another double
Ticked Kittiwake and Purple Sandpiper today. 215 life ticks! This year's mission accomplished. Next year I think I'll aim for 250.
I also year ticked Red-throated diver. About time :)
The new digital SLR was brought to the test for the first time. Ocean birds aren't exactly easy targets but one's got to try :)
 Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus)
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Sunday, December 16, 2007 - 211
Ticked Pink-footed Goose yesterday. It's probably still waddling around among the highland cattle in Välen. I got probably great pictures, but only with analog camera and BW film, so I don't know what they look like yet.
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Monday, December 10, 2007 - Really need to lay off working...
This weekend saw a lot of birding, but not very much excitement. Saturday was spent looking for 3T woodpecker 30 km from Gothenburg. We're not entirely sure but might have heard both the male and the female during the course of the morning. It might just as well have been ordinary Great Spotted Woodpeckers. At least twice while we were in the area, the 3Ts were spotted by other birders. Silly birds.
On sunday we headed for Öxnäs, hoping for Hen Harrier or maybe uncommon geese. No success. Tried for Kingfisher at a spot that was good last winter and at a river mouth by the port, but no success there either. Got a good look of the 'new' Peregrine Falcon staying at the old riverside gasometer. New because it's a bird in it's first year whereas the one there last winter was an adult female.
When I got home people had spotted a Pink-Footed Goose down in Välen. It was getting dark already and I was busy anyway, so I couldn't go there. I'm hoping for it to stay there until saturday since I it's dark when I leave work. Only 40 years to retirement...
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About Me
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!
Friends
• gladan
Other birding blogs•Brazilianpioneerbirder
Categories
•Local watching
•Other
•Rarities
•Travel
Last ticks
• 256: Aquatic Warbler
• 255: Balearic Shearwater
• 254: Manx Shearwater
• 253: Quail
• 252: Great Skua
• 251: Rustic Bunting
• 250: Gyr Falcon
• 249: Ptarmigan
• 248: Willow Grouse
• 247: Rough-legged Buzzard
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