..seawatch! Today myself and Rune Z decided
on a tour of Vestfold. Due to a rather
shortened day the tour became more of a single destination with a couple of
stops on the way. Driving down the E18 we had an obligatory Great Grey Shrike
(my 20th sighting this autumn) by the road just north of the turning
to Horten. We made a detour to Horten as
I persuaded Rune that a little seawatch from Møringa would be a good
idea. Even though there was practically no wind there would surely still be
birds left over from the last few days (and who knows maybe I would still have
a chance for Leach’s..).
Arriving at Møringa we immediately saw some
Oystercatchers (6 in total) which must be the first I’ve seen for a couple of
months and looking out to sea began to see Kittiwakes in all directions with at
least 100 being counted. Most were just feeding but a few were also heading
south back to open sea. A handful of Fulmars with most going south but one also
feeding close inshore. Then it started to get interesting. I picked up a skua
sitting on the water at some distance feeding on a dead Kittiwake with a Great
Black-backed Gull in close attendance. My first thoughts turned to Pomarine but
I was hesitant because it looked pretty large and fairly uniform in colour. I
needed to wait for it to flap its wings which it did when the gull came too
close and there were big white flashes on the upper and under wings – an immature
Great Skua! Rune then decided to get in on the act and found another imm. Great
Skua feeding on a (presumed) Kittiwake with its size and wing flashes very
evident even though it was at quite a range. We then noticed another, smaller,
skua on the water nearby which took off and chased the Kittiwakes – an immature
Pomarine Skua (a fairly light bird) with its double white underwing flash and
pale rump being very visible. Quite a skuafest!
Aware of the time we had to leave after
only 45 minutes although I felt sure that a whole day’s seawatching would have
paid dividends.
Our destination for the day was Moutmarka at
the end of Tjøme. We were hoping that there might be some storm driven birds
here (Grey Phalarope or maybe a large diver) and a hope of finding Water Pipit.
The wind was really blowing when we got out of the car (see picture below)
which made viewing a bit difficult but we put some effort in.
Unfortunately
there was nothing particularly interesting to see. We went through the Rock
Pipit flock but found only 16 Rock and 3 Meadow Pipits although for this time
of year this was a reasonable sighting. It was very difficult to make anything
out on the sea but there were 20 or so Kittiwakes and a couple of Little Auks
of note.
With time now against us we headed back
towards Oslo with a quick stop at Rosanes. This is home to a long staying Black
Duck. On our first scan of the area (a marina!) we saw it sitting with 15
Mallards on a jetty. On the assumption that they were waiting for some bread I
headed briskly towards them with camera in hand (ignoring Rune’s requests to
not be “so offensive”). Well, I should have been less offensive because they
all jumped into the water and headed away. I managed a couple of very poor
shots of the Black Duck but rued my haste.
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| Male Black Duck (right) with Mallard |
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| Male Black Duck in flight |
I have some nagging doubts about the purity of this bird as I can detect green on the head and on a previous trip thought I saw a hint of a white neck collar â la Mallard but it has been officially accepted as a pure Black Duck (with I believe the blessing of American experts)
Otherwise here a fine female Smew, a pair
of Goosander, 14 Teal and a couple of Kittiwakes.
On the way home the anticipated message
came through... Stormsvale (Leach’s Petrel) seen going south on the other side
of the fjord from Møringa. Can’t win them all!
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