OSLO BIRDER: Awesome Hardangervidda

The penultimate day of the VENT Southern Norway your was spent on the majestic Hardangervidda visiting the lake at Tinnhølen, a place I first visited 30 years ago when I was not yet a fully fledged birder. This is a magical place in the heart of the vidda and if it is kind to you can reveal some marvellous mountain species and if it is not so kind-hearted can be a frustrating place for a birder.

Today was unfortunately one of those days. It was a bit too windy for the birds and we struggled. Dotterel (boltit) was confined to a close calling bird that we just could not locate. Shore Larks (fjellerke) showed well though with 2 pairs collecting food and one had this fledged youngster sitting still just yards from the path.

recently fledged Shore Lark

adult Shore Lark with a beak full of food

Lapland Bunting (lappspurv), Bluethroat (blåstrupe) and Golden Plover (heilo) were represented by just a single specimen of each when I would normally expect to see many. On the raptor front not a single Rough-legged Buzzard but a single Peregrine (vandrefalk) was a good record although I would have preferred the more likely Gyr Falcon (jaktfalk). Of waders, a total of 6 Temminck’s Stints was good although only one allowed itself to be examined and there were a couple of Ringed Plovers (sandlo) and half a dozen Redshank (rødstilk). On the water we had a pair of Scaup (bergand) and a male Common Scoter (svartand) amongst a few Tufted Duck (toppand).