Godwit(s)

Yesterday due to the constraints I time I dropped Koksa which is a bay that can hold waders but invariably has very little. I was therefore a bit annoyed to see that a Black-tailed Godwit (svarthalespove) had been seen there later in the day. This is a very local species in Norway and decidedly rare around Oslo and one I have only seen four times in Norway - so definitely a bird I would try to see. This morning I also only had a pre breakfast birding window and although I would loved to have been sitting at Brentetangen waiting to see what the very strong southerly winds would be bringing I chose Fornebu again. I headed straight to Koksa at 6am and soon found a godwit but unfortunately a BAR-tailed (lappspove) and not a BLACK-tailed. Chances of there being two different birds are mighty slim so looks like one of birdings classic species pairs has yet again set its trap for the unwary (later confirmed from photos).

This bird gave me a fantastic photo opportunity albeit in crappy light. This species stands out as a large wader when seen in a mixed flock but close up on its own looks very small.

Bar-tailed Godwit (lappspove). With a shutter speed of 1/100 sec you can see the rain bouncing off its back

what are YOU looking at?

The wind picked up and it started raining hard such that I hardly saw a single passerine and just a few other waders: 3 Dunlin (myrsnipe), 9 Snipe (enkeltbekkasin), 2 Green Sandpiper (skogsnipe), 12 Lapwing (vipe), a Ringed Plover (sandlo) and a Greenshank (gluttsnipe).

There was nothing for it then but to head for Rolfstangen and see if the winds had managed to push anything this far up the fjord. Despite it really blowing two juvenile Arctic Terns (rødnebbterne) were the only birds that were out of place.

A drive around Fornebu after this once the rain had stopped showed that passerines were now showing and I had two Red-backed Shrikes (tornskate) and some Whinchats (buskskvett) from the car.