After some strong winds last night I found myself drawn to
Krokstrand at dawn and the pleasant company of Per Buertange. We whiled away
three hours of sea gazing with just about enough birds to keep us interested although
the winds had completely died. The best bird was a Red-necked Grebe (gråstrupedykker)
flying north. There has been a rush of records in southern Norway in the last
week and birds are clearly arriving from the continent. Auks are also now arriving
and we had at least 40 Guillemots (lomvi) mostly sitting on the sea but also
some heading south. 3 or 4 Little Auks were also good to see. Kittiwakes were
absent when we arrived but suddenly materialised as the morning wore on with a
good dozen birds. Also three Red-throated Divers (smålom) but nothing larger.
At 1045 we decided to head for Fredrikstad where a fine male
Two-barred Crossbill (båndkorsnebb) had been feeding on rowan berries in a
supermarket carpark. When we arrived the car park was very busy and also right by a
very busy road. We could see the berry trees but they had few berries left and
there were no birds eating them. We didn’t bother hanging around. Shame, as
later in afternoon this picture was taken.
I stopped in at Kurefjorden where a couple of Rough-legged
Buzzards (fjellvåk) have again taken up winter residence on the islands at the
mouth of the fjord.
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