Yesterday, whilst delivering xmas cards I bumped into per
Christian who asked me why I wasn't doing any proper birding but instead
wandering around parks like an old woman. Well PC today I tried to do something
about that!
Yesterday evening there were extreme weather warnings concerning
the outer Oslofjord and a check of the weather maps revealed storm force
southerly winds were forecast for this morning. To my surprise I was given the
green light for a trip providing I was back by noon. As I drove down to
Krokstrand in the dark there were branches in the road which left me feeling optimistic
for the seawatch but fearful that a fallen tree would prevent me getting there
(or home later).
There were no problems in the end though and I arrived at
Krokstrand at 0850 and in the half light (sunrise wasn't until 0910) I settled
down and initially struggled to see if the white birds were Herring Gulls (gråmåke),
Common Gulls (fiskemåke) or Kittiwakes (krykkje). I was there mildy surprised when a message came
through that further south at Brentetangen they had already seen Sabine’s Gull (sabinemåke)
and Manx Shearwater (havlire). Either there is a new night vision 'scope on the market,
they are half owl or those guys were injecting carrot juice because they had
outstanding (near) nocturnal vision!
As there were blue skies today there was eventually good
light for seawatching. Even though temperatures were above zero I left there
cold to the bone and a 45 minute drive home with the heating on full blast
wasn’t enough to warm me up and I had to jump straight into a hot shower once
home!
Well did I get any reward for some “real birding”?
Kittiwake, Fulmar (havhest), Gannet (havsule) and Little Auk (alkekonge) were all seen and are “real” seabirds
but there was no proper excitement. The Kittiwakes were present in good numbers
with around 100 feeding in the fjord further south and a handful passing by my
watch point. A single Fulmar spent most of the time flying around or sitting on
the sea directly out from me.
Auks were noticeable by their absence except for a 5 minutes
period when 2 Little Auks and 4 Guillemots (lomvi) struggled south. A single
Red-throated Diver (smålom) shot past in the other direction with the tail wind giving
it a very impressive speed.
Yesterday a pair of Great Tits were inspecting a nest box in
the garden on the shortest day of the year in temperatures of +8C showing just
show topsy turvy the environment is becoming.
I have thought the same thing as Per Christian of late. The old woman's style of birding and the obsession with a couple of TBC has had me concerned about you. Hope you get better soon!
ReplyDeleteNow now Jules! We are not all lucky enough to live where you do but I am thankful for your kind thoughts and do also hope I get a chance for some real birding soon ;-) An Ivory or Ross's Gull should do the trick.
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