Jæren day 2

Now I’m not really moaning but I was missing Maridalen again today. My trips to Jæren have never really delivered the goods and today was slow going. Our birding session in the morning started with an attempt to find passerines and gave just my first Pied Flycatcher (svarthvit fluesnapper) of the year of any interest. After this we tried various places before hour heading to a good view point for raptors. On our travels we picked up Whinchat (buskskvett) and Cuckoo (gjøk) which were new for the year plus a nice male Garganey (knekkand) but there were not a lot of birds to see. Our raptor watching was even quieter though and the only migrating birds were 2 Buzzards (musvåk) and 4 Sparrowhawks (spurvehauk) although 3 Golden Eagles (kongeørn) were of course nice and a singing Wryneck (vendehals) was a little unexpected.

Back at Kjells house we caught up with a long staying male Green-winged Teal (amerikakrikkand) and a very smart and interesting Pochard (taffeland) x Tufted Duck (toppand) hybrid which has caused confusion with it being called a Lesser Scaup (purprhodeand) although its true identity was surprisingly obvious with it looking very Pochard like from certain angles.

Male Garganey (knekkand) with Teal (krikkand), Mallard (stokkand) and a male Gadwall (snadderand)

never a bird one can go tired of: Pied Flycatcher (svarthvit fluesnapper)

male Scaup (bergand) with male Tufted Duck (toppand)

the male hybrid Pochard (taffeland) x Tufted Duck. Note how the head shape varies, the purple head colour, the grey back, the bill resembles Pochard. Not so clear in these pictures is that the flanks were not white and were noticeably greyer than on Tufted Duck which is a clear Pochard influence

 

a video "grab" from the following video