The Cabin continued...

A new batch of varied pictures from Bodø and area (I am uploading chronologically).

juvenile Common Sandpiper still with downy feathers but fully recongnisable

adult Curlew with worm. A pair bred close to the cabin and we also saw a single half grown youngster

adult Lesser Black-backed Gull and female Red-breasted Merganser. It is not easy to make sense of the LBBGs up here. All seem to be slender long winged birds that are very marine yet the mantle colour can vary from jet black to a greyer colour with brown tinges.

this might count as a record shot of a Garganey (right hand most bird in inset) - even if the head pattern is a bit blurred the blue forewing (the bird had just landed) is visible making this an eclipse male. It is together with 2 Teal

Grey Heron feeding right outside our cabin

Arctic Terns. The two adult birds seemed to be without young and were displaying but other birds had well grown young in the nest which can be seen on the right hand side of the picture

this Black Guillemot was far too concerned with a worm like fish to worry about the photographer

juvenile Bluethroat

tail is still a stub

pair of Great Black-backed Gulls with the size difference between the sexes being obvious (male left)

Herring Gull - these northern birds can have relatively little black in the wing





female Merlin

note how the birds colours differ in the next two pictures as I struggled to get the exposure correct with the white background

possibly an even worse record shot than the Garganey but this is Bodø communes second EVER Mute Swan and the cause of a mini twitch so needs to be included!

I had an amazing encounter with a mother and two young Otters than swan right towards me as I was looking for the Knobbly Duck and they didn't notice men until they had come to within 10 metres of where I stood

mum had caught some sort of flat fish

the flat fish shows better here

whilst I was watching the Otters this adult White-tailed Eagle flew in with a clear interest in them before my presence seemed to scare him off

another shot of Stein - the third and final time I saw him with every subsequent observation being in better light and wind conditions but greater range

juvenile Redstart



my only Owl of the trip - a very distant Short-eared Owl