Værøy - after I left....

Before I post any of my own none to impressive pictures I can update on the birds I didn’t see on Værøy because I clearly left too early…...

I have already mentioned the Olive Backed Pipit that Kjell found whilst I was waiting for my helicopter off the island, well here is the back of camera picture.

Olive-backed Pipit (sibirpiplerke). Photo: Klell Mjølsnes

 

This morning things got much worse though when I first got a message from Kjell that he had found a Lanceolated Warbler and then I later got a picture of it in the hand after it had the misfortune to be flushed into a net erected just for its pleasure. After Kjell had found the PGTips (Starrsanger in Norwegian) he had started to talk about finding Stars & Stripes with the Stripes being Stripesanger (Lanceolated in Norwegian). Well his dream was fulfilled and well deserved too.

Lanceolated Warbler (stripesanger). Photo: Kjell Mjølsnes

And then I’ve just got a message saying a White’s Thrush (gultrost) has been seen although so far only by one observer. This is a notoriously difficult species to get past the bitter soles in the Rarities Committee though and I would know ;-).

Værøy has now, and finally, more than lived up to expectations!

Update:

it seems the White's Thrush was seen by all birders who were (still) the island. This pictures was sent to me by Egil Ween but was I believe taken by Håvard Eggen. My only consolation was that it would appear to have been another frustrating, skulky bird (I'm stuggling here.)