Double ton up in the Dale

Yesterday was a big day for me. I reached the double ton on my local patch! I have been wondering what species #200 would be and feared House Sparrow (a species oft erroneously reported in the Dale and never documented there but a bird that can obviously turn up) but luckily it was something more exciting. I had spent the morning sea-gazing at Huk, Bygdøy hoping for a rare auk or two but had to content myself with a single Little Auk and a large arrival of Kittiwakes with at least 35 1^st winters (not a single adult noted) whizzing past. What I did not expect later in the day was to see a 1^st winter Kittiwake flying low over the forest in Maridalen whilst I was watching two Pine Grosbeaks.

So #200 was not an extreme rarity but Kittiwake is a fitting species and is only the second record of a living bird in the Dale. What will be my 300^th bird? 😊

Maridalen #200 - a 1st winter Kittiwake (krykkje)

and a better picture of one of the birds at Huk

it was quite dark in the forest where the Pine Grosbeaks (konglebit) were and I used the built in camera flash

without flash