Red-footed Falcon

1st summer female Red-footed Falcon (aftenfalk)

1 May is a day of very high, though rarely met, expectations. With spring this year being so early Jack and I had decided that May 1st would be the new May 9th and positioned ourselves expectantly at Huk from 05:15 but were to be disappointed. Despite southerly winds and some cloud cover there was basically zero viz mig to observe. No Common Scoters and just a single diver for example were a sure sign of lack of movement. Three female Long-tailed Duck that suddenly dropped in were there a real surprise but when a bank of fog rolled in we decided it was time to head to Svellet.

 

1 May at Svellet is guaranteed to be good right? Water levels are still falling slowly and it looks mighty and I am hoping for something to match my LesserYellowlegs in 2020. But the waders don’t seem to think so and it was a major disappointment. A flyover Great White Egret would just a few years ago been a major highlight but these days is nearly old hat😉.

Great White Egret (egretthegre) flying over Svellet. This bird is missing its inner primary on both wings which may make it possible to individually identify if it turns up at other locations. The bird I saw a week ago did not have these missing although I guess they could have been lost since then

Svellet on 29 April all mud and shallow water but hardly a wader, yet...

 

the water level is falling more slowly but has fallen an additional 10cm in the last two days.

Hellesjøvannet offered my first Hobby of the year, a White-tailed Eagle and at least 6 Marsh Harriers with a surprise Slavonian Grebe but no booming Bitteren or more exciting raptors.

 

A twitch provided me with my best bird of the last few days when I drove to Moss to enjoy a very confiding 1st summer female Red-footed Falcon. She has taken up residence on a golf course and spent most of her time on the fairways eating worms and beetles. She would sometimes fly down from a perch to grab something but other times would run around like a thrush seeming to find things by hearing them. Only once did she fly around grabbing insects in the air.

 

spot the falcon?

from when it was flying around. If I got a shot like this in Maridalen one day I could be over the moon

catching small flying insects

is clearly moulting its tail feathers and has some missing and also feathers of different generations

eating a worm

down the hatch

A rare trip to Kurefjorden was rather disappointing with few very waders.

a Woodcock (rugde) nest in Maridalen that was deserted due to forestry work just metres away which amazingly enough is allowed to continue throughout the year

a singing Whitethroat (tornsanger)