Things
did improve today. Egil found an Olive-backed Pipit although I failed to see it
and Kjell found a Savi’s Warbler! I did manage to see the Savi’s although in
similar fashion to last year it was a touch and go as to whether the views were
tickable. The views were unforgettable though. Kjell had seen the bird very
well although unfathomably did not have his camera with him! Once the rest of
us had gathered where Kjell had found the bird we embarked on what is described
as an “organised flush”. The only problem was that the bird didn’t want to
flush. Instead I suddenly noticed it running like a mouse through the vegetation
less than two metres from me! I got the others on it and the bird ended up
being more or less surrounded but did we see it again? Absolutely not!
Locustella warblers are famous for acting like this although I have not
witnessed it before and it was incredibly cool to see it running away from us
instead of flying and then managing to completely disappear. This was a great
reward for Kjell especially after finding both Pallas Grasshopper and Lancy
last year (or Stars and Stripes as they say here in Norway). We tried to find
the bird again but it was a hopeless task.
After
this things got very quiet. In what might be a Værøy first I did not see a
Yellow-browed Warbler but may have heard one. I did have 6 Chiffchaffs though
as my only warbler and got a dose of Hawkie with a bird showing well as it
hunted from telegraph poles. It went down three times and looked to have caught
something. In one of my pictures it looks like it is swallowing a mouse or
shrew but I have understood that these don’t occur on Værøy…
Waders
were the most (and only) photogenic birds today with a couple of Barwits and
Grey Plovers and a few Ringed Plovers showing well. Jack Snipe also showed well
but not exactly as I would have hoped. I searched a suitable area thoroughly
and saw three lots of primary feathers from corpses that matched this species
and later saw a cat that could well be the culprit. I did flush one bird and in
trying to locate this bird on the deck I made an unexpected discovery. I came
across a muddy area where there were LOTS of footprints and droppings from Jack
Snipe. I immediately froze and started scanning hoping to find the bird and
there it was. Only problem was that it was lying on it’s side in a puddle and
was clearly dead! It appeared very freshly dead and had no visible injuries but
was just skin and bones so maybe had been unable to find food. The areas where
it was looked good but judging by the small was probably very polluted.
Let’s
hope tomorrow delivers more birds and better views and the rain that is falling as I write this is definitelty promising.....
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| juvenile Grey Plover (tundralo) |
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| juv Grey Plover |
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| Hawk Owl with a rodent |
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| a distant Iceland Gull which others have seen much better |
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| northern lights |
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| female Parrot Crossbill (furukorsnebb) |
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| male Ring Ouzel (ringtrost) |
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| Snow Bunting (snøspurv) |
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| White-tailed Eagles (havørn) |
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| floating dead Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) |
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| footprints, dropping and beak marks of Jack Snipe |
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| and the (presumed) Jack Snipe assasin |
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