Ross's Gull

On 21 May an adult Ross’s Gull was found at Horten just over an hours drive from Oslo. It has been hanging out in a Common Tern colony and has settled in but has always seemed to be very distant (judging by the photos I have seen) so despite it being a lifer for me I have resisted any urges to travel there. Many others have been though (apparently they can be described as the who’s who of Norwegian Birders… isn’t that right Jack 😉 ) and this has resulted in a number of other decent birds being seen including Sandwich Tern (still missing from my Norwegian list), Little Gulls, Caspian Tern and Black Tern.

On Sunday we were visiting the brother-in-law in Tønsberg and I felt that the dog needed to stretch his feet on the way and it is not that much of a detour to Horten. There were other birders present and I was told the gull was behind a rock This was a bit infuriating as I really couldn’t stay there long without straining family harmonics too much. The Black Tern and Little Gulls showed and then all the Common Terns flew up and someone shouted they had sight of the Ross’s Gull. I took a while to see it but then it showed reasonably well in the scope flying about offshore including at one point with the Black Tern. If I had more time and spent less of it trying to take photos then it would have been a rather enjoyable twitch of what is a fantastic bird but I had to leave much sooner than I would have liked. Anyhows, it’s not that often I see a lifer!

On Friday I had a very enjoyable guiding session with a grandfather and grandson and we experienced Maridalen's hidden gems.

adult Ross's Gull (rosnemåke)

and together with a Black Tern (svartterne) - I cannot believe these 2 species have been seen together very often, if ever, before

the Black Tern on its own

a brood of 12 Mallard (stokkand) ducklings and do you spot the other bird in the picture?

my first female Red-backed Shrike (tornskate) of the year in Maridalen

feeding time with the Black Woodpeckers (svartspett)

a Garden Warbler (hagesanger) with nest material

a Redwing (rødvingetrost) with food for young

this Starling (stær) is nesting in the same hole that Wrynecks (vendehals) used last year and the mud shows that Nuthatches (spettmeis) have also used it