Even more mountains

Another nice day in the mountains with mostly sun and blue skies but a couple of heavy showers . A distant 2k Hen Harrier (myrhauk) was the birding highlight alongside singing Lapland Buntings (lappspurv) , Whimbrel (småspove), Kestrels (tårnfalk) and more scoters.

We walked up a small hill where previously we have had Dotterel (boltit) and Willow Grouse (lirype) but none to be found this year,

male Golden Plover (heilo)

male Lapland Bunting

pair of Common Scoters (svartand) and three Velvet Scoters (sjøorre)

Vinstre lake and the Jotunheimen mountains

Whimbrel

Mountains

We are up on the edge of the Jotunheimen by Vinstre lake at 1027 metres. There is still some snow on the ground here and higher up on Valdresflya we could see there was still a considerable amount of snow. On the lake here were 3 Long-tailed Ducks (havelle) which are presumably waiting for the ice on their breeding lakes to disappear. Also a few Common (svartand) and Velvet Scoter (sjøorre) and surpisingly 4 Cormorants (storskarv) resting on an island.
On the way up we had an immature Golden Eagle (kongeørn) flying over the road and when we stopped to admire it an adult also flew over.

Immature (3k?) Golden Eagle

Adult Golden Eagle

Haugseter Mountain Hotel (fjellstue) - great hotel in great location

old summer farms by Vinstre lake