Photos from Nordland

Here are a selection of photos from around Bodø and Værøy.

11:55pm looking north from Værøy- the sun shines strongly

midnight. The sun sets (real midnight sun is restricted to a few days at the end of June at this latitude)

First some of the different Lesser Black-backed Gulls (sildemåke). First off, the fuscus from Valnes, notice the dark wings without any real border to the black wing tips.

presumed fuscus Lesser Black-backed Gull

presumed fuscus Lesser Black-backed Gull - notice how the light can change the appearance of the upperparts

Some from Værøy:

A fairly easy graellsii

An obvious graellsii in the middle with a Herring Gull (gråmåke) on the right and a darker LBBG on the left which I take to be an intermedius.

A difficult bird which could be dark graellsii or pale intermedius.

Another difficult bird which was quite small and cute so probably a female. The flight shot shows significant contract between the wing and wing tips so this is a graellsii I reckon. Also the photo was taken at 10pm so the grey back probably looked darker than it would have looked in the middle of the day.

I’ve read that the intermedius types in northern Norway might be the result of hybridisation between fuscus and graellsii. I don’t know about this but I can say that LBBG’s come in the whole range of colours up here. I also saw one dark graellsii type seemingly paired with a Herring Gull which could result in some even more difficult looking offspring.
EDIT: of course I had not considered the possibility of HEUGLINI when I wrote the original entry. I don't believe there are proven records of this sub-species in Norway but it is probably just as likely at this latitude and longitude as Graellssi

Some other pictures:

Killer Whale (spekkhogger)

3 Killer Whales including a youngster

Otter

Common Seal

Also some scenic botanical shots from Værøy

A pale Whimbrel (småspove) – Slender-billed Curlew look alike

A group of five young Pintails (stjertand)

1k Pintails - the green on the wing of the right-hand bird shows it to be a males

The lack of green shows this bird to be a female

Gannet (havsule)

Gannet and Fulmar (havhest)

Juvenile Herring Gull

Curlew Sandpiper

We went looking for one of my favourite birds, Red-necked Phalarope (svømmesnipe), at Seinesodden, south of Bodø today. No luck on this front although this is a very exciting looking location. A fledged Redshank (rødstilk) with a short dark bill and yellowy orange legs had my heart racing with thoughts of Lesser Yellowlegs until it flew and revealed its distinctive white patterning. Also Lapwing (vipe), Ringed Plover (sandlo) and Teal (krikkand) breeding here and best of all a summer plumaged Curlee Sandpiper (tundrasnipe). Also seen today a close White-tailed Eagle (havørn), Twite (bergirisk) and Red-throated Diver (smålom). Also some mammals with two young Common Seals and three Grey Seals.

Tricky gulls

I see very few Lesser Black-backed Gulls (sildemåke) when I am in Northern Norway and there is a lot of uncertainty as to the sub-specific identity of many of the birds that occur here. One place where I do see birds is around Valnes to the south of Bodø. A few pairs appear to breed here amongst a loose colony of Herring (gråmåke) and Great Black-backed Gulls (svartbak). I have previously reported these as being fuscus (also called Baltic Gull) although I believe it is unclear as to whether fuscus still breed in Norway. I spent some time looking at the birds today and managed some half decent photos which i will upload later. For me these birds are fuscus. Plumage wise they are darker on the back than Great Black-backs, there is no discernible contrast between the black wing tips and rest of the wing, there is just one small white mirror on P10 and they have no discernible white tips to the outer primaries. Structure wise they are clearly smaller than Herring Gulls and appear long winged. The biggest clue for me though that they are fuscus is their behaviour. When feeding they fly like a small gull and swoop down and pick food off the water surface just like I have seen fuscus doing around Stockholm and in the Baltic. Both in size and behaviour they are also very unlike the intermedius that breed around Oslo. Also here Redstart (rødstjert) and Common Tern (makrellterne) but still no White-tailed Eagles (havørn) and the locals also say they have noticed far fewer eagles this year.