Jæren delivers BIG time!

I think I said I was looking forward to my two days birding in Jæren with Kjell and rightly so - it was epic!!

I have been on a high ever since Friday afternoon that made sleep difficult and would be difficult to explain to "lay people" 

Kjell picked me up from Stavanger airport at 0930 on Friday and we were birding shortly afterwards. A late Wheatear was notable even for Kjell whilst I could also enjoy birds like Long-tailed Duck, Turnstone and Purple Sandpiper which are scarce in Oslo.

We then drove a good way south to look for a Buff-bellied Pipit that had been found a couple of days earlier. This bird had yet to be identified to (sub)species and was a different bird to a well watched rubescens from earlier in the month. We found the bird fairly quickly on a small seaweed covered beach and were able to watch it well feeding with Rock Pipits and a single Meadow Pipit. This particular individual stood out like a sore thumb in a way which I never expected of this species. It had thick white edges to its tertials and secondaries that almost formed a wing panel and the two wing bars were also very white. The bird was nice and buffy on the underparts though and seems to be a clear cut rubescens from North American (as opposed to japonicus from asia). Some pictures though give a much whiter impression of the underparts and highlighted the real problems that rarities committees can have when assessing birds from a single picture or even a series of pictures when these pictures have been chosen as they show what the observer wants the committee to see whilst the other pictures giving a different impression are ignored.

Quite why pictures can show a different bird to that which we observed through binoculars is a technical question which I do not have the answer to but the very pale sand the bird is standing on probably plays a part. I have no problem though in saying that a picture can lie.

Leaving the pipit we had a swallow fly over us. It turned out to be a Barn Swallow but at this very late date should really have been something mega rare.

Arriving back to the car we heard some crest/tit sounds. I said I thought they sounded like Firecrest (a species we had spoken about finding but which hadn't been seem anywhere in Norway for a month or so). Kjell wasn't too convinced and stayed by the car whilst I went looking for the sound. I couldn't locate the bird but a shout from Kjell revealed that a Firecrest had indeed appeared by the car! We then enjoyed the bird at very close range and quickly realised there were two!! We had exceptional views of both birds although they were so close that getting a picture of both proved to be beyond my photographic powers.

Right now things were feeling very good! We had a bit over 3 hours of daylight left and we were now quite pumped up and were wondering what else could be out there (Friday was the first day of good weather after quite a few days with a lot of wind so there were potentially lots to find and this was precisely why Kjell had invited me out). We headed for a sandy beach where we hoped that sand flies around rotting seaweed would produce pipits/wheatears/chats. We hadn't quite got to the beach when I looked inland and saw, at quite some range, a large raptor. I couldn't make out what it was (it wasn't a buzzard sp. but didn't fit any of the expected eagles either). I was not too fussed as I just thought it was the range making ID difficult but shouted out that I had a "large raptor". Two seconds later and Kjell is shouting "bombe ørn" which I guess translates as "f***ing rare eagle".

The bird was gliding towards us with drooping wings and yes it did look like the migrant eagles I have seen in Israel. But in the bins I couldn't see any plumage details.

Whilst setting up his scope (I hadn't bought mine from Oslo) Kjell mentioned a Steppe Eagle that a photographer had taken pictures of not too far away a few weeks but once he had it in the scope he exclaimed "it has a dark underwing, I think it is a Greater Spotted Eagle!!" or (Norwegian) words to that effect. But no sooner said than eagle disappears.

We waited and waited and concluded that it had landed in the wood it had been flying over. We informed a couple of others who we knew were nearby of our sighting and made our way towards the wood. I made my way along the edge whilst ignoring what sounded like more Firecrests and then briefly saw the eagle low over the wood through the trees. I lost it and started running to where I thought I would have a better vantage point. I couldn't find the eagle and started scanning desperately in all directions and there it was! It must have flown low over me whilst I was running.

It then started circling at some range and the binocular views were non-conclusive but with the power of digital photography we were able to zoom in on pictures and confirm Greater Spotted Eagle – a true Norwegian mega. It was quite amazing how quickly twitchers arrived at the bird and soon it was a tick for a number of the country's top listers (and most importantly a self-found for yours truly and Kjell). There have been 4 other records in Norway including Tönn a GPS tagged bird from the Baltics that spent the summers of 2010-2014 wandering (almost) unseen around Norway before eventually and quite impressively being successfully seen by a handful of twitchers based on day old plots but this is the first field found twitchable bird (and was seen again on Saturday and twitched by many of Norway's finest).

By now I was running on adrenalin and didn't calm down until around midnight with my mind reflecting on the day that had been and day that would come (we had after all hardly done any "proper" birding so there must still be lots left to find).

Kjell and I had big plans for Saturday and started off at the beach which we hadn't checked after the teenage eagle changed our plans. On our way down we had a Two-barred Crossbill which was a good start and then a Wheatear which was unfortunately just a Common/Northern. We then walked a fair few kilometres of beach (which according to our plan was going to reveal a never-ending list of rares) whilst seeing next to nothing until Kjell found an interesting pipit in the scope that turned out to be a Water Pipit! I did not enjoy the best views and could not add much to question of ID unfortunately but managed a picture that might classify as a record shot (this was possibly Kjell's fourth Water Pipit of the autumn but as he said, a single Water Pipit would normally makes a whole autumn and this just shows how birding can never be predicted).

The reason for the poor views was that a Sparrowhawk flew through causing all the pipits to fly up and disappear to the south. Whilst waiting in vain for them to return we had stunning views of a Short-eared Owl which came in off the sea and flew directly towards us before breaking off at less than 10 metres range. Unfortunately, it all happened a bit too fast for the amazing photo that the experience warranted.

After this we got news of a Desert Wheatear on a nearby beach. We were a bit pissed off that we had not found anything on our beach and were not too keen on joining a twitch but eventually did. When we arrived though everyone else was leaving and we had the bird almost to ourselves and could watch it running after flies on the sand.

We didn't stay long though as we only had two hours of sunlight left and lots more beaches and seaweed to check. Unfortunately, we couldn't find anything else to surpass our earlier encounters but close encounters with a Hen Harrier and a Peregrine hunting Snipe were a fitting end to the day.

I had over 1200 photos to go through but have finally got around to choosing and editing the best ones. Enyøy!

Greater Spotted Eagle (storskrikørn). The bird is is basically juvenile plumage but has very tatty outer primaries and tailed feathers showing it to be a 2cy. It also looks to have moulted its inner primaries

lots of eagle killers at Jæren

this was the best photo from the intial encounter. Maybe good enough for an ID?

Firecrest (rødtoppfuglekonge)

this photo does actually show both birds

American (rubescens) Buff-bellied Pipit (myrpiplerke) left with Rock Pipit (skjærpiplerke)

Buff-bellied Pipit - the ehite edges to the flight feathers were realy noticeable

very white outer tail feathers

male Desert Wheatear (ørkensteinskvett)

I didn't manage a spread tail shot but here we can see that tail is completely black rather than a T-shape

in the desert

Two-barred Crossbill (båndkorsnebb)

with some rather large billed Common Crossbills

juvenile Peregrine (vandrefalk) chasing a Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin)

Short-eared Owl (jordugle)

Kjell's house (on the right) - our base for the weekend

Hen Harrier (myrhauk) hunting at dusk

a very poor photo of the Water Pipit (skjærpiplerke) together with a Rock Pipit

Water Pipits and Vestfold

Water Pipits (vannpiplerke) are very interesting birds in that they are the only European bird I can think of that migrates north in winter. They breed in the mountains of central Europe and winter by wetlands and sometimes coasts in lowland Europe (both north and south of the breeding grounds). They are also a very tricky species to identify and were until fairly recently treated as a subspecies of Rock Pipit (skjærpiplerke), indeed in the authoratitive Birds of the Western Palearctic (BWP) from 1988 it says, under Field Characters: “Rock and Water Pipit groups separable in adult breeding plumage but often not so at other times”. Water Pipit is a rarity in Norway with no more than a couple of records annually normally of birds associating with Rock Pipits on sandy beaches where they can find insects amongst piles of rotting seaweed. I have never seen Water Pipit in Norway and I must admit to being slightly sceptical to some records as I believe that the variability in litoralis Rock Pipit is greater than is generally accepted. The Rock Pipit I saw 7 November is a good example of a very pale Rock Pipit showing many characters of Water. Today was therefore a good opportunity for me to see Water Pipit side-by-side with litoralis Rock Pipit.

Two Water Pipits were reported on Sunday from Nevlungstranda, Mølen in Vestfold which at nearly two hours drive from home is right at the edge of my self-imposed limit for regular birding trips. Today I only managed to find a single bird with certainty amongst 12 Rock Pipits (20 were recorded on Saturday). When I first arrived around 0930 the sun had yet to rise over the horizon although the light was good. This meant that I could watch the pipits in a neutral light. I found the pipits quite easily feeding amongst the boulders and seaweed and the third bird I saw was clearly a Water Pipit. It’s underparts were very white and it stood out like a sore thumb.

Water Pipit on the left with a Rock Pipit on the right. The colour difference is very clear in this picture which is taken in a neutral light

close up of the Water Pipit (vannpiplerke)

After the sun rose it became a bit more difficult. The birds became wary plus the warm, low winter light made judging colours challenging. A Rock Pipit bird with the sun on it could suddenly appear to have very white underparts whereas the upperparts could have a warm brown tinge which is supposed to be one of the features of water pipit. However, with good views the Water Pipit could be picked out.

Water Pipit in sunlight.

Whilst not the best picture this is the best for seeing the main ID feature of Water Pipit. This pictures shows the rufous brown (nutty brown) rump of Water Pipit. Note also the white outer-tail feathers, white base colour to underparts, strong white supercilium and clear white wing bars.

This pose is similar to the bird above in neutral light but note how the upperpart colours look much warmer in the sunlight

With the sun shining on it the bird on the left appeared very pale on the underparts. It is also sunning itself and has its feather fluffed up. I never got to grips with it in the field but assume this is a (the) Water Pipit. Compared to the Rock Pipit to the right (which does not have the sun directly on it) the uperparts have a distinct browner hew.

One of the Rock Pipits bore a yellow colouring ring EEL. This bird has been recorded at Mølen previously with the first record on 2.11.2011. The bird was ringed at Giske, Møre & Romsdal, Norway on 02.10.2011 and was seen at Mølen already on 02.11.2011. It spent the rest of the winter there and was back again for the winter on 30.10.2012. Colour ringed birds from the same location have also been seen in Sussex, England (my old stomping ground).

Rock Pipit

Rock Pipit (skjærpiplerke). The yellow brown ground colour to the underparts leaves no doubt this is a Rock Pipit but the upperparts had a very warm brown hew in the low winter sunlight.

On the sea a single Long-tailed Duck (havelle) and two Shags (toppskarv) amongst commoner seabirds were good finds.

I had a walk around nearby Mølen where there were 100 Velvet Scoters (sjøorre) and a Red-necked Grebe (gråstrupedykker) were the highlights.

Driving towards Tønsberg I took the scenic route hoping to score some Hawkie as I needed a hit. And sure enough.......

A Hawk Owl has been seen in this area in since 8th December but was last reported 22^nd December.

In Tønsberg I visited Presterødkilen. Here the bay was entirely covered in ice despite it being barely zero degrees and the last few days not having been particularly cold. The reeds still held Water Rail (vannrikse) and Bearded Tits (skjeggmeis) although I only heard them calling. I had to go out to the open sea to find some ice free water although fog made visibility quite limited. At Jarlsø two Little Grebes (dvergdykker) were nice to get onto the year list.