25th December

Christmas has been spent with my dad up here in the perpetual darkness, and have been used to eat as much food as possible in as little as possible time. Since he also find birds quite interesting, and he was the one that got me interested in nature to begin with, so I took him birdwatching Svalbard-style. This means going to the harbour and hoping that there will be some birds there. During our two visits to the harbour we got to see several Black Guillemots (Teist) and Little Auks (Alkekonge), but at least for me the biggest thing was whne we today got to see a 1cy Glaucous Gull (Polarmåke) swimming around a russian trawler that is docked in town.

Diving Little Auk

1 cy Black Guillemot

1 cy Glaucous Gull at 78 degrees north

Note the apparent patch at the primaries, due to the angle of the bird.

I hope everybody that is reading this have had a nice christmas, and that you have all got to spend it watching some nice birds alongside the good food.

November 27th

Now I am finally finished with the reports from my trip abroad, and have finally managed to go out to have a look at the local birds again. There is not much to shout about, but they are still wonderful creatures. I only managed to find two species of birds this time, one Brünnick'c Guillemot (Polarlomvi) and 21 or more Black Guillemots (Teist). I will paste in a few pics of the Black Guillemots, and am hoping that I will see much more of these wonderful birds during the winter.

England 01.Nov.2011

The last day I went out birding with Ed was for me probably the best. Not due to that we got to see many rare birds, but because I have been bitten by the gull-bug. I tried for as long as I could to stay away from falling in love with these winged problem-ID's, but I am now stuck with them. The best bird for me this day was without doubt the Mediterranean Gulls (Svartehavsmåke) at Great Yarmouth. Thirty-or-so birds were just waiting for us to feed them with bread from a local shop. To get to see all three age-groups of these were also nice, given the fact that it is not a common bird in Norway. And after having spent some time with them I have to admit that it is among the prettiest gulls I know.
Also a location that stood out was Minismere. To be able to walk around in the Heather-covered hills and look at Dartford Warblers (Vinsanger), with a short walk to the seafront and the reedbeds, made a really nice end to the day. Long-tailed Tits (Stjertmeis) of the Brittish subspecies made nice balls of fluff to look at, and the Kingfisher (Isfugl) that did not want to move from its perch was a very welcome sight. Marsh Harriers (Sivhauk) and A single Hen Harrier (Myrhauk) gave great views, and it was also nice to get to hear and briefly see the Marsh Tit (Løvmeis) again.

The trips around to different birding-locations with Ed really was worth the time it took, nad I am very grateful that he bothered to go birding with a guy who is used to watching birds on the open tundra, and in icy fiords.

I can also mention in this post that I photographed two cr-ringed Mediterranean Gulls at Great Yarmouth, which both had originally been ringed in Belgium, but had been present at Great Yarmouth for several years. I am still waiting from the ringing-details from the Stonechat from the last blog-post, and from a Herring Gull.

Mediterranean Gull / Svartehavsmåke, 1cy

Mediterranean Gull / Svartehavsmåke, 1 cy

Mediterranean Gull / Svartehavsmåke, 2 cy

Mediterranean Gull / Svartehavsmåke, 2 cy

Mediterranean Gull / Svartehavsmåke, adult

 

Mediterranean Gull / Svartehavsmåke, adult

Mediterranean Gull / Svartehavsmåke, adult

Herring Gull / Gråmåke, 3/4 cy, ssp. argenteus

Purple Sandpiper / Fjæreplytt

Starling / Stær

Ruddy Turnstone / Steinvender

Kingfisher / Isfugl

Long-tailed Tit / Stjertmeis

Long-tailed Tit / Stjertmeis

Dartford Warbler / Vinsanger

England 31.Oct.2011

A slightly wet and grey day in England is nothing that I was not expecting, but it did make the birding rather slow. But no matter how the weather was, Ed and I got to see quite a few birds that I find quite nice.

Ed is Ed Parnell, a guy who I guided around Longyearbyen when he was up here last summer, and who offered to show me around in the UK when I was there at some point. And due to the fact that he lives near Norwich, and since my girlfriends family lives in Norwich, it was a great opportunity to take him up on his offer. So we ended up spending two very nice days birding in Norfolk and Suffolk.

This first day we went north from Norwich, and visited wonderful birding-sites. Amongst them were Cley, which I find to be one of the best birding-sites I have seen so far. Beraded Reedling (Skjeggmeis) was a new species in the UK for me, and there were lots of other nice birds around as well. The bird that we had the most fun with was probably the Cetti's Warbler (Cettisanger), since I have never actually managed to see one, only heard, we tried to get around one to see it. It must have looked rather strange to other people when two grown men were walking around a bush with no apparent reason. And off course the bird was not seen by any of us.

Probably the best bird for most birders this day wa the Cattle Egret (Kuhegre) that we saw at approximately a kilometre distance in some coastal pastures.

Stonechat / Svartstrupe

Pintail male / Stjertand hann

Dark-bellied Brent Goose / Ringgås, mørkbuket/ssp. bernicla

England 29.0ct.2011

After we came back from the Andaman Islands, we spent a week together with my girlfriends family in England. And since I am not to sure about driving on teh "wrong" side of the road, I was kind of restricted to where I could go birdwatching. But since we were spending a weekend in Suffolk I thought that I at least had a little chance of getting some birding out of it. We stayed in the middle of the country-side, and it was a perfect place to go birdwatching for birds of farmland. Pheasants (Fasan) were everywhere, and I managed to spook out a litter of Red-legged Partridge (Rødhøne) wich I have not seen before in the UK. Large flocks of Wood Pigeons (Ringdue), smaller flocks of Collared Doves (Tyrkerdue) and singles of Stock Dove (Skogdue) were nice, and gave more pleasing than the large flocks of Rooks (Kornkråke) that were on "every" field. A couple of Fallow Deer (Dåhjort) came running by at a few meters distance after they got spooked by a man walking his dog, and a Rabbit (Kanin) tried to hide as well as it could in the three centimetre long grass. The trip was finnished in the beautiful light of teh setting sun showering a few Wood Pigeons sat in a tree just outside the house we stayed in.

Fallow Deer / Dåhjort

Wood Pigeon / Ringdue

Andaman Islands, Day 14, October 25th, 2011

Port Blair, South Andaman Island

To wake up in the middle of an Indian town, when you have gotten used to the sheltered and clean life of the jungle, was quite a strange experience. None-the-less I managed to find a few good birds there. From the window of our hotel room I got to see a Common Myna (Hyrdestær) landing in a palm, and a short stroll along the promenade before breakfast gave wonderful close-up views of a White-bellied Sea Eagle (Hvitbukhavørn) which grabbed food 20 meters in front of me. In addition a little flock of Pacific Swallows (Kystsvale) kept chasing small insects in front of me. Why do these things happen when I don’t have my camera there? When flying into India from the Andamans I got to see five or six Black Kites (Svartglente) at the airport in Kolkata. They were probably looking for food, but I hope that they are smart enough to keep away from the jet-engines.

Species list of the day

Port Blair, South Andaman Island

·         White-bellied Sea Eagle (Hvitbukhavørn)

·         Asian Fairy Bluebird (Blåalvefugl)

·         Pacific Swallow (Kystsvale)

·         Common Myna (Hyrdestær)

·         Oriental Magpie Robin (Orientskjæreskvett)

·         House Sparrow (Gråspurv)

Kolkata, India mainland

·         Black Kite (Svartglente)

New species of the day: 1
Total number of species on the trip: 53

Andaman Islands, Day 13, October 24th, 2011

Jungle Resort, Havelock Island

As the day of our departure from Havelock arrived, I came to the conclusion that I would make it an easy day, and not run around after birds. Instead I let the birds come to me, and I got to say goodbye to the regulars. It was nice to get to see the Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (Dragedrongo) and the Andaman Drongo (Andamandrongo) again before I left, and especially the Greater Racket-tailed gave great views. Only too bad that the camera was packed down in its bag.

Jetty, Village #1, Havelock Island

At home in Norway it is not really a big thing to come across a flock of crows, but when the taxi drove in to the jetty there was a flock of five Large-billed Crows (Tykknebbkråke) looking for food in amongst the people. And when I was on my way onboard the catamaran, I had a look at the swiftlets that were flying around, and could finally tick of Glossy and Edible-nest Swiftlet (Glanssalangan og Reirsuppesalangan) on my list of birds.

Species list of the day

Jungle Resort, Havelock Island

·         White-throated Kingfisher (Kastanjeisfugl)

·         Asian Fairy Bluebird (Blåalvefugl)

·         Black-naped Oriole (Svartnakkepirol)

·         Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (Dragedrongo)

·         Andaman Drongo (Andamandrongo)

·         Brown Shrike (Brunvarsler)

·         Red-whiskered Bulbul (Rødørebylbyl)

·         Oriental Magpie Robin (Orientskjæreskvett)

Jetty, Village #1, Havelock Island

·         Edible Nest Swiftlet (Reirsuppesalangan)

·         Glossy Swiftlet (Glanssalangan)

·         Large-billed Crow (Tykknebbkråke)

·         House Sparrow (Gråspurv)

New species of the day: 2

Total number of species this far: 52

Andaman Islands, Day 12, October 23rd, 2011

Jungle Resort, Havelock Island

This has been a good, but exhausting day! The day started off very well on my morning walk. At first I did not find any other birds than the usual, but when I started to look up through the tall canopy to look for swifts and swiftlets a big predator came into view. I immediately thought of the Changeable Hawk Eagle (Vekselskogørn) from yesterday, but the pictures that I got of it showed a much “cleaner” bird of prey, with a very distinct trailing edge to the wings. It was the endemic Andaman subspecies of the Crested Serpent Eagle (Orientsnokørn). While I was looking for it to come out again, the unmistakable “Café au lait”-brown color of a Brown/Andaman Coucal (Andamansporegjøk) got me to just see it as it ran across the forest floor and into the next thicket. Even though I waited for a while hoping to get to photograph it, it did not show again. Now it was time to wake up my girlfriend and to get some breakfast, so I figured that I would have to try again later.

After breakfast I decided to take a jungle-trek on one of the paths that they bring tourists. Being me, stubborn as any, I went off alone in the jungle. The start of the trip went up a well-made path which led me to the Yoga-building. Close to that one I got my three next new species of the day. A Green Imperial Pigeon (Bronsekeiserdue) flew out of one tree and sat down twenty meters away, allowing me to photograph it before it took off again. Then a Olive-backed Sunbird (Olivenryggsolfugl) male showed and started feeding in one of the trees, before a mixed flock of small passerines showed up. In amongst the Scarlet Minivets (Skarlagenmønjefugl) were at least two Oriental White-eyes (Lundbrillefugl). I thought of this as a good sign, and after having spoken to the man who usually guides treks over Japanese Hill, as it is called, I started my trek. I was already warm when I started, and became even warmer inside “the green hell”. After having to back-track 7-8 times due to having lost the path, an unknown number of ant-bites and encounters with skinks and lizards every thirty-or-so meters I came out into the open forest along the seafront again. It took me two hours to get done with the trek, and when I was done I was tired, covered in cob-web and soaked in my own sweat. But it was a very nice trip. But for everybody who is thinking of trekking in the jungle, one liter of water is not enough!

At lunch I sat down with my girlfriend, and when we had just finished I became aware of that same light-brown color again. So I left her with a Sprite in the bar, and went off to finally get some half-decent pictures of the Andaman Coucal (Andamansporegjøk).  

Species list of the day

·         Crested Serpent Eagle (Orientsnokørn)

·         Emerald Pigeon (Smaragddue)

·         Pompadour Green Pigeon (Gulstrupegrønndue)

·         Green Imperial Pigeon (Bronsekeiserdue)

·         Andaman Coucal (Andamansporegjøk)

·         Collared Kingfisher (Jadeisfugl)

·         Andaman Woodpecker (Andamansvartspett)

·         Asian Fairy Bluebird (Blåalvefugl)

·         Black-naped Oriole (Svartnakkepirol)

·         Brown Shrike (Brunvarsler)

·         Scarlet Minivet (Skarlagenmønjefugl)

·         Red-whiskered Bulbul (Rødørebylbyl)

·         Asian Brown Flycatcher (Brunfluesnapper)

·         Oriental Magpie Robin (Orientskjæreskvett)

·         Forest Wagtail (Skogerle)

·         Grey Wagtail (Vintererle)

·         Oriental White-eye (Lundbrillefugl)

·         Olive-backed Sunbird (Olivenryggsolfugl)

New species today: 5

Total number of species until now: 50

Brown/Andaman Coucal

Brown/Andaman Coucal

Green Imperial Pigeon

Brown Shrike

Oriental White-eye

Olive-backed Sunbird, male

Olive-backed Sunbird, male

Crested Srpent Eagle, ssp. davisoni endemic to the Andaman Island

Scarlet Minivet, male

Lizzard/skink

Neils Cove

Beach number 7, also known as Radhanagar Beach

Our home for twelve days

The road to the resort

The reception/bar

Andaman Islands, Day 11, October 22nd, 2011

Jungle Resort, Havelock Island

The morning-birding did not produce much today, but the regulars were present as always. After breakfast I went to Neill’s Cove on my own to try to get close to the birds again. Today the first birds I saw when I came were two Pacific Reef Herons (Sothegre), one of each color-morph. Four Pacific Golden Plovers (Sibirlo) were also showing off at close distance, and two Common Sandpipers (Strandsnipe) did not see the reason in flying around me when I walked back along the main beach, and kept on flying in short jumps ahead of me. When I got down the beach the Alexandrine Parakeets (Aleksanderparakitt) and a Collared Kingfisher (Jadeisfugl) started to make lots of panic-sounds. I looked up above the tree-tops, and out came a large raptor. I managed to get a few poor record-shots of the bird, but they were good enough that when I compared them to the book afterwards it was clear that it was a Changeable Hawk Eagle (Vekselskogørn). The rest of the day went without the big birds appearing, but two new species in a day is not that bad…..

Species list of the day

·         Pacific Reef Heron (Sothegre)

·         Changeable Hawk Eagle (Vekselskogørn)

·         Pacific Golden Plover (Sibirlo)

·         Common Sandpiper (Strandsnipe)

·         Emerald Pigeon (Smaragddue)

·         Pompadour Green Pigeon (Gulbukgrønndue)

·         Red-breasted Parakeet (Skjeggparakitt)

·         Alexandrine Parakeet (Aleksanderparakitt)

·         Andaman Scops Owl (Andamanugle)

·         White-throated Kingfisher (Kastanjeisfugl)

·         Collared Kingfisher (Jadeisfugl)

·         Asian Fairy Bluebird (Blåalvefugl)

·         Black-naped Oriole (Svartnakkepirol)

·         Great Racket-tailed Drongo (Dragedrongo)

·         Scarlet Minivet (Skarlagenmønjefugl)

·         Red-whiskered Bulbul (Rødørebylbyl)

·         Oriental Magpie Robin (Orientskjæreskvett)

·         Forest Wagtail (Skogerle)

·         Grey Wagtail (Vintererle)

New species today: 2
Total number of species until now: 45

Changeable Hawk-eagle

Common Sandpiper

Pacific Golden Plover

Pacific Golden Plover

Pacific Reef Heron, grey morph

Pacific Reef Heron, white morph

Pacific Reef Heron, white morph

Collared Kingfisher

Collared Kingfisher

Fruitbats

Lisa enjoying the water, weather and life in general.