Iceland - Autumn 2012 (1)

Having just finished the third and final Narwhal Survey in Melville Bay I landed in Akureyri late afternoon on the 27th of September. Here I got picked up by Yann Kolbeinsson (YK) for a planned rarity hunt on the southern shores of the island. Where we were to go depended on where there best chances for rarities would be.
We birded the entire friday in the southwest with target species being american shorebirds and Buff-bellied Pipit. We succeeded in neither though we did put in a good effort - strong northerly winds did make things a bit difficult. Best birds were American Wigeon 2 (long-staying individuals), Gyr Falcon 3 and Curlew 9 (only two regular places for the species in Iceland).  

28/9 American Wigeon (bird 1), Njardvíkurfitjar. Wintering birds have been present at this site since 2005.

28/9 American Wigeon (bird 2), Njardvíkurfitjar.

28/9 American Wigeon (bird 2), Njardvíkurfitjar.

Around midday we checked a few plantation without any result. Only local birds were seen. We are hoping that the low pressure hitting Iceland saturday evening will bring rareties for us.

28/9 Icelandic Redpoll, Thorbjörn. Four birds seen today.

28/9 Meadow Pipit, Arfadalsvik. Eight Meadow Pipits was the result of a lot of walking at prime coastal sites.

28/9 "Icelandic" Wren, Seltjörn. Responds well to pishing.

RDN

Doi Inthanon (1) 2011

Doi Inthanon Nationalpark er beliggende i Chiang Mai provinsen. I parken ligger Thailands højeste bjerg, der med sine 2565 meter er mere end 300 meter højere end de nærmeste bjerge i landet. Nationalparken er nemt tilgængelig, og man kan køre hele vejen til toppen i bil. Det er vigtigt, at man starter tidligt på toppen, da turisterne først skal se solopgangen længere nede af bjerget, før de valfarter mod toppen. Det giver et par timers uforstyrret birding, som gerne skulle producere de vigtigste arter fra toppen. Efter et par timer på lokaliteten havde vi krydset, hvad vi kom efter (Ashy-throated Warbler, Pygmy Wren Babbler, Bar-throated Minla, Dark-sided Thrush, White-browed Shortwing og Green-tailed Sunbird). Resten af dagen blev brugt på trails længere nede af bjerget, hvor et absolut højdepunkt var Slaty-bellied Tesia. Vi besøgte selvfølgelig også Mr. Deang, og kunne under frokosten nyde Lesser Shortwing, Dark-sided Thrush og Hill Blue Flycatcher på "foderbrættet". Doi Inthanon er easy birding med et fint udvalg af gode arter.

Toppen af Doi Inthanon.

Don't drink and shoot 

Mrs Gould´s Sunbird. Rimelig alm. i det nordlige Thailand
Foto: RDN

Ashy-throated Warbler. Denne eksklusive art kan kun ses på toppen af Doi Inthanon. Arten er rimelig talrig, og kan med lidt tålmodighed let ses.
Foto: RDN

Bar-throated Minla. Endnu en art med en meget lille udbredelse i Thailand. Ses lettest på toppen.
Foto: SSL 

Green-tailed Sunbird er endnu en art fra toppen af Doi Inthanon. Ses i den lille have ved kaffebutikken.
Foto: SSL

Farvelade fugl!
Foto: SSL

Inden turen til Thailand stod denne lille sag højt på vores ønskeliste. Arten er rimelig nem at høre, men visuel kontakt er straks værre. Den løber rundt på jorden som en lille mus, og man skal være tålmodig for at få et glimt af den. Vi var meget tålmodige ;-)
Foto: SSL

Hotspot for Ashy-throated Warbler, Bar-throated Minla og Pygmy Wren Babbler.

Pygmy Wren Babbler land

Blue Whistling Thrush ved foderbrættet.
Foto: SSL

Denne fugl er bestemt til Lesser Shortwing. Senere på sæsonen blev en ung White-browed Shortwing fejlbestemt til Lesser Shortwing, men jeg kan ikke få denne fugl til andet end Lesser Shortwing. Kommentar til bestemmelsen modtages gerne.
Foto: SSL

Lesser Shortwing
Foto: SSL

Northern Treeshrew ved foderbrættet.
Foto: SSL

Melorme puttes i tragten og du undgår at forstyrre området.

Lund får en cola ved foderbrættet. Et virkeligt hyggelig sted, hvor gode fugle og mad kunne kombineres. 

Foderpladsen ligger rimelig isoleret et godt stykke nedenfor restauranten.

Slaty-backed Forktail længere nede af bjerget.
Foto: RDN

Plumbeous Water Redstart  længere nede af bjerget.
Foto: RDN

Black-tailed Crake. Ses ved det kendte hotspot for arten (campingpladsen).
Foto: RDN

Gulling Ilulissat

Thule Airport closes at 1530, local time. Due to time difference and sheer distance it is not possible for us to go all the way from Akureyri to Thule in one day. Therefore we have a stopover in Ilulissat - the tourist capitol of Greenland. Ilulissat is a nice place with a high standard of life - you should go there once in life, at least! Regarding wild life there is not that much to see but that's how it is all over Greenland.

If you go in April/May there are Bowhead Whales south of Disko - a species still recovering from the excess hunting several hundred years ago but they are almost guaranteed even though you might have to use all your savings to get there (much easier in a Twin-Otter;-)) The summer will have good numbers of Humpback Whales all over the Disko Bay and with the Icefjord as a backdrop it simply does not get any more beautiful. Hornemanni Arctic Redpolls are common in winter, spring and aumtumn but leave the town during the breeding season (the same for white Gyr Falcons).

27/8 1. cal Glaucous Gull in Ilulissat (Bird 1). Young glaucous are often very approachable in the harbor where they are taking the leftovers from the local fishermen.




27/8 1. cal Glaucous Gull, Ilulissat (Bird 2).



27/8 1. cal Glaucous Gull in Ilulissat (Bird 3).

27/8 The fresh water reservoir in Ilulissat often has a lot of roosting gulls. Often one can find the highest numbers of Iceland Gulls here, all though they sometimes use the cliffs on the northern side of the harbor. Notice the Black-headed Gull in the left corner of the picture, my first in Greenland!

27/8 Black-headed Gull. Not quite like Aarhus Harbor..

27/8 Hopefully the worst picture of Black-headed Gull you will ever see on this blog!

27/8 Black-headed Gulls can be seen all along the western coast of Greenland getting more and more scarce/rare the further north you come.

RDN

Double Dark Fulmar

Being back in Qaanaaq for two short days I managed to get some crappy video/pictures of the local Fulmars. Most of the Fulmars were already gone from the area with negative temperatures already present throughout the day. The video is taken with a hand held Canon Powershot SX40 HS.

1/9 Fulmars in Qaanaaq.

1/9 Fulmars in Qaanaaq.

RDN