tirsdag den 11. juni 2013

Iceland 2013 (2)

An evening trip with Yann provided some good birds even though we did not find any megas. We started out by checking up on the only breeding site for Long-tailed Skuas in Iceland. There had been no reports so far this year so Yann wanted to give it a check. We saw three birds (probably two pairs) at the traditional site in the middle of nowhere.
9/6 Long-tailed Skua, somewhere in the northern part of Iceland. 
9/6 Long-tailed Skua, somewhere in the northern part of Iceland. 
From here we drove towards Myvatn - a place I had never been to before. Myvatn is an extraordinary place. The number of breeding ducks is totally amazing with literally thousands of Aythya-ducks and loads of dabbling ducks. Add to this hundreds of Slavonian Grebes and Phalaropes then you've got a nice evening setting. We checked last years breeding site for Wood Sandpiper (the only one) but failed to see it. Two Gyr Falcons, Merlin, American Wigeon and just tons of waterfowl was the end result birding wise. To round the night up we went to a secret place, "The Fissure" (a linear volcanic went (wiki)). You climb about 5 meters down an opening in a lava field and end up in fantastic natural hot tub, absolutely amazing. The water level varies a lot but in the broader spaces you can swim. 1.5 hours later we were in the lava field again listening to Great Northern Divers and Wrens at 0030 in the middle of the night. Iceland at its best!          

9/6 American Wigeon, Reykjahild at Myvatn. 2-3 birds are summering in the area this summer. 
9/6 Yann climbing up the fissure.
9/6 Happy campers after a nice day!
RDN

mandag den 10. juni 2013

Northern Fulmar

Had an enjoyable hour with some Northern Fulmars at Husavik Lighthouse situated just north of town. Its a very good place to look for whales and to some extent birds. It is possible to overlook most of the bay so finding the bigger is never a big problem if they are there. Black Guillemot, Puffins and various gull species can also be seen from the lookout. 

8/6 Husavik Lighthouse.
8/6 Husavik Lighthouse.
8/6 Husavik Lighthouse.
8/6 Husavik Lighthouse.
8/6 Husavik Lighthouse.
8/6 Husavik Lighthouse.
RDN

fredag den 7. juni 2013

Iceland 2013

Another year with field work in Northern Iceland. Departed Denmark in sunny and warm weather and arrived in Reykjavik in strong winds, heavy rain and only 8 degrees. Fortunately it was only a short stop in the capital of Iceland as we were off for the north the following day. A quick stop at Seltjarnarnes didn't provide anything good. 
The weather in the north has been really good so far. A quick stop at Svalbardseyri saw us dip on either of the three King Eiders that had been seen during the 10 previous days but we did find our own 2nd cal. year bird (would rather have seen one the adult males though..). The first night we were invited for Guillemot steaks at Yann Kolbeinsson, a real treat! The whiskies that night tasted really good as the bay had at least 5 Humpback Whales and 2 Blue Whales. Husavik might be a bit isolated but who gives a .... when you can see whales from your balcony! A shopping trip yesterday produced around 15 Humpback Whales and several Minke Whales as well. This all from the road!!!! Hopefully one of the next days there will be time to go out on a boat. Also in Husavik was a exillepes-type Arctic Redpoll
The field work has been nice and a bit challenging due to the very wet conditions. We have managed to find most of the Common Scoter nests from last year and it looks as though breeding success has again been very high. Birds seen "wearing" a logger include Long-tailed Duck, Red-throated Diver and Greater Scaup. The best bird in the survey area has been a male Ruff.
4/6 King Eider at Svalbardseyri. 
5/6 Miklavatn. Common birds, even one in our garden.
5/6 Barrows, Laxáurvirkjun. Not present in the survey area.
5/6 The worlds second best grebe.... Quite common in the survey area.
5/6 Miklavatn. An immense pleasure every year. Very common, +100 seen daily!
5/6 Hraun. Common everywhere. 
6/6 Male Ruff just south of Miklavatn. Annual in small numbers in Iceland
6/6 Ptarmigan. Common this year
6/6 Herring Gull X Glaucous Gull?. Ghosting some markings in the hand
6/6 Herring Gull X Glaucous Gull? Quite a lot of Herring Gulls in the Northeast have very little black markings in the hand. Hybrids?
6/6 Mixed Gulls. Please do comment on the left one! 19 Iceland Gulls in Husavik Harbor on the 6th. 
RDN

onsdag den 5. juni 2013

Hooded Grebe - the best grebe in the world?

Hooded Grebe is a rare bird of the high plateau's in the Santa Cruz Province of southern Argentina. It was only discovered in the 1974 and since the population has decreased a lot. In the 1980's the population was estimated to be around 3000-5000 pairs. In 2009 more than 50 prime lakes were surveyed and only 117 individuals were found. In the 1980's the same lakes held more than 1800 birds. This caused the species to be elevated to Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
In November 2012 we had almost a full day to find this rare grebe but the birds seem to move a lot around between years and some of the lakes require quite long walks so the pressure was on as this was the most wanted species for half our group! No need to worry though, as we scored big time in only the third lake visited. Almost 100 birds were found in one single big lake. We thoroughly enjoyed this magical moment in complete silence with dancing grebes in our telescopes.   
   
Hooded Grebe, Strobel Plateau, November 2012. In the background the red water mifoil Myriophyllum elatinoides
which the grebes use to build their nests.
Hooded Grebe, Strobel Plateau, November 2012. It was nice laying on the bank with grebes often swimming quite close by.
Hooded Grebe, Strobel Plateau, November 2012. The best grebe around!
Hooded Grebe, Strobel Plateau, November 2012. I actually ended up enjoying the grebe more than I thought I would.
Its like an improved version of the Slavonian Grebe. 
RDN

mandag den 3. juni 2013

Feltarbejde om foråret (del 1)

Mit arbejde består primært af feltarbejde fra april til oktober, så jeg får set en del nordjysk natur i den periode. I april, maj og juni gælder det kortlægningen af levesteder for en lang række bilagsarter samt bestandsopgørelser for henholdsvis Rørdrum, Mosehornugle, Tinksmed og Markpiber.
Starten af foråret var domineret af meget kolde temperaturer, hvilket udsatte overvågningen af Rørdrum med et par uger. Jeg startede overvågningen d. 20. april ved Nørhå Sø på Thy og besøgte en lang række lokaliteter, inden jeg kørte til Skagen. Eneste nævneværdige observationer fra Thy blev 115 Splitterner ved Ørum Sø, hvor de sidste år lavede en koloni på hættemågeøen i østenden.
Skagen var som altid en fornøjelse om foråret, og i Reservatet blev Rørdrum 2, Tranepar samt Ringdrossel 3 noteret. Desuden sad der en Rørdrum på strandengen ved Grenen. Retur mod Aarhus stoppede jeg 1½ time på Hulsig Hede for at ædle en Steppehøg. Det blev desværre ikke aktuelt, men en del rovfugle træk nord i lav højde. Bedste fugle var to Sorte Glenter. Tre sandsynlige tranepar blev desuden kortlagt fra klitten :-)
Skrubtudse yngler i store antal i Reservatet. Det er super hyggeligt med deres insisterende kvækken.
Tranepar på Hulsig Hede.
En flok Krondyr i morgenlys på Ålvand Klithede.
Jeg besøgte Thy igen d. 2-3. maj, men så ikke andet end lokale ynglefugle.
Rørdrum ved Vandet Sø var en kærkommen overraskelse, da der ellers har været langt mellem snapsene for arten  på Thy. 
D. 6-7. maj var jeg igen på vej til Skagen. Et par stop på vejen gav Rørdrum ved Torndrup Strand samt Mosehornugle ved både Gerå og Jerup (hvorvidt der er tale om ynglefugle kan være vanskeligt at afgøre, men jeg har desværre ikke mere end ca. en time pr. lokalitet). På Hulsig Hede prøvede jeg igen at ædle en Steppehøg, men igen uden held. Der var der pænt med rovfugle, og det var virkelig en fornøjelse inden varmeflimmeren satte ind. På hjemturen var jeg forbi Lille Vildmose, hvor caretakergruppen gør mit arbejde til en formsag. Det er jeg meget taknemmelig over, da lokaliteten kan være vanskelig at overvåge med mit timetal. I skumringen fløj en Sølvhejre en kort runde over rørskov syd for Hegnsvej (selvom arten er blevet relativ almindelig i DK, var det kun mit andet fund).
Mosehornugle ved Gerå.
Mosehornugle ved Jerup Strand får tæsk af to krager.
De blev ved i ti minutter, indtil uglen fløj langt mod syd.
Lokaliteten er rigtig god til Mosehornugle, og den 13. maj sås hele fire individer.
Hvorvidt de yngler må tiden vise.
Rådyr i Lille Vildmose. Det er helt vildt så synlig arten er i år.
Det kan muligvis skyldes en hård og lang vinter, som nu tvinger dyrene ud i det åbne land på jagt efter føde.
Ræv i Lille Vildmose. Jeg ser ræv hele tiden efterhånden.
De fleste af vores fuglelokaliteter må have et massivt prædationstryk fra det flotte rovdyr.
En halv Stålorm. En af vores tre firben i DK
Den 14-15. maj besøgte jeg Livø for at opfriske mine botaniske kundskaber. Vejret var ikke det bedste, så jeg fandt ikke rigtig nogle fugle i den fine gamle egeskov på øen (skoven er én af flere lokaliteter, hvor Egehjort snart skal udsættes). To syngende hanner af Rødrygget Tornskade på østsiden var ny potentiel ynglelokalitet for arten (Dofbasen), og det samme gjorde sig gældende for Rørhøg, hvor et par flittigt forsvandt ned i en lille rørskov på østsiden.
Hulkravet Kodriver. Ikke specielt sjælden, men den er pæn.
Strand-Hornskulpe er meget sjælden og findes kun få steder i Nordjylland.
Den kan desuden ses på Fanø og Sjællands Odde.
Af andre sjældenheder fra Livø kan nævnes: Lyngstar, Kronløs-Springklap, Vår-Potentil og Limfjords-Vorterod.
Dansk Kokleare. Fin strandengsart.
Den 20. maj var jeg i Store Vildmose og Udholm Mose, men aften- og natlyt gav ikke den forventede Flodsanger. Jeg sluttede turen af med en morgenobs i Vandplasken. På tre timer så jeg Tejst 3, Storkjove, Sortstrubet Lom 2, Sule 345 og Sortstrubet Bynkefugl som bedste fugle.
Nordisk Kærguldsmed. Meget talrig på kernelokaliteterne. Flyver lidt tidligere end Lille Kærguldsmed.
Den lokale Sortstrubet Bynkefugl fra Vandplasken. 
  Tekst og foto: SSL