Stormark at the south part of the island. This hotspot has produced lots of national rarities.
As always during the first weekend of October the board members of the regional bird club (NOF Hordaland) met at Fedje on the outer coastline of western Norway. During daytime we birded hard to find birds to report to the Euro Birdwatch, and during the evenings we did our meetings.
It is always exciting to bird the outer coastline of Norway. With highlighs like Pallid and Marsh Harriers, Hoopoe, loads of Yellow-browed Warblers, Turtle Dove, Eastern Brant and Baltic Gulls, this weekend turned out to be a really good one. A total of 82 species were recorded on the small island during the prolonged weekend 2-5 October).
The elusive star: Pallid Harrier! It was only seen briefly three times during a few hectic afternoon hours. But all birders present at the island managed to see it at least once. A huge local rarity.
Eurasian Hoopoe Upupa epops 4 October 2015. A stunning bird that eventually proved to be rather easy to find from day to day. It did prefer a small patch just beside the football field on the island.
Baltic Gull Larus fuscus fuscus migrating past the seawatching point at Fedje on 5 October 2015. A total of nearly 90 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls were seen migration during the morning, and many of them were probably Baltic Herring Gulls. Read more about this epic record and subspecific identification of the birds by clicking the link below.
Three mammals were recorded; Otter, Mink and Red Deer. We also lit for moths a bit in the evenings, but the weather was not too good for them, and we found less than 20 species. Red Admirals and Silver Y's were quite numerous when the weather was good.
Yellow-browed Warblers Phylloscopus inornatus have been numerous in western Norway this autumn. We recorded a dozen or so at Fedje during the weekend, but this chap was photographed on the mainland near the ferry, at Rebnor in Austrheim 5 October 2015.
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