• Home
    • About >
      • eBird gallery
  • Blog
  • Galleries
    • Birds (non passerines) >
      • Swans, geese and ducks
      • Gamefowl
      • Loons
      • Grebes
      • Tubenoses
      • Storks, herons, cormorants, gannets and darters
      • Hawks and eagles
      • Falcons
      • Rails and cranes
      • Shorebirds
      • Skuas >
        • Feature: Searching for skuas
      • Gulls >
        • Feature: Baltic Gulls passing western Norway
      • Terns
      • Auks
      • Pigeons and doves
      • Owls
      • Swifts
      • Bee-eaters and rollers
      • Woodpeckers
    • Birds (passerines) >
      • Larks
      • Swallows
      • Pipits and wagtails
      • Waxwing and Wren
      • Accentors
      • Thrushes
      • Warblers
      • Flycatchers
      • Tits & allies
      • Shrikes
      • Crows and jays
      • Starlings
      • Old World babblers
      • True sparrows
      • Finches
      • Buntings
    • Other vertebrates >
      • Mammals
      • Lizards
    • Insects >
      • Moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera) >
        • Leps
      • Dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata)
      • Flies (Diptera)
      • Beetles (Coleoptera)
      • True bugs (Hemiptera)
      • Shield Bugs (Heteroptera)
      • Leaf Hoppers (Homoptera)
      • Sawflies, wasps, bees and ants (Hymenoptera)
      • Scorpionflies (Mecoptera)
      • Grasshoppers and relatives (Orthoptera)
      • Lacewings and relatives (Neuroptera)
    • Other bugs >
      • Spiders and allies
      • Snails and slugs
  • Birdsounds
  • Garden birds
  • Microbigyear
    • Species list
    • Background
    • Pictures
    • Flickr
  • Travel
    • Malawi
    • Arctic Norway
    • Gambia
    • Lithuania and Poland
    • Morocco
    • Spain (Extremadura)
    • Thailand
    • Tibet
    • Happy Island, China
Nature photography by Frode Falkenberg

Arctic Redpoll in Bergen

28/11/2012

Comments

 
Good numbers of gulls usually gather to roost at a brew near the center of Bergen in the afternoons. The light disappears fast these days. In overcast weather you have to be there before 15:30 to see anything at all. Today the sun was shining, and I wanted to push the limits a bit, and check out the spot after work. When I arrived a bit past four it was rather dark, but it didn't really matter since there were no gulls at all!
This site is also good for watching Hooded Crows coming in from all directions, on their way to spend the night at a common roost nearby. I counted about 600 birds during 20 minutes. The highlight was 63 Jackdaws flying along with the crows. Jackdaws are scarce breeding birds in the county, but some do arrive from other places to stay here during winter.
Picture
Arctic Redpoll in Bergen, western Norway 28. November 2012.
I put on the light on my bicycle, and was about to leave when two birds flew up in front of me. One of them flashed a white rump. The first Arctic Redpoll in the county this autumn. What a surprise! It was accompanied by a female Siskin. The light was gone, so I adjusted the camera to 6400 iso, and a shutter speed of about 1/30 sec. I had to focus against the brighter sky, but did not manage to get many sharp pictures. I eventually switched on the flash, and out of 50 pics or something, the best is shown above.

The Arctic Redpoll is a local rarity, with less than 25 county records.
Picture
Picture
Comments

Hooded Carrion Crow

2/11/2012

Comments

 
An apparent hybrid Hooded X Carrion Crow showed well in the city park of Bergen today. Note black feathers on flanks, belly and scapulars. The black neck bleeds into the lower neck, and the underwing coverts were all black. Features suggesting Carrion Crow involvement in an otherwise Hooded-like bird.
Picture
Hybrid Hooded x Carrion Crow.
Picture
Hybrid Hooded x Carrion Crow.
And when we're into hybrids. What about this second winter gull? Rather strange looking, with its marbled and pale appearance. Note also the pale primaries, giving the bird a contrastless appearance compared to the standard second winter Herring Gull. Could there be some Glaucous Gull genes in this Herring Gull looking bird?
Picture
Pure or semi-pure Herring Gull?
Comments

    Recent photos

    Blog archives

    February 2022
    June 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    March 2010
    October 2009
    February 2008
    April 2007
    October 2006
    September 2006
    June 2006
    October 2005
    June 2005
    April 2005
    October 2004
    September 2004
    May 2004
    March 2004
    November 2003
    October 2003
    September 2003
    April 2003
    March 2003
    November 2002
    July 2002
    June 2002
    May 2002
    April 2002
    December 2001
    November 2001
    October 2001
    September 2001
    November 1999

    RSS Feed

Bird Galleries

Non passerines
​Passerines

Animal galleries

Mammals
Lizards

Spineless galleries

Moths and butterflies
​
Damselflies and dragonflies
Spiders and allies
​Snails and slugs
Flies
Beetles

Social

contact

All content on this site © Frode Falkenberg. ​Go to the contact form for comments or if you want to use material from the site.