On the evening 9 December local birder Harry Dijkstra spotted a white heron flying by in Ulvik. Ulvik is as far as you can get towards the east in the Hardangerfjord, western Norway. For disoriented and migrating bird, not flying at an high altitude, the mountain walls rising around Ulvik will force any big bird to settle for a while.
That was probably what happened to this bird. The species proved to be a Cattle Egret, a true rarity in Norway with only six previous records. It was the first for Hordaland county. The rare heron spent most of its time feeding for earthworms on fields along the fjord, and did not seem too happy about snow and zub-zero temperatures.
Personally I was in the middle of finishing the Norwegian bird report for 2013 and 2014, and was not able to go the first days. After a few nerve-breaking days at work in Bergen, I finally managed to go see the bird 12 December.
The Cattle Egret it was last seen in Ulvik on 14 December, it was reported as rather slack and in presumed poor condition. Almost 14 days later it was re-found a few kilometers away, in good condition. It was last seen 1 January 2017.
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