I met up with Rebecca from the program Dyrevenn on the national TV NRK early this morning. We were headed for the bird sanctuary at Herdla, about 40 minutes drive north of Bergen. Rebecca was going to make a program on birds and migration for kids, and Herdla was selected for the first part of the program - illustrating shorebirds on their way to the wintering grounds.
The local inhabitants at Herdla weren't noticeably enthusiastic about the Yank's prescence. The buff beauty hung around them most of the time.
We arrived Herdla a bit past 07:00, and there were quite a few waders around. Good numbers of Ringed Plovers and Dunlin, but also a few Little Stints, Bar-tailed Godwits, and a juvenile Knot, an adult Sanderling, a Ruddy Turnstone and several Oystercathers, Lapwings, Snipes and Redshanks. A few rainshowers forced even more migrating shorebirds down to Herdla, and while watching a flock of White Wags foraging near a hurd of cows, a small ruffish wader with an outstandig big black eye suddenly appeared: a Buff-breasted Sandpiper!
I was kinda chatting to the camera when it showed. Cool thing for them to film me when I first saw it, but I'm not sure how keen I am on watching the scene on national TV later... The bird fed actively inside the sanctuary, and was stable at the site until 14:00. Several twitchers managed to tick it off during an extended lunch, but the last birders visiting the site in the afternoon did unfortunantely not get views of it. The next afternoon however, the bird reappeared at Herdla. Then it associated with Golden Plovers, and was a bit more restless.
There are less than 70 records of this species in Norway. Todays record will be the sixth for Hordaland county if accepted. Five of them has been early autumn records, in August or September. This was only the third Buff-breasted Sandpiper I've ever seen, but the first self-found :-)
The video above was filmed by Therese Pisani from NRK. The second part of the program will be filmed on Thursday night, and then we're going to catch Storm Petrels. Wonder if the rarity luck will follow us then? Wouldn't mind a dark rumped something in the mist-net...
View the full footage (broadcasted at NRK 13.11 2013)
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