I've got a few blockers in the meaning "species not seen by me" in Norway. One of the most common birds in this dubious list has been the Citrine Wagtail Motacilla citreola. In addition to being absent on my Norwegian list, it was also missing on my Hordaland county list (much more important of course). Two days ago I recieved a call from fellow birder Eirik Nydal Adolfsen about a first-winter Citrine Wagtail seen at Herdla bird sanctuary, about 45 minutes drive from Bergen. I rang my neighbour and birder Arild Breistøl, and we (including my 4 year old son) were off to Herdla.
We arrived about 13:00, and went straight out to the flooded fields where it was last seen. It did not take us long to locate it, and we got great views when it was feeding on the dirt track 50 meters in front of us. My 278th. species on the county list :-)
We enjoyed the bird from a distance of 40-50 meters through the telescope, and got great views of all characteristics clinching the bird as a Citrine Wagtail. Note especially the broad white edges on the greater and median coverts, creating two solid wing-bars. The upperparts were brownish grey, and the chest missed any significant darker spots or marks. The ear-coverts were surrounded by an off white line. It did also call, a distinct "tsriit" - completely different from both White Wagtails and Norwegian Yellow Wagtails.
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This bird constitutes the 10th. record for Hordaland county. Nine of these have been autumn birds (8 first-winters and one adult) in the period 25 August to 2 October. The first spring record was done in May 2013, when a male was briefly seen and photographed at Herdla. There were 141 records in Norway up to and including 2011.
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