During the winter 1982-1983 the first complete waterbird-count was carried out in Bergen, western Norway. The project included counts of all waterbirds in the municipality on one date in each winter month from November to March. The data is not yet punched in the new report system for birds, but they will be in the near future. These numbers are a valuable historic document of the occurrence of wintering waterbirds in Bergen. Since then we have unfortunately not done similar counts again. However, during this winter (2013-2014) we will do the same count again. Last weekend we did the first of three counts, and 14 birdwatchers dedicated the weekend for the purpose. Eventually it will be exciting to see the results compared to the ones 30 years ago.
 This first-winter putative Glaucous x Herring Gull is one of about a dozen suspected hybrids observed in Bergen since early November. The numbers in late 2013 has been exceptional for such birds in Hordaland county. This individual was first seen 28 November, and is one of several long-staying hybrids. |  The Continental Great Cormorant has become more common in western Norway during the last decade. Today they are easily found in fresh- and brackish waters, but in the eighties they were absent. This bird was photographed during the more or less continous rain during the count. |
The diversity of waterbirds is probably not too different from the old count, but the numbers of the different species have changed. Despite not having compared the numbers, I am quite sure some species have decreased dramatically, and some have increased. I predict that the wintering population of Great Cormorant, Eurasian Coot, Herring Gull and Grey Heron will show a positive trend, and species like Common (Mew) Gull, Black-headed Gull and Tufted Duck will show a decrease.
Counting and feeding Gulls in the city park of Bergen.
The highlights in our part of the count were a drake Eurasian Teal (rare winter species here), a Moorhen, 2-3 putative hybrid Glaucous x Herring Gulls and the long-staying first-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull (the first winter record in the county).
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