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Lesser celandines (Ficaria verna) in front of the lovely fragrant primroses (Primula vulgaris).
Happy Easter!!
(Vårkål foran deilig duftende kusymrer, in Norwegian)
My album of flowers here.
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It seems like the Easter bunnies are happy with their work today, making Easter egg hunts for all the children for Easter Eveッ
I met these mountain hares (Lepus timidus) in Finnmark last weekend. It is the only hare species we have in Norway.
(Hare in Norwegian)
My album of mammals here.
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A lovely yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) by some other's feeders.
They visit our feeders very rarely, and if they do so they are shy, so I only have one worse photo of them ouside our own house.
(Gulspurv in Norwegian)
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Today I heard and saw some lovely Eurasian blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) for the first time this year.
This is a male on a visit outside our house, from the archive. (The female has a brown cap.)
They belong to the warbler family, and breed in most of Europe, western Asia and northwestern Africa.
They are partial migrant; birds from the colder areas of its range winter in northwestern Europe, around the Mediterranean and in tropical Africa.
(Munk hann (i sangerfamilien), in Norwegian)
My album of birds here.
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As I wrote yesterday, I saw both sand martins (sandsvaler in Norwegian) and barn swallows, like this one from our island last year (Hirundo rustica, låvesvale in Norwegian), for the first time this year yesterday. They were my bird species number 148 and 149 of the year.
I ended the afternoon by getting the very rare alpine swift (alpeseiler in Norwegian) as a special number 150. It was found on Jæren when my friend and I were nearby. A lot of birdwatchers gathered to see it, since it can be a decade between its visits in Norway. (It breeds in the mountains from southern Europe to the Himalayas.) I got some nice photos of it in flight, that I will show later on.
My album of birds here.
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A white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) that I met on the island I'm from two weeks ago.
Normally I photogram them like this from a boat, but here it came close to the road together with seagulls and herons for some fish guts in a bay.
It is an almost six years old female, ringed in Øygarden close to Bergen as a chick, and called N7 O8. It was fun the get a call from the excited ringer after registering it, who got to see how it now loos as an adult ツ
(Voksen havørn hunn, in Norwegian)
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I think the colours of this beautiful yellow male greenfinch (Chloris chloris) from Jæren, can be a nice upload for Palm Sunday and the start of Easter.
Here on our last day in Finnmark, we have the weather Norwegians call Easter weather - sunshine, blue skies and beautiful snow that starts melting a bit in the sun.
We see and hear greenfinches here as well, both in Vardø where we stay and in Vadsø where we have been on a road trip and in a boat hide today- photographing Steller's eiders and common eiders.
Now I must go out again to take some last photos from this cosy place, before we leave tomorrow morning.
(Grønnfink hann, in Norwegian)
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One week ago, we met this purple sandpiper (Calidris maritima) out in our boat. It stayed on a skerry, even if the oystercatchers and gulls around it flew as we passed by.
It was my first purple sandpiper on our island and municipality. On that day, as the rest of the first days of April, we had a lovely and warm spring day.
Now I am in Finnmark, on the top of Norway, and I have seen many purple sandpipers here as well. But here they are out in the snow showers and no signs of spring.
But I have good clothes, and enjoy myself photographing them and all the other birds here in the snow.
(Fjæreplytt in Norwegian)
My album of birds here.
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I have heard and seen many song thrushes (Turdus philomelos) many places the last days and weeks- from forests far inland to small forests right by the ocean.
I haven't edited the new photos, so here is a song thrush memory from the archive, from the southernmost point of our municipality.
The song thrush breeds throughout most of Europe, and is further distributed in a belt through Russia and Siberia east to Lake Baikal. It also breeds in northern Turkey, the Caucasus and northern Iran. It has also been introduced and established in Australia and New Zealand.
Birds from Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Russia winter around the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Middle East.
(Måltrost in Norwegian)
My album of birds here.
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A bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica) from our neighbourhood one September.
That is the most common month for visits of this species out here, in addition to July and August.
But today already I met two of them for the first time here this year, and I got pretty similar photos to these- only with both of them in one photo.
My very first time spotting them this year was on Jæren two weeks ago, but they were too far away for photos, so it was lovely to lie hidden and photograph them up close today- on my way home from a really nice birdwatching road trip with friends.
(Lappspove in Norwegian)
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A male blackbird (Turdus merula) like this, have been singing outside our house for a long time already this spring.
Last night we could hear it very well inside the livingroom as well after dark. Lovely!
My album of birds here.
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Today I went to Jæren to see the year's first black-tailed godwits (Limosa limosa). I found three of them, on the same spot as I saw three when I took this photo from the archive. Today the sunlight was too harsh (but lovely though) to get good photos.
I also got two more new species for the year on my way up - a western marsh harrier hunting by the road, and a flock of 106 European golden plovers above me (sivhauk og heilo in Norwegian). So now I have 131 species this year. I am ready for even more new ones in Finnmark in Northern Norway next week.
The black-tailed godwit's breeding range stretches from Iceland through Europe and areas of central Asia. Black-tailed godwits spend (the northern hemisphere) winter in areas as diverse as the Indian subcontinent, Australia, New Zealand, western Europe and west Africa.
(Svarthalespove in Norwegian)
My album of birds here.
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Happy 70th birthday to my dad today!
Small orchids like these always remind me of him, since he always noticed and commented them when we were on hikes when we were young.
We had his big celebration last weekend, but this weekend he and mom come to visit us, and we will have some good food on a fish restaurant, and take a little walk on the beach in the evening sun.
This orchid was one of many beautiful heath spotted-orchids (Dactylorhiza maculata ssp. maculata), by the bogs on our island last spring.
(Flekkmarihand, underart av blekmarihand, in Norwegian)
My album of flowers here.
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The bridled form of common guillemot (Uria aalge), in its summer plumage one year ago.
In one week I will meet hundreds of them and other auk and eider species, in Northern Norway
(Ringvi (variant av lomvi) i sommerdrakt, in Norwegian)
My album of birds here.
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A purple sandpiper (Calidris maritima) in its breeding plumage, on Svalbard almost two years ago.
This one was ringed and called X6A, on the same place two summers earlier. It was registered only there three summers in a row, and have not been registered later on.
I actually like them better in their grey winter plumage, like we see them when they visit our part of the country.
Yesterday I saw one for the first time on our island, sitting on a skerry as we were out in our boat. It let us get close to photograph it. I look forward to show that one as well one day.
They breed from the arctic islands of northern Canada, eastwards to Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard and northern Scandinavia across to Western Siberia and the Taymyr Peninsula. In the high arctic they breed at low altitude on the tundra, sometimes far from the coastline, but in the subarctic regions of Sweden and Norway it breeds on barren mountain sides near the limit of the frozen ground.
Birds breeding at high latitudes migrate south and spend the winter on rocky shores on both sides of the north Atlantic.
(Fjæreplytt i sommerdrakt, in Norwegian)
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On this day one year ago, the weather was just as lovely and warm, and I was on Jæren where I photographed this oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus).
Today I have been out on my bike and in our boat, enjoying all the birdsong and sunshine.
(Tjeld in Norwegian)
My album of birds here.
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This year I photographed two dunnocks/ hedge sparrows (Prunella modularis) in the snow on my birthday in January already.
But today I heard one sing for the first time this year, while out on my bike on our island. It is so lovely to hear all the birds calling for a mate, in the lovely spring weather now.
I didn't photograph the dunnock today, so here is one from the archive.
Dunnocks are native to large areas of Eurasia, inhabiting much of Europe and southwest Asia including Lebanon, northern Iran, and the Caucasus. They were also successfully introduced into New Zealand during the 19th century, and are now widely distributed around the country and some offshore islands.
(Jernspurv in Norwegian)
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April starts just as lovely this year, as I remember last year- with sunshine and warm temperatures.
I started the day by meeting my first three small tortoiseshells (Aglais urticae) this year, on Siberian squill (Othocallis siberica/Scilla siberica) in a garden I visited.
There were also some honey bees and early bumblebees on the flowers (honningbier og markhumler in Norwegian), my first for the year. And we met several small bird species and a common European adder (Hoggorm) in the garden as well.
This day one year ago was the last day of Easter break. Then I also saw and photographed a small tortoiseshell like these for the first time that year, on coltsfoots in my sister's garden.
Lovely!
(Neslesommerfugler på russeblåstjerne, in Norwegian)
My album of insects here.
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A female grey wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) on our beach, from the archive.
Today I saw this year's first two grey wagtails on a bike ride in town, right by a mute swan who built its nest.
And if that wasn't enough, a lesser spotted woodpecker (dvergspett in Norwegian) came to pose for me as well when I watched them. I have only seen one once before, three years ago.
I also heard my first chiffchaffs (gransangere) of the year today.
A nice end to March!
(Vintererle hunn, in Norwegian)
Check out more photos of it, catching a bee in the links below the line!
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A European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) on the island I'm from one month ago. Now we are on our way home from another nice visit to the island, celebrating my dad's big birthday.
The European goldfinch is native to most of Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia. It has been introduced to other areas, including Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay and the United States.
(Stillits in Norwegian)
My album of birds here.
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