Sorry to disappoint you guys and my faroese tick list and the danish rairtes comittee. But I’ve moved to Turkey. But don’t worry. I’m still birding and you can read about my birding activities on: www.birdingturkey.wordpress.com
I might write a few things on birdingfaroes as well, but I’d suggest that you check www.faroenature.net in case you’re really interested in what’s going on on the Faroe Islands.
SiO
Caspian Tern at Damhussøen – photo taken with my cell phone…
I haven’t had much time for birding during the last few days here in Denmark. And it has been very quiet anyways. A Terek Sandpiper in Sønderjylland is the only rarity around, but hopefully some other good shorebirds will arrive soon. Greater Sand Plover in Norway gives a little inspiration at least.
Today I went to visit a family member in Copenhagen. That gave me the opportunity to check Damhussøen. A few Lesser Black-backed Gulls were the highlight – until a nice adult Caspian Tern flew by just 15 meters away. Of course I didn’t have my camera with me, but I managed to get some distant shots with my cell phone. The bird flew around the lake and dived on several occasions.
Caspian Tern at Damhussøen
Caspian Tern is not that common in Denmark and I’ve only found two of them before. But finding one in the middle of Copenhagen when you expect it the least, well, that is surely nice.
SiO
Red-veined Darter (Sympetrum fonscolombii)
I’ve been a little lazy updating the blog – pardon. Currently I’m in Denmark before heading to Turkey in mid august. I haven’t been birding a lot, but yesterday I went out with HeM (a danish birder)… But he just wanted to twitch a dragonfly. What??? But ok, I gave it a try and soon we found a Red-veined Darter Dragonfly. He told me it was rare… So I guess I should be happy. But well, I’m not into insects after all.
Red-veined Darter (Sympetrum fonscolombii)
Some insects…
Today I went to Copenhagen Zoo with the wife and the kids. It was a good experience and we saw a lot of different bird species. A few more of those trips and my oldest daughter might be hooked on birding???
Spotted Eagle-owl – Copenhagen Zoo
SiO
View from Slættaratindur
Migration has really slowed down, but the good weather and better temperatures have come. So yesterday Julianna, my wife, and I went to Slættaratindur – the highest mountain on the Faroes. The weather was good and after getting to the summit we got stunning views to all sites. The Faroes at its best.
Me enjoying the view
View from Slættaratindur
Today two danish birders, Gitte and Allan Kruse, and I went out birding. First we checked Viðareiði, where we saw a Willow Warbler and 8 Barn Swallows, so clearly something had arrived. But nothing more was seen.
Diluted Hooded Crow
We then decided to go to Svínoy. Normally there live 10-15 people on the island, but just today (and tomorrow) there is a festival out there, so there were people all over and therefore birding was difficult. But we did manage to find two Willow Warblers on the bushes and two deluted Hooded Crows were also found.
White-tailed Blackbird
But the highligh came when I found a Velvet Scoter and two Common Scoters at the bay. Velvet Scoter is rather uncommon on the Faroes and this was actually my first self-found Velvet Scoter, so I was quite happy with the day.
Velvet and Common Scoter
Velvet and Common Scoter
Peaks at Múli
SiO
Snow storm in june…
OK, it’s time for an update. Temperatures have been very low. It’s about 6 degrees outside and new snow covers the mountains – and it’s JUNE! The grass has barely begin to grow. I talked to an old man at Svínoy some days ago – he had never experienced anything like this. Where is the summer?
The cold weather has had a severe impact on the birds. Many breeding species have been much delayed and this year probably will not be a good breeding season for many species.
Common Rosefinch – Árnafjørður
When it comes to migration is it has been very poor too. Migration normally slows down after medio june, but as it didn’t start in the first place there was nothing to slow down. OK, it wasn’t quite that bad. During the last few days a few birds have arrived. I found a Common Rosefinch at Hvannasund and two Garden Warblers at Viðareiði yesterday. And a visiting finnish birder has found two Marsh Warblers on Suðuroy – so something has arrived.
Garden Warbler – Viðareiði
Common Rosefinch – Àrnafjørður
Today I discovered a Great Northern Driver and finally I understood the name – it does make sence 
Great Northern Driver
Yesterday I checked Eiði. There were good numbers of ducks including a female Greater Scaup – and much to my surprise the Tree Sparrow was still present, but very shy.
Female Greater Scaup and male Tufted Duck – Eiði
Tree Sparrow – Eiði
SiO
Iceland Gulls
One if not the most interesting ornithological feature in 2012 was the invasion of Iceland Gulls from january to april. Here follows an article on the matter.
As usual the first Iceland Gulls arrived in october, but numbers were generally very low until just after christmas were more birds arrived and the first Kumlien’s Gull was seen. On the 1st of january we got the first hint of the invasion to come as 10 Iceland Gulls were seen in Sørvágur, four in Runavík and Klaksvík 12 in Klaksvík including two Kumlien’s Gulls.
During the first weeks of the invasion about 30 Iceland Gulls of all age groups have been found dead. They were all very skinny and have most likely died from hunger. Food shortage in the arctic therefore could have triggered the invasion. But birds arriving later seemed fit.
After the 1st of january numbers increased rapidly and on the 6th 30 Iceland Gulls were present in Klaksvík and on the 9th 138 Iceland Gulls were seen around the islands. After that Iceland Gulls were seen in every harbour. The numbers seemed stable until the 23rd of january when 358 Iceland Gulls were seen. The largest count at one spot was in Klaksvík on the 31st of january where 250 Iceland Gulls were present.
After that numbers once again dropped but a new influx occurred 14th to 17th of february where up to 265 Iceland Gulls including 15 Kumlien’s Gulls were seen in Klaksvík alone.
When looking at these extreme numbers of Iceland Gulls on the Faroes one should remember, that 99% of the birds have been counted by two observers. In addition to that just about 50% of the harbours on the Faroes have not been checked even once during the period. This could mean that as many as 50% of all then birds have passed through unnoticed.
Well marked Kumlien’s Gull
Furthermore it seems like there is a high turn over. Many obvious Kumlien’s Gulls for instance have only lingered for one day while others stayed for a few days. But in general for the first 6 weeks or so of the invasion there seemed to be a constant movement of birds coming and going. For the last two weeks more birds seemed to have settled a bit more – and there is for instance one particular bird that has been present in Klaksvík since december 2011.
It is impossible to sort out all possible double counts, but if we say that 20% of all the birds seen have been counted twice I think it is close to the reality.
The total number of Iceland Gulls counted during january and february is 5.347 birds. If we say the 20% have been counted twice that leaves us with 4.278 Iceland Gulls.
There is a lot to be said about the identification of Kumlien’s Gulls. During the last few years there have been two minor invasions of Iceland Gulls and Kumlien’s in winter and spring of 2009 and in the winter and spring of 2011. During the 2009 invasion about 20 Kumlien’s Gulls were accepted by the Danish rarities committee.
The birds we have labeled as Kumlien’s Gulls have been adults with dark markings on the primaries, first and second winter birds with a significant contrast between inner and outer primaries and a dark tail band, and third and fourth winter birds with solid contrast between inner and outer primaries and not just a brownish wash to them. All in all this can be called a rather conservative approach and it leaves us with a number of birds that do not look like either typical Iceland Gulls or Kumlien’s Gulls.
But the number of well-marked Kumlien’s Gulls was 310 – here double counting has been taken into consideration.
One of the many brown Iceland Gulls.
As many as 60% of the birds seen during this invasion do not fit with what is considered a typical Iceland Gull by many – neat rounded head, light iris in all plumages except first winter, rather fine bill and no markings on the primaries at all. Especially a lot of second winter birds were brownish with a dark iris and rather heavy structure – but most of them did not have any contrast between inner and outer primaries and had no real markings on them either. Included in the 60% are also adult birds that show a dark iris, rather dark mantle colour or a very heavy structure over all.
The age groups have been rather unequally represented. In the beginning of the invasion there were only very few first winters birds and the number of second winter birds passed 50% on some days. But the number of first winter birds has slowly increased and the overall ageing looks like this:
In april I was away from the Faroes, but Klaus Malling Olsen and Rodmund á Kelduni saw about 700 Iceland Gulls in a week.
Silas K.K. Olofson
Pied Flycatcher – only two records in may 2012
There is nothing to report. The winds are northerly AGAIN. Temperatures are down to 2 C in the night and the mountain tops are white again. Not COOL – or way too COOL in fact. So in order to post something I’ve made a review. At first I thought I would do it for may alone – like the Utsira people. But much to my dismay may was so bad that I found out that I might as well write about the whole year so far…
The only new species for the Faroes this year was a Bonaparte’s Gulls – a 2cy found by Rodmund on the 11th of january. Otherwise the Iceland Gull invasion from january to may was very interesting – more than 4000 Iceland Gulls were seen.
In march a Ring-billed Gull and a Smew were found and in april a pair of Harlequin Ducks and a Great Tit were seen.
May was cold. There were about 25 days with some sort of northerly wind. It is terrible for migrants. In good days you can see more than 100 Whinchats – this year none have been seen. The total number of Redstarts is two, Pied Flycatcher 2, Lesser Whitethroat 2, Common Whitethroat 1, Hawfinch 2, Swift 0, Red-backed Shrike 1… well, temperatures below zero on many days in may just isn’t good.
Pectoral Sandpiper – Eiði
But a few good birds have been seen: Brunnich’s Guilmott 2 (probably due to the cold weather and northerly winds), King Eider 1, Tree Sparrow 2, Pectoral Sandpiper 1 – and finally the best bird in may was the second Lesser Scaup for the Faroes. But this just wasn’t a good spring for rarities. Let’s see what june may give!
Lesser Scaup – Eiði
SiO
