16th–30th September
The first day of the period had two Yellow-browed Warblers and an adult male Red-breasted Flycatcher.
Nice birds but the rare one was a Greenish Warbler (Bjørn Ove Høyland), again in Herberg.
Next day, the raptors showed up: during fresh wind it was ´little Falsterbo´ over the ringing forests a couple of hours late morning.
It began with almost a flock of five Northern Harriers that later had two more added. Eurasian Sparrowhawks and Common Kestrels appeared almost continually, two Peregine Falcons also passed by. The show finished with our earliest ever White-tailed Eagle.
In contrast to this, the first Little Bunting of the autumn also flew over the forests on the 17th.
A Jack Snipe, the first for the year, was caught and ringed on the 18th, followed by a Grey Wagtail that did not have the same status but got the same treatment the next day. Six Bar-tailed Godwits from the 21st to the 22nd was more than usual.
Four Sooty Shearwaters, one Manx Shearwater and a European Storm Petrel passed the headland on the 22nd. Bird of note in the field was a Common Grasshopper Warbler.
A Great Snipe was seen and heard near the lake on the 23rd. Two White-tailed Eagles the same day. Next day a Hawfinch was in the ringing forests.
A Yellow-browed Warbler on the 25th was the first for several days.
With typical weather for a fall on the 27th exciting birds was expected, it turned out to be a Citrine Wagtail (Bjørn Ove Høyland et al.) in the northern fields.
It also gave four Yellow-browed Warblers on the same trap-round with a Common Rosefinch thrown in for good measure, pleasing our keen British ringer Nigel Goodgame.
Three Pink-footed Geese have settled down in the main valley. A rare adult male Northern Harrier was seen from the 29th. The same day had autumn´s first European Goldfinch, while the first Richard´s Pipit appeared the next day. One or two Grasshopper Warblers were also seen in the latter part of the month.
A little too much weather was the reason for not much seen the last few days of September.
In the absence of birds, here come latest news on birds´ systematics:
In the latest report from the BOURC the eastern subspecies of Eurasian Stonechat are given species status. What was earlier the ´Siberian Stonechat´ Saxicola torquatus maurus/stejnegeri is now Siberian Stonechat Saxicola maurus. The western subspecies is Saxicola rubicola.
As a bonus, Utsira can claim the first record for Norway of the former species, see updated list of new species for Norway on Utsira under "Firsts" in the menu on the left. Siberian Stonechat is already on Utsira´s year-list since variegatus is placed under maurus.
