April 2012

The Bean Geese from March stayed in the flock of Greylag Geese until the 1st while the earliest-ever Barn Swallow from 31st March was looking for insects until the 9th. A Mistle Thrush was also seen at the beginning of the month.

The first two Red-throated Loons for the year and 155 Black-legged Kittiwakes headed north on the 2nd. Next day, 300 Mew Gulls followed track. A Water Rail was trapped.  

White-tailed Eagles were massively present on the 4th with six birds in the air simultaneously. The year´s first Atlantic Puffins and a Yellowhammer on the 5th.

With a little more sympathetic wind, the 9th brought more news, like Eurasian Wigeon, Green Sandpiper, Willow Warbler and Eurasian Blackcap, also six species of thrush this day. Moreover, four Eurasian Teals, 15 Common Snipes and one Eurasian Woodcock. A gathering of 12 Rooks arrived.

Two Hawfinches on the 10th. The second Stock Dove for the spring on the 11th. The Rooks had now increased to 17. Some ten Northern Wheatears on the 13th were the first since March. An exhausted Northern Gannet was on land near the seawatch hut. Grey Wagtail on the 17th.

Four Pink-footed Geese in the Greylag flock made for some variation on the 18th. Numbers were represented by 85 Eurasian Curlews and 1,500 Fieldfares.

Irreproachable weather on the 19th and 20th with constant easterlies, and birds showing up were Wigeon, three White-tailed Eagles, two Common Kestrels, two Peregrine Falcons, Green Sandpiper, Great Grey Shrike, Ring Ouzel and Mistle Thrush in two figures, European Robin in three figures, Black Redstart (a smart male), Common Redstart, the first Wheatears leucorhoa, House Sparrow (a female in Nordvik), Hawfinch and Lapland Longspur.

It continued over the weekend with Northern Goshawk, three Peregrines together, Eurasian Wryneck, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Tree Pipit and Red Crossbill. Saturday the 21st saw 190 birds trapped, 42 of which were Common Chiffchaffs.

An Iceland Gull was in the north on the 23rd and an eastern Chiffchaff was in the east. Next day, the gull had relocated to the seawatch point of Pedleneset, where also a Yellow-billed Loon flew past.

Common Sandpiper and Common Greenshank were new on the 25th. Common House Martin and European Pied Flycatcher came on the 26th.

Also on the 26th a new species for the island showed up, when the locals Benjamin and Even Sandmo discovered a Mandarin Duck in the south harbour. This exotic has hardly flown here from the other side of the globe but it is nevertheless the first record for Utsira.

A Common Nightingale (Øystein B. Nilsen) was heard in the ringing forest on the 27th. Two Great Grey Shrikes was trapped, and a new Yellow-billed Loon and a Parasitic Jaeger passed by.

The best of the 28th was a near-record flock of 21 Teals and a late Woodcock. On the 29th it was time for Iceland Gull once more and Sand Martin was new for the year. Tufted Duck, Dunlin, Tree Sparrow, European Goldfinch, Eurasian Bullfinch and Hawfinch also made an appearance.

On the ultimate day of the month, Jack Snipe, Whimbrel, Green Sandpiper, Wryneck, Common Whitethroat, Whinchat, Yellow Wagtail and Hawfinch were seen.