American Golden Plover

This 1cy American Golden Plover was photographed at Herdla, Hordaland, western Norway 20 October 2009. The first county record, and only the third 1cy in Norway. Digiscopet with AT80HD and Nikon coolpix 4500 at a distance of about 100 meters.

Posted via email from Cyberbirding

Slideshow from Tibet

Unfortunantely I had problems updating this blog from China, since Blogspot is not available there... Reports from all the days in Tibet will be posted soon. Meanwhile, please enjoy a slideshow from the first week in Tibet below.

Gonkkar to Lhasa

2 February 2008: The flight from Beijing via Chengdu was great! The weather was perfect, and the eastern parts of the Himalayas gave spectacular views. Tsering Dorge met us at the airport (Gonkkar), and we drove slowly towards Lhasa while birding from the road. There were lots of birds to see, and Ruddy Shelducks, Bar-headed Geese and Goosanders were the most numerous species. Other good birds include a young White-tailed Eagle (!), five different Great Cormorants, two Ibisbills, a Great Grey Shrike (rarity?) and several Spot-billed Ducks.

When arriving in Lhasa in the afternoon we checked in at the Kyichu hotel, and went out to eat dinner. Moving slowly and taking it easy is important the first days in this altitude. I did have any problems with the height during the evening, but living in the fourth floor at the hotel made my breath go fast. The first night was pretty OK, I only woke up a few times to drink water.

Total species list from today: Bar-headed Goose (2600), Ruddy Shelduck (850), Mallard (55), Northern Pintail (4), Eurasian Teal (28), Goosander (250), Hill Pigeon (110), Ibisbill (2), Common Redshank (1), Wood Sandpiper (2), Great Black-headed Gull (12), Brown-headed Gull (10), White-tailed Eagle (1), Himalayan Griffon Vulture (1), Great Cormorant (5), Great Grey Shrike (1), Black-billed Magpie (25), Great Tit (5), Winter Wren (2), Tree Sparrow (250), White Wagtail ssp. alboides (15), Great/Streaked Rosefinch (35).

Coming to China

After a long flight (Bergen-Copenhagen-Beijing) with little sleep, we were met at the airport by representatives from the Beijing Normal University. They guided us to the hotel near the airport. We checked in and washed off the jetlag, before leaving for Beijing and the university. At the university we were invited to a banquette, but before eating we managed to do some birdwatching. About 20 Azure-winged Magpies, five Common Magpies, a Thick-billed Crow, about a hundred Tree Sparrows, a single Eurasian Collared Dove, and a Great-spotted Woodpecker made the hour worthwhile. We had a marvelous meal at the university in the afternoon, and went back to the hotel around 20:00. The jetlag had made itself present, so we all went to bed... Tomorrow we will take a flight to Lhasa early in the morning. so we better have a good night sleep.

Studying Black-necked Cranes in Tibet

Then it is finally settled! I will once again go to Tibet to study birds, and the plane tickets were ordered today. I am leaving Norway 31 January, and entering Tibet 2 February. This time there will only be a few target species, where the main aim is to study the Black-necked Crane Grus nigricollis. This species is treated as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List for birds (read more). We hope this project will shed more light on the species situation on the wintering grounds, when the number of conflicts are more present than during summer. Hopefully the results can provide information for future conservation and managemet of this endangered species. The study area is marked on the map below.


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Arctic Norway

28 May - 6 June 2005: The last days of May and the first week of June 2005 was spent in northernmost Norway in spring. The main aim was to do some pre-breeding studies of the Red-Throated Pipit at the tundra on the Varangerhalvøya near Vadsø in Finnmark county. However, we (Professor Göran Högsted and myself) were able to fit in a few days at the start in the Pasvik valley taiga forest.

The Pasvik valley is placed at the crosspoint of Norway, Russia and Finland. The valley is an unique habitat in Norway, with regular breeding birds such as Great Grey Owl, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, Little Gull, Arctic Warbler and Little Bunting. All these species are rarities in all other Norwegian counties. We were to early for most of them, but did at least witness the fligh-courtship of Spotted Redshanks, as well as seeing great numbers of birds that usually are not annual on my species lists. On the last day, we ran across a subadult Lesser White-fronted Goose that was resting on some ploved fields. A really great and unexpeced experience with the most threatened bird in Norway.

Our drive out to the Varanger peninsula was done in two days, with lots of birding from the car. Huge numbers of Red-necked Phalaropes along the shores and in small ponds inside the shores was the most stunning appearance birdwise. There were lots of birds around, both on land and at sea, and it was strange to experience that the spring was in such an early phase compared to southern Norway.

Then followed six days at Svartnes near Vardö at the Varanger peninsula. The pipit-studies were carried out with extreme accuracy of course, and several adults were color-ringed. Göran will give these individuals further attention later this summer. If you want to see more pictures from the Finnmark trip, have a look here.

Leaving Cyprus

Our stay at Cyprus headed towards an end, and we had to drive off to get our plain in Larnaca. We followed the road B8 to Limassol, and from there straight to the airport. Birds along the trail include: a singing Black-headed Bunting, a Great-Spotted Cuckoo and of course some Cyprus Warblers and Cyprus Wheatears. A stop by the salt lake near Larnaca airport revealed our first Little Ringed Plover and a total of 260 Greater Flamingos. Well, that was it for Cyprus this time. It was time to return to seven degrees celsius and rain... For maps illustrating our journey, have a look at our initial blog here.