Birds And Birding In Norway

Only a few days bird watching in Voss this week, but what a few days. On the Thursday I visited Reppen, one of my local marshes only to be meet by a calling male Common Rosefinch. I revisited the area on the Friday only to find that the bird had flown. I decided to explore other parts of the delta in the hope of finding it again. No luck, however I was rewarded with an even better species, a singing male Blyth’s Reed Warbler. This is a rare species here in Norway and only the third time I have seen this species. This observation will take some beating and no doubt will be the “bird of the month” for me. I couldn’t revisit the locality on Saturday as I had arranged to do some birding on the Hardangervidda. On the ferry across the Hardangerfjord I took some pictures of the House Martins nesting on the ferry.  This happens every year, and this year there were several nests, some complete, while others were still under construction. It was interesting to watch the House Martins behaviour. Some remained onboard under the crossing, while it looked like others stayed near land and waited for the ferry to return, this happens about twice an hour.  The Hardangervidda was not disappointing, even though I did see any birds of prey, or manage to get to the better areas due to snow. There was the usual scattering of Shore Larks, Bluethroats, Lapland Buntings as well as some of the commoner waders. The day ended by visiting a valley to the east of the Hardangervidda to watch breeding Black-throated Diver, Common Crane and Red-necked Phalaropes. Today I revisited Reppen but no luck in finding the warbler. Tomorrow I am off to the coast, I will keep you posted.