Saturday, May 19, 2007 - Icterine warbler and another marsh harrier
Took the bus to the recommended stop, left standing in the middle of a rural nowhere... Hard to believe that it gets countrysidey so quick when one heads out of 600 000 inhabitants Gothenburg.
Skylarks, common whitethroats and barn swallows drenched almost everything else, so the searching was mainly visual. A sedge warbler had been reported from about where I stood the day before, but it was nowhere to be found. An adult female common kestrel swooped past. Possibly, she lived in the kestrel nestbox on the side of a nearby barn. She flew further south to avoid the angry lapwings, so I started walking towards the actual goal, a hilltop some four kilometers away. From the trees on the far side of the road came suddenly a series of different birdsongs. I quickly moved closer and consulted the mp3-player just to be on the safe side. A moment later I saw the singer himself. Icterine warbler! 163 species seen in Sweden. Wee!
Continued walking, somewhat quicker. How good wouldn't the hilltop be if it was like this all the way out? A group of bellowing crows attracted my attention and soon enough the reason for their anger was in visual range. An adult male marsh harrier! I have this theory, that once you've seen a species, the word gets around that they don't have to hide anymore. For example: I saw my first osprey (in 20 years anyway) just last sunday. Later the same day I saw two more.
Anyway, I walked on but realised with two kilometers left that I wouldn't make it to the bus in time if I went all the way. So i stopped by the nearby bronze/iron age burial ground for a quick look around before I headed back. This resulted in another kestrel and two fighting male linnets.
On the way back I looked for dotterels on all plowed fields, but saw only wheatears, lapwings and assorted pigeons. Went to the gas station near the bus stop and got a tube of pringles to celebrate mr Icterine warbler. Over and out!
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Saturday, May 26, 2007 - Pulling out the cork of a species |
| Posted by Elon |
| Yeah, that seems to be true. I often say that "the cork is pulled out of a species". For instance, after I first saw/heard my first Icterine, within the next two weeks I had observed no less than eight of them! And this is not a unique case - so maybe now you'll find Black-tailed Godwits and Avocets around every corner... (after 26 May, author's comment) |
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About Me
26 year old birder from Gothenburg, Sweden.
My goal for 2007 was get above 200 life-ticks. I managed 215 and the goal for 2008 was to get to 250. Right now it looks like I might get to 250 year ticks which is of course even better.
Friends
• gladan
Other birding blogs•Brazilianpioneerbirder
Categories
•Local watching
•Other
•Rarities
•Travel
Last ticks
• 266: Leach's Storm-petrel
• 265: Isabelline Shrike
• 264: Sooty Shearwater
• 263: Little Auk
• 262: Snow Bunting
• 261: Yellow-browed Warbler
• 260: Red-throated Pipit
• 259: Hen Harrier
• 258: Sabine's Gull
• 257: Ortolan Bunting
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