Sunday, May 11, 2008 - second consecutive Halland saturday

Grasshopper Warbler (Locustella naevia) Digiscoped with DSLR.

After Gubbanäsan we worked our way back towards the Getterön center, stopping here and there. Year ticked Icterine Warbĺer at Bengtssons häck (en: Bengtsson's hedge), basically a broadleaf grove surrounded by low pines and junipers, renown for attracting rare passerines such as Yellow-browed Warbler and Firecrest. We also saw a calling Cuckoo flying past - a rather rare event. I photographed it, but the pictures didn't turn out very good; the bird in the picture could just as well be a Kestrel or similar.

Sandwich Tern (Sterna sandvicensis)

At the west end of the main Getterön area we found a Black-tailed Godwit, which was my fourth year tick for the day. There were also quite a lot of warblers and some Lapwings with chicks.

Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) DSLR-digiscoped.

In just a week, the number of geese had gotten notably lower, since most of the Barnacle Geese had moved on. More waders had arrived though, along with for example Housemartins and Thrush Nightingales. An Egyptian Goose had been reported from there the day before but seemed to have moved to a lake in the next county. Year ticked Dunlin.

Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata)

On the way home we spent some time in the tower by Tjolöholm castle. Not very much interesting apart from a trio of Bar-tailed Godwits (year tick six) and an increase in raptors (Common Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Osprey).

No life ticks this time, but I'm quite satisfied with six year ticks, which brings the total up to 178. This year's list will most probably be a new record since last year's was 210.