This morning dawned very disappointingly with very low cloud and rain constantly a threat. Fortunately the rain didn't materialise, but neither did the migration movement we had hoped for. Consequently the morning got off to a very slow start--but because of the state of the tide, wader catching soon took over as the main positive of the early hours. Eventually the cloud started to lift and we had another small movement of Meadow Pipits. However, the gentle winds so far have all been from the east and movement has been into the wind and rather low key. The forecast for tomorrow is for a gentle westerly so here's hoping.
Wader catching worked well all day on incoming and outgoing tides with 46 waders caught--hence the first part of the title.
Tormod brought his three interns over to sample what we were all about--the picture below shows them all proudly handling some waders before release.
After lunch we decided to be tourists again and sample what the tundra area was really like, so we drove up the Tana valley and onto the upland road towards Botsfjord. En route we were very fortunate to hear Dave shout "Stop--owl on a post"-- and sure enough there was this stunning Hawk Owl preening on top of a telegraph post. We saw several Rough Legged Buzzard--pics on Charlie Sargent's blog, and a small pool with some eclipse plumage Long Tailed Duck.
What a superb bird the Hawk Owl is--it flew from perch to perch showing all its characteristics--so cool.
We arrived back at Varangerbotn at 16.30, to fill up the van and do some shopping. We heard Redpoll singing in Kate's garden so we decided to open the net--29 Redpoll caught in just over half an hour was an excellent result and included 2 adults with credentials for DNA sampling. Overall total of birds ringed today was 235, not bad considering a very modest amount of passage and a restricted time of ringing due to poor weather. Let's hope tomorrow is better.
For further information see http://birdringers.blogspot.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment