Owl of Delight

Another hectic but massively enjoyable day here in Finnmark kicked off with Meadow Pipits raining out of the sky in even bigger numbers than yesterday keeping us at full stretch for several hours - thankfully though we had now caught up with some sleep. The final total was 494 birds of which 486 were new and 8 were retraps. The number of species was down on yesterday but two stood out for different reasons. First was a very feisty Great Grey Shrike which drew the blood of yours truly.



More esoteric were some very interesting (to some people!) Greenfinches. These were very different to UK birds being longer winged (up to 93 mm), having much bigger, deep conical bills and were distinctly paler and greyer. They showed characteristics of the eastern form "turkestanicus".



We had an unexpected visit from three local primary school classes from Vestre Jacobselv Skole. They were great kids, very knowledgeable and very interested in our work. Their English was far better than my Sami or Norwegian, although as you might guess that's not difficult. There was no shortage of volunteers for releasing birds and their bird handling skills were excellent.  They are coming back tomorrow so we hope to catch them something a bit more exciting than Meadow Pipits.



Ringing was so hectic that we had little time to look for other birds although a Sea Eagle was impossible to miss as it flew across the marsh. Back at base we had a very close encounter with a female  Goshawk which flew through the garden two meters off the ground and five meters from several of us before sweeping round and letting all of us see it.

We rounded off the day with a walk through the astonishingly beautiful Varangerhalvoya National Park just a few km behind Nesseby.



We spent much time discussing the the identification subtleties  of various mammal droppings, more of this tomorrow maybe! When we arrived back at our van just before dusk came the undoubted highlight of the trip so far when a stunning Hawk Owl appeared out of nowhere and landed on the top of a dead birch (normally, but not this time, modesty would forbid revealing the finder). Everyone had great views of this mystical arctic owl and despite the extra time that this took up even the reindeer stew  (which had been in the oven for five hours)was not burnt when we finally got home.

Ringing totals for the day were -

Meadow Pipit - 301
Reed Bunting - 95
Common Redpoll - 35
Redwing - 12
Dunnock - 11
Brambling - 8
Willow Warbler - 6
Bluethroat - 5
Great Tit - 4
Greenfinch - 4
House Sparrow - 3
Fieldfare - 1
Great Grey Shrike - 1