Autumn is slowly reaching its ornithological conclusion

November in Faroe Islands is not as much as the end of autumn, more than it is the beginning of winter. Passerines are disappearing, being replaced by gulls, ducks and alcids, the main staples of winter. The weather is getting harsher and the days shorter, which is why yesterdays Red-flanked Bluetail was an immense surprise! Found in Hvalvík Plantation, it offered absurd views, down to three meters, flickering its azure-blue tail. A nice period for the relatively concise but powerful sentence that this autumn has been birding-wise.

This autumn has been heavily dominated by near constant winds and rain, making birding, especially in september, a very frustrating activity. Though the small breaks in the inclement weather offered some quality birds! Notable self-found highlights being American Golden Plover at Klivaløkshaga, 1st for Faroe Islands, Blackpoll Warbler at Sandavági, 3rd record for Faroe Islands, Snow Goose at Sandsvatn, 3rd catergory A record and yesterdays Red-flanked Bluetail at Hvalvík, 4th record for Faroe Islands. Other scarcities and rarities this autumn were Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Little Buntings, Pectoral Sandpiper and Citrine Wagtail.

But I haven't been the only one to find rarities this autumn. Other notable highlights have been Red-eyed Vireo at Nólsoy, Radde's Warbler at Lamba, Baird's Sandpiper at Stóravatn, White-rumped Sandpiper at Hvalba, White-tailed Eagle at Sumba, Arctic Warbler sp. at Porkeri and an Oriental Turtle Dove at Viðareiði. Of all the aforementioned birds, I only managed to twitch the Radde's Warbler, but that was a nice lifer! So overall there has been quality birds, but it has been tough in this nigh-constant rain and wind, overall the number of birds has been quite low and we have felt somewhat cheated out of the massive influx of Buff-breasted Sandpipers and Baird's Sandpipers that hit Europe this autumn. But such is life, now it is time to do some gulling, which Faroe Islands excel at immensely. Target-species this winter will be Slaty-backed Gull, Vega Gull and American Herring Gull, maybe even a long-staying, confiding Ross's Gull at a small cozy harbour.

Here are some photos of the birds from this autumn.

Citrine Wagtail

Pectoral Sandpiper

Snow Goose

American Golden Plover

Curlew Sandpiper

Little Bunting

Radde's Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Little Bunting

Red-flanked Bluetail

Eastern/Oriental Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata neumanni/mongola) at Sandavági, 4th October 2026

 4th October 2026 me and Bartal went to Vágar. The trip overall didn't yield many birds or anything obviously rare, except a very interesting Spotted Flycatcher in Sandavági. Walking through village, we were heading to a small parking lot surrounded by bushes and trees, that often hold passerines. As I walk downhill I spot a very pale passerine flying towards us, heading towards ground. In my binoculars I manage to see, very pale greyish with evidently dark ear-coverts, leaving no recognisable first impression. The birds lands behind a car and I tell Bartal to walk very slowly around the car with me, and we spot what very clearly is a Spotted Flycatcher. Immediately it is obvious that it is no a "normal" Spotted Flycatcher, due to the very pale ground colour, white underparts, limited and faint streaking, restricted to the upper chest, bright, pale edges on GC, tertials and secondaries, distinct streaking on the crown against a whiteish background and darker earcoverts, creating a distinct "masked" like appearance. 

Photographing flycatchers on Faroe Islands, can be a nightmare due to them often being hyperactive, feeding in the cold weather and constantly looking for appropriate cover, though in this case it was very cooperative, which resulted in plenty decent photos from different angles in nice, neutral lighting. After awhile the bird disappeared into a large and dense collection of gardens. In our attempt to refind it, we found another! Spotted Flycatcher, but this individual was very different in being "typically" darker, with more dense streaking, less striking pale edges on the upper-wing and some colouring on the underparts.

Due to the weather changing for the worse, we decided to leave it be and got back to the car. In the car we checked the photos and checked litterature on the whole Spotted Flycatcher. Even though there is some recent developments towards IDing Mediterranean Flycatcher (Muscicapa tyrrhenica/balerica), nothing was to find concerning the ID of ssp. neumanni et. al. We shared our photos on Facebook and thankfully Thibaut Chansac by an insane coincident had just published an article concerning the identification of the eastern complex of Spotted Flycatcher. He was so kind to comment on the bird, which I will share here: "indeed a perfect neumanni/mongola and, as far as I am concerned, a bird that is readily identifiable as such with this very pale, cold plumage along with the white tips to the greater coverts and white fringes to the tertials/secondaries. The centers of the coverts and tertials are also pale/washed-out.

Balearica would appear warmer with sandy or milky cast to the plumage. Typically with a paler crown ( not always though) and darker, more isolated ear-coverts and lores. The fringes/tips to the coverts/tertials would be more worn by october on a balearica and not that white/cold. Balearica is also slightly longer legged and with a stronger bill.

When I research the subject, I didn’t find any birds as pale as this one west of the urals. And they don’t seem to be really common before you reach the Tomsk or Krasnoyarsk oblast in Russia."

So as it stands now, it is Faroe Islands first record of the overlooked subspecies, or atleast the first candidate! We also collected fecal sample from the bird, which will be sent somewhere appropriate.

Now the next step is to map how common/rare is these eastern subspecies of Spotted Flycatcher in WP? I imagine the article by Thinbaut Chansac will be infinitely helpful.

Here is the link to the article, it is in french and below is the pictures taken of the bird in question.

Taken by Bartal G. Simonsen

Autumn is here: A quick overview of the spring

 I have been really busy with work and house-work this spring, but with being busy, there still has been some time for birding, and even with the limited time it still yielded some really good birds! But though the birding has been limited, I have had plenty of time for hoverflies! But let us start with the birds.

Bird Highlights since 19th march:

Solitary Sandpiper, 1st record for Faroe Islands, Tórshavn 27th may

Roseate Tern, 1st record for Faroe Islands, Sumba, 16th July

Western Subalpine Warbler, 7th(?) record for Faroe Islands, Dalur 21st May

American Wigeon, 17th record for Faroe Islands, Gróthúsvatn, 18th May

Long-tailed Skua, very rare spring visitor, Klivaløkshaga, 21st May

European Turtle Dove, rare spring visitor, Tórshavn, 7th June

Honorable mention of birds I didn't manage to see: Caspian Gull, 3rd record for Faroe Islands, Múli, 14th April, Cedar Waxwing, 1st record for Faroe Islands, Vatnsoyrar 4th July

Also the Short-billed Gull was resighted 30th March at Sørvági, where I managed to get some cracking views and photos, which made it feel like finding it anew!

So even though the number of birds hasn't been great, due to almost constant westerlies, the quality of birds has been really awesome.

Hoverflies has also been a quite exciting with four new species for Faroe Islands! Melangyna lasiophtalma, Eupeodes luniger, Eupeodes latifasciatus and Parasyrphus punctulatus, with M. lasiopthalma being a new resident hoverfly species for Faroe Islands. Otherwise I refound Syritta pipiens at Sumba, the last record for Faroe Islands was back in ca. 1915.

Eupeodes latifasciatus female

Eupeodes luniger male

Melangyna lasiopthalma female

Parasyrphus punctulatus male, 1st for Faroe Islands (1st of two records I found in two days, the other one was collected for the national museum collection)

Syrphus vitripennis, rare to uncommon visitor

Syritta pipiens, first record since 1915, but it was surprisingly the most common hoverfly species in Sumba, though I didn't find it anywhere else.

In general it has been interesting Spring and Summer birding and insect-wise. It is now turning autumn and the fun will commence shortly, hopefully tomorrow as I will be heading to Suðuroy for a quick trip.

Ross's Gull!

Ross's Gull is a bird that invokes awe and longing for every serious birder. This mythical rarity from the far north is annual in WP, and every single one is a crowdpuller. Ever since I started birdwatching I have wanted to see one, but rare birds are rare. When one was found in 2008 at Esbjerg Harbour, it stayed at the harbour for six months, and when I finally went with some other birders, I could finally see one! But that ONE day we were there, it was gone. It was there the day before and the day after, but such is life. Now 18 years later,  Bartal found one while I was at work on 21st January and I looked for it the two days later for 5 hours, with no luck and spent the entire weekend looking for it, again with no luck. 5th february it was found by Silas at Syðragøtu/Norðragøtu, I once again went the next day and spent six hours looking for it, where I found a large flock of Black-headed Gulls roosting 1,5km away, I stared at it for 1 hour, saw it for 1 second and further 45 minutes, I saw it fly out to the salmon farms for ten seconds! Ten seconds of Ross's Gull after 6 hours looking, what a bird! Though I was happy to see it, I really wanted to see it much better and almost get some photos. Now 32 days later it finally happened! Drove to Syðragøtu/Norðragøtu after work to do some light birding, where I put up the scope and started scanning the waves and whatever might fly around, when I saw a small group of Black-headed Gulls fly towards the harbour at Norðragøtu and behind them I saw a smaller(!) gull. Tiny, long-tailed, ternlike with very pale upperparts, conspiciously dark underwings and large "eyes" BOOM Ross's Gull! But sadly I had left my phone in the car, so I couldn't start videoing and I didn't want to go for the phone in fear of losing the bird. I followed the bird as it fought against the wind and then I realised that it would be heading straight for the harbour! I threw the scope into the car and drove the car towards the harbour, while calling Silas up to tell him, that the Ross's Gull was back. While on the phone I suddenly saw it fly around and Silas heard me shout out a long string of expletives! Before the car was even parked, I started taking photos and OMG OMG OMG, finally I got photos and awesome views of it. I spent further an hour looking for it over the dark, brooding waves while the wind was blowing and it was raining, but Silas refound it later after I left.

Finally. I have now seen and documented 16 different laridae species on Faroe Islands, with one being a new for the country, I only need to see Franklin's Gull and Ring-billed Gull, then I am all set.

The arctic sends its regards once again

March is regarded as a quiet month, but it has proved to be eventful this year, though I suspect it can be ascribed to the fact that the amount of birdwatchers since beginning of 2025 has increased with 200%. #th March I finally struck gold at my local patch. From my apartment I have the view over the entirety of the sound between Nólsoy and Streymoy, the harbour of Tórshavn and some large salmon rings, which means that scoping from the apartment can yield some quite nice birds (and animals), with highlights being: Sandwich Tern (7th record for Faroe Islands), Common Pochard, Sooty Shearwaters, Iceland Gull, Glaucous Gull, Leach's Storm Petrel and a pod of 50-70 Risso's Dolphins, largest pod ever recorded as far as I know. But one species that I have always hoped to find was King Eider male, a very scarce species on the Faroe Islands, that I have seen four times up here. One was many years ago, a male, on Suðuroy, a female at Kirkjubø 5 years ago, a female in october 2025 at Nólsoy and an adult male at Sørvágar, december 2025. So when I for the umpteent time scanned the large flocks of eiders that frequent the salmon rings and was greeted with views of a smaller dark eider with pale blue head and bright bill, I was quite excited! I immediately called all the birdwatchers on Faroe Islands and told'em. In the dusk it was still quite the view and it ended up being around for three days, though it is probably still around, as the eiders move around a lot, following the currents and wind. Now the next bird must be an exciting Melanitta sp. or an Harlequin Duck!

First day photos

Now 500 meters closer

7th March I went to Eysturoy to check for gulls and ducks as the wind from SW meant that the eastern and northern parts of the islands would be in cover from the wind. Though all the good spots were checked, it didn't yield anything new, outside of 4 Fieldfares at Viðareiði and more arrivals of Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Though nothing new, doesn't mean nothing exciting, as I refound the Bonaparte's Gull at Syðragøtu and Lesser Scaup at Toftavatn. But the most exciting and bitter news arrived late sunday evening, when I received the news of a Beluga Whale sighting at Leynarsand! Holy shit, an absolutely insane animal and almost completes the run of arctic birds and animals that Faroe Islands have been on since november 2025, with Ivory Gull, Ross's Gull, King Eider(s), Walrus and now Beluga Whale, next must be Polar Bear? Or Narwhale??? I tried on monday after work to go look for it, but no dice and there has been no news of it since and with the wind picking up to a lovely 20 m/s, it's probably gonna be quite hard to refind it again, though it would be very nice if it were to happen, as this is the 4th record for Faroe Islands and first since 1996. Otherwise I had the fortune of spotting a pod of five Killer Whales outside my workplace while doing the dishes and eating a quesadilla.

Again with the strong westerlies hitting Faroe Islands, straight from Greenland, maybe there will indeed be more polar species landing on our shores.

Immigrant from the PNW is still hanging around!

It has been quiet on the Faroe Islands, not much is happening, but that is to be expected as the period from late february to start april is usually quiet, except all the breeding birds are slowly trickling in.

28th february I decided to check Eysturoy and there was not much to see, except large numbers of Great Northern Divers and Slavonian Grebe. I went to Gjógv, the northernmost village on Eysturoy and extremely isolated. It was one of the last spots on the Faroe Islands where Tree Sparrow was breeding and also the last spot I saw them, back in 2021. I drove straight up there, a long trip high up in the mountains, before slowly descending into the valley, the village is situated in. A quick scan of the sea yielded two Iceland Gulls and 46 Long-tailed Ducks! Which is an insane number for Faroe Islands. A walk in the village yielded no sparrows, no House Sparrows or Tree Sparrows, so I put up the scope and decided to check the sea. Nothing worth mentioning, except that five Long-tailed Ducks were swimming inbetween the rocks below, so I got a nice photo sesh out of it. I drove to Eiði to see if anything was swimming around and the local Velvet Scoter was surprisingly still hanging around, otherwise nothing worth mentioning. Hvalvík was also checked on the way home and the local Moorhen was also hanging around at the exact spot I found it in 23/11-2025. 

1st March I went to Vágar hoping the strong winds and rain had pushed anything interesting to the shores. I started near the tunnels where a Common Scoter and loads of gulls were hanging around, which is always a good sign, so I quickly jumped into the car and headed straight for Miðvági, where there again were plenty of gulls, but I could find anything rare, though 130 black-headed gulls is quite a high number for Faroe Islands. I could also see that it was a quite strong low tide, exposing large swaths of the beach, which means that Sørvági have a very low tide, which indicates that there will be loads of gulls. And indeed there were. Inbetween all the herring gulls and black-headed gulls I saw a familiar face: the Short-billed Gull I found 4th january was walking around on the beach!!! I called Silas and then I slowly walked towards the gull to see if I could get some nice photos, but the strong wind blew me around like a plastic bag, which made it hard, but not impossible. It took off and landed on the opposite end of the beach so I let it be and drove to my special seabirdwatching spot. Many eiders and alcids, but nothing crazy, except 15 Harbour Porpoises were swimming around in the waves, which was quite cool! After an hour of obs I drove to the beach again to see if anything new had arrived. Nothing new had arrived but I could see the Short-billed Gull fishing near a pier, so I drove to the pier in hopes of getting some close up views. I started throwing bread out and among the many gulls that arrived, there it was! What a redemption! I got some okay views when I first found it, but finally I could indulge in this cool-looking visitor from PNW! After some time it went back to the beach, where got some last photos and then I drove back home.

So nothing new, but plenty of familiar faces.

The colder, the better!

 Winter on the Faroe Islands is usually rainy, windy, cold and dark, with snow usually limited to the mountainstops. But the recent coldspell caused by winds from the SE had pushed plenty of continental birds towards Faroe Islands. 12/2 I was doing surveys on behalf SEV and Tjóðsavni concerning the placement of windmills on the island of Sandoy. On the mountains we found several Snow Buntings and by Sandsvátn we found 3 Northern Lapwings, 3 Skylarks, 1 Eurasian Shelduck, all scarce visitors! Saturday me, Bartal and Silas decided to go to Suðuroy to see if the cold at pushed anything of interest to the island! We hoped for White's Thrush, Great Bittern and Blue Tit. Though none of that came true, we still managed to see some interesting birds. Highlights were Mistle Thrush, 14th record, Tundra Bean Goose, 22nd record and Little Grebe, 18th record, though my personal favourite was a 1st winter Kumliens' Gull that Silas found at Lopra. Other highlights were 4 Northern Lapwings, 5 Skylarks, 26 Great Northern Divers and the sheer amount of thrushes, with a estimate of 30-40 redwings of both ssp. iliacus and coburni, 15+ Fieldfares, 2 Song Thrushes and of course the Mistle Thrush, with the bulk of the thrushes being found in a single village, Porkeri. The bean goose was found while searching for the lapwings and the little grebe was found by a local birdwatcher!

Skylarks are very scarce to scarce visitors, with almost all records from autumn. 8 individuals in february is quite the number

Song Thrush is also a quite scarce species, that is almost always found during influxes, but two in february is quite the records

The star of the show! My second Mistle Thrush on Faroe Islands, with the last being in 2016

It doesn't get more faroese than this

Officially the most boring rarity to find on the faroe islands.