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.