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