The flying polar bear is honoring us with a visit - a five star weekend

 In the weekend from 22/11-23/11 I was doing a geese survey for the Faroese National Museum, counting the wintering population of geese and swan. Me and Bartal surveyed Suðuroy on 22/11 and Streymoy 23/11. Of course the main goal was counting geese but we were hopeful of finding something "fun" ie. rare. The survey on Suðuroy took us all over the place with highlights being 51 Purple Sandpipers at Famijn and a Great Cormorant at Hvalba, and after finishing surveying the entire island, we hurried back to Hvalba to give at last do-over at Kjógvavatn, the nr. 1 gull-spot in Faroe Islands. Parked the car and immediately a smaller gull standing next to the black-headed gulls. I got the scope out and saw pink/flesh coloured feet, black bill and greyish neck - Bonaparte's Gull! 4th record for Faroe Islands, a last minute bird and it very quickly flew off, showing of its dainty, ternlike features and translucent wings, like an arctic tern.

Flesh coloured legs and dainty black bill = Bonaparte's Gull

I was surprised how tiny it was compared to the black-headed gulls, I thought that first I was looking at a Little Gull

Me and Bartal were excited and the sun set in west, we then went to the ferry harbour and waited for the boat. While waiting, we talked about the we only needed to find Ivory Gull and Ross's Gull and then we are set with rare gulls on Faroe Islands, with a crazy streak of Caspian Gull, Mediterranean Gull and Little Gull (all of them actually seen at the same spot as the Bonaparte's Gull), but while talking we found out that someone had asked in the FB-group "Fuglar í Føroyum" if the bird he had taken a video of was "an albino gull" - NOPE, IVORY GULL! Immediately we started planning when and how, but we knew that it had to wait 24/11, since we had one day of surveying left, and we started counting the seconds until we could go see it.

The next day we started the surveying on Streymoy, with high hopes of finding something fun once again. Bartal wanted to see Common Moorhen and Bullfinch, both annual, both rare birds on Faroe Islands. After several hours of driving we were finally heading to Saksun and we started talking about the ducks we wanted to see, and we started talking about how it had been a few years since the last American Black Duck was seen on Faroe Islands, and no kidding, when we reached the lake right before Saksun, there were five ducks, two teals, two mallards and one American Black Duck! We got out and got some nice photos and then we kept going, we had geese to count. When we arrived at Hvalvík, we found a flock of geese and while counting a Common Moorhen jumped out from a bush and standing feeding with the geese! A nice bird up here far north and very unexpected. We then drove towards Tjørnuvík, which is as far north as you can go on Streymoy by car, seeing no geese along the way, and stopped for 10 minutes at the village. While checking the cliffs for geese, Bartal called and said he had found a Bullfinch! a nice female, showing extremely well and offering some nice photo opportunities. It flew off and we went on our merry way, what a crazy day!

Last time I saw it was in 2010 at 300 meters distance, this was an amazing redemption

Spot on, though the white edge at the back of the speculum looks a bit strong...

Non-breeding adult, a nice addition to the Faroe Islands List

As per usual on Faroe Islands, the birds offer amazing views!

The next day we went almost straight to Klaksvík after we dropped off a good friend of mine at the airport, though we checked the harbours along the way, with Silas offering reassurance that the Ivory Gull was still there by sending photos and video along the way. When we arrived we couldn't find it immediately at the harbour, but we found it on the opposite side of the coast and we hurried towards it, and there we could see it at close range and with an amazing backdrop! Wow, amazing, insane and many other superlatives could describe this bird, probably top 3 birds I have seen, I hope it stays for a long time, I am definitely going to visit it again, spend some hours with it - a dream come true. After the gull we went to Viðareiði to see if we can find another rarity, but no dice and drove home while eating some well-deserved hotdogs. 

What a three day streak of star birds, I hope the rest of winter will be like this, Ross's Gull next?

Autumn has been begun on the Faroe Islands

 8/9 I went to Suduroy with Bartal G. Simonsen and Silas Olofson for a two day "raid" as the weather and reports from further south could indicate that there might be some waders. The ferry which can yield some impressive seabirds was not noteworthy with a few Great Skuas flying around. When hit land we immediately drove to Hvalba, one of the northern villages, also one of the best birding spots on the Faroe Islands. We drove past "Kjógvavatn" a freshwater lake near Hvalba, nice hotspot for waders and other waterbirds and we could loads of waders walking around. We stopped and immediately Silas spotted a Curlew Sandpiper! 5th record for the Faroe Islands, hot in heels of the fourth found 5/9 by Silas also. Silas and Bartal went down the shore to take pictures and pulled out the scope to start checking all the other waders, where spotted a second Curlew Sandpiper!!! I couldn't document it due to the wind, but I saw a small calidris fly towards us, close to Silas and Bartal, I looked at it and it was a Little Stint!!! 12th record for Faroe Islands! Wow, less than 30 minutes into the trip and already three rarities. Both species were well-documented, feeding along each other and the many Common Ringed Plovers, Sanderlings, Dunlins and Red Knots. We got into the car and drove to Hvalba and started birding where we found a Ruff, a scarce visitor, Common Reed Warbler and a not so obliging Sedge Warbler, a quite rare species with less than five records a year on the Faroe Islands and when. And when we went back to Kjógvavatn where a Little Gull had appeared, yet another very scarce visitor! 

Can you find the Little Stint and the Curlew Sandpiper?

After Hvalba we went to Famjin, the only village on the western coast, which yielded a Sand Martin, another very scarce visitor, some Willow Warblers and plenty of waders. We then immediately drove to Sumba, the southernmost village on the Faroe Islands and another rarity hotspot. The wind made it impossible to check the gardens for passerines, but the shoreline was loaded with waders and of course I found another Curlew Sandpiper, this one was almost more obliging than the other ones as it was standing on the seawall along with the many Sanderlings, Ruddy Turnstones, Rock Pipits and another two Ruffs. As the sun now was setting we went to house we were staying at and spent the evening watching tv and then went to bed. 

Next day we went directly to Sumba again, where the amount of waders was much less, but there were passerines in the gardens. 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Barn Swallow and Silas and Bartal saw a Common Rosefinch, another very scarce visitor. Seeing that there had been an arrival of passerines and the wind had died down a bit we decided to check all the small villages on the east coast. Starting at Porkeri, where we had a few Willow Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler and Garden Warbler, we then went to Hov, another small village, where we split the village and checked each our part. I managed to find a handful of Willow Warblers and a Blackcap, before getting a message that Silas had an interesting acrocephalus-warbler! We went to the garden he was inside of and spoke with him. It was a possible Blyth's Reed Warbler and spent the next hour trying to get better views and photos and in the end we got some nice views and photos and heard it call with a hard teck-call, confirming it was a Blyth's Reed Warbler, the 8th record for Faroe Islands and the earliest autumn record ever for Faroe Islands.

Blyth's Reed Warbler

We then drove to Hvalba and we went to the lake from yesterday to check the waders again, with plenty of them still around. We check the grassy fields in the lake and to our surprise there weren't two Curlew Sandpipers, there were now four of them! Wow! We got some ok photos and the straight to Hvalba again, where we had the Sedge Warbler from yesterday again, along with two Reed Warblers and four Willow Warblers and a continuing Ruff. With limited time left we then went straight to the ferry and sailed back, happy with the results! As a bonus we saw blue-finned tuna from the ferry, first time they have been this close to the islands.

Skulky Sedge Warbler

And less Skulky Reed Warbler.