11/9 I decided to go on a half-day trip to Kirkjubø and Eiði with Barbara, a local birdwatcher. Kirkjubø didn't yield anything too crazy, so we went to Hvalvík plantation to meet up with Bartal, another young local birdwatcher. 1 1/2 hour yielded 1 Hawfinch, 1 Reed Warbler, 4 Willow Warblers and 4 Blackcaps. Hawfinch is a very scarce visitor with very few records annually, so a nice addition. We then went to Eiði, where we immediately saw a large amount of passerines everywhere and good amount of birds on the northern shoreline. Barbara had to leave, so it was just me and Bartal left to check the entire village, which proved to be a very fruitful endeavour. After almost 4 hours of birding we were left with a, for faroese standards, very impressive list! Highlights were: 2 Pied Flycatchers (1-5 pr. year), 1 Spotted Flycatcher (5-20 pr. year), Sedge Warbler (1-3 pr. year), 1 Reed Warbler (5-20 pr. year) and 2 Bar-tailed Godwits (1-2 pr. year). Otherwise large numbers of blackcaps, willow warblers and 1 Garden Warbler.
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| Pied Flycatcher |
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| Sedge Warbler |
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| Bar-tailed Godwit |
13/9 I picked up Bartal and went to the northernmost village reachable by car, Viðareiði, one of the best hotspots in Faroe Islands. We arrived around 7 in the morning and immediately started checking the gardens and immediately we found the first few passerines. It was a busy morning and after six hours of birding we had checked the village twice. Highlights were: 1 Icterine Warbler, 15th record for the Faroe Islands, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 House Martin, 1 Ruff and numbers of Blackcaps, Willow Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat. We drove south and checked some other villages while driving back to Tórshavn, with highlights being Common Swift, Garden Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat and Slavonian Grebe.
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| Sedge Warbler |
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| Icterine Warbler |
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| Painted Lady, a rare butterfly on Faroe Islands |
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| Ruff |
Tired from the day before, I decided to go to Nólsoy as the southeasterlies were looking promising. I arrived at 0950 and started checking the village, with the first warbler I flushed from a garden being a Barred Warbler! A very scarce autumn visitor with 1-10 pr. year. The first few rounds didn't yield too much, with Willow Warbler and Blackcap being the dominant species, though 1 Spotted Flycatcher was seen shortly. I decided to wait for the next arrival of passerines, that usually reach Faroe Islands around 1300-1400 from Shetland and Norway. I started checking the gardens again at 1330 and immediately I found a second Barred Warbler and more willow warblers and blackcaps. Other new arrivals were 1 Goldcrest, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Garden Warbler and a total of 2 Barred Warblers, so a day total of 3 Barred Warblers! Though the most exciting bird was a Grasshopper Warbler that I flushed in the old Helgoland Trap garden. It posed for a full minute before scurrying away like locustellas usually do. I messaged everyone and Bartal decided to twitch it and two hours later he arrived and we managed against all odds to find it again and even get even better photos of it! He also saw two of the Barred Warblers, Spotted Flycatcher and Garden Warbler.
A funny fact about the Grasshopper Warbler records on the Faroe Islands, is that the first two records were caught in the helgoland trap in 1997 and this record, 18 years later this bird was found only 10 meters away from the helgoland trap, where the two other records were caught!
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| Barred Warbler nr. 1 |
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| Exceptionally confiding Grasshopper Warbler |
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| Barred Warbler nr. 2 |
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| Spotted Flycatcher |
Now, 15/9, I am waiting for the next trip to Suðuroy with the faroese ornithological association, where we are staying in Sumba for three days.
