Birds near home at Lundvagen, Hundvag

An early morning pop by to see what's wading nearby the house on a winter morning ... notables were Scoter and Long-tailed Duck.

Sandness Havn

It's always nice to pop into Sandness Havn in the winter time on the weekend ... look at what i found first winter Red-throated Loon!

Mosvannet birds in a short morning walkabout

Trotting along the walking paths around Mosvannet will always turn something up. The walk will be filled with birds in any season you do it. Early morning has always been fruitful for me ...

Images and words Nazeri Abghani, Sep 2014

Naerland nights

Another attempt at shooting the Naerland waders at night ... mostly Dunlins. It proved to be a bit cumbersome with cables hanging around everywhere. First attempt with 300/2.8 was a-okay but the images of the birds seemed a bit small due to the distance to the birds. A second attempt with the 600/4 was a complete failure ... lugging a 300 with a small tripod (for the flash) proved to be easier than lugging the monster 600 on a tripod with flash attached (including cables to the battery pack).

Perhaps the second attempt would've been a bit more successful if there was some pre-planning involved. Lessons learnt : You can't shoot the 600 impromptu and expect to get results.

World Shorebird Day 06th Sep 2014

Gyorgy Szimuly successfully lobbied wader watchers around world to set aside 3 days from 5-7th September to watch, count and enjoy everybody's favorite waders all around the globe. Thus it went, Neil Robert Jones Friestad and Nazeri Abghani, waderwatched on a gloomy and raining Saturday morning counting little grey waders and telling tall stories.

We counted approximately 2000 birds, 80 % being Dunlin, 10 % Common Ringed Plover, and another 10 % consisting of Knots, Sanderling, Little Stint, Ruddy Turnstone and Ruff.

Last year there were approximately 5000 juveniles converging on these very beach ... perhaps the crummy weather kept them away on this World Shorebirds Day 2014.

Breivatnet after work

Out on Breivatnet ... testing handholdability of a recently acquired Sigma 300/2.8 (used) ... nicee to have the 2.8 max aperture however not as light as the ED400/5.6. I'm still fumbling with flight shots using the 300, understandbly heavier with much more glass.

Tungenes short stop

Decided to pop by Tungenes Fyr with Aisya ...

Quick impromptu dash to Naerland this morning

I missed Spring migration completely this year ... spent 3 weeks in Malaysia mid June, so days prior to that was filled up with catching up on items requiring attention prior to the holiday. I managed zero birdwatching time while back in Malaysia ... decided to not bring any birding gear for holiday.

Came back to Norway at the height of summer and the month of Ramadhan ... I should've been able to do some birding but all the lethargy practically stumped all opportunities of getting up and about to birdwatch.

This morning I thought I'd get in on some Autumn migration action before it too passes by in case I blinked. As per last year, Naerland did not dissappoint ... being Sunday morning there weren't too many people walking about. Other birders were either busy at Reve (saw several vehicles parked by the roadside), occupied ticking off rarities as a result of the big storm last night or were still at church.

There were many waders this morning although the beach was not yet at it's full potential capacity. The birds were probably just starting their journey south. Most were Dunlins (in resplendant summer colors), Common Ring Plover, Ruddy Turnstone, Little Stint, Rednecked Stint, Bar-tailed Godwit, Sanderling, Grey Plover, Redshank and Curlew (in the fields nearby). Dunlin were in highest number.

Other birds in the area were Common Eider, Cormorants (in flight), Greylag Goose (in flight), Ruddy Shelduck (in flight).

Note :

Going out on a whim isn't always a good idea unless you don't plan to take any pictures. I loaded the car with a large tripod, the big lens ... halfway through the journey I remembered the camera body had an almost depleted battery. Felt blessed that I was compelled to also bring a smaller 100D when I entered the car this morning. Even at only 4frames/sec I managed to come home with some pictures. Reminder to self, "Pack the night before, charge all batteries after each trip and plan ahead!"