A cold and windful February in the South-east was warmed up by fantastic news from Trøndelag. The Azure Tit (asurmeis) that visited Ørland in January reappeared in mid-February! Since we did not make it in January, we jumped into the car and drove up as soon as the news was out, in hope to see this beautiful first for Norway. And it was a successful trip, even if the bird was a bit skulky, and only came out and visited the feeder shortly a few times.

Of other interesting birds from Ørland, a good flock of Taiga Bean Geese (taigasædgås) is worth mentioning.

A stop in Central Drammen on the way was worthwhile; the river was frozen with just a limited space of open Water, where a good number of ducks was concentrated. A couple of Pochards (taffeland) was a nice surprise.

Male Goosander (laksand) in the Drammen River.

The long-staying female Mandarin Duck (mandarinand) was still around.

In our local «backyard» around Tjøme, most of the fjord was frozen over, but the Little Grebes (dvergdykker) held out in an open area together with Goldeneyes (kvinand).

A single male Teal (krikkand) was also seen in February.

The first sign of a coming spring was the Graylag Geese (grågås) that arrived in the middle of the month, only to swim around in ice and snow.

A good number of Rock Pipits (skjærpiplerke) has made it through the winter, feeding in the kelp beds on the beach.

The very last days of February came with a dramatic change of weather, with southerly winds, low pressure and temperatures above zero. With it came the first wave of migratory birds. Ringed plovers (sandlo) were the first shorebirds to arrive.

Small groups of Skylarks (sanglerke) were seen…

… and Fieldfares (gråtrost) in good numbers. 

At the very last day of February, the first Song Trush (måltrost) appeared…

…and so did a single Snow Bunting (snøspurv).

Most exciting, however, was the unusual influx of Stonechats (svartstrupe) at the end of the month. It used to be a rare visitor to this part of the country, but it has become more regular over the last years. This years’ influx is both unusual high in numbers and early on arrival, and we had at least 10 individuals in our neighborhood. Only two females, the rest was males.