Breeding bird survey in Norway: day 7

I got up pretty energetic after only 2 hours sleep. The route wasn’t very difficult so I managed to finish before 8 am. The highlight of the route were a few Willow Grouses and a Golden Plover in breeding plumage. What an amazing bird this one is. I was also impressed by a nest of a Willow Warbler which was on the ground. Lovely little burrow with a few eggs and a lot of feathers.

willow warbler nest

After we got some more sleep we packed our stuff and off we went to our next survey route. En route we enjoyed a couple of Oystercatcher chicks which were calmly sitting and feeding just by the road. About 60 Eider ducks and 9 Red-breasted Mergansers were swimming on the sea.

The next route wasn’t very far as a distance but pretty remote as a location. It took about an hour along a narrow countryside road with no layout to get there. The weather was finally sunny. We drove along a narrow valley and there we saw this high and steep hill where the route was going to be. This would be quite a challenge!

The afternoon was fairly relaxed with a few drinks. We put up our tent and off we went to get the needed sleep.