Autumn migration – some pictures

I like Autumn – it is a time of bird migration to South and time to watch species that are not around during the summer time. The last weekend I visited Herdla nature reserve near Bergen – this flat meadow at the northernmost coastal tip of Askoy island is ideal resting place for migrating birds and their regular refueling station before the long trip to South.

Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica)

On the other hand this is not the best place where to make pictures of birds – you can easily overlook the whole area but the birds have also good view and do not usually let you closer than some 30 meters.. So I enjoyed the small flocks of Golden and Ringed Plovers on the shore and Cormorants and Canada Geese flying over my head. I have tried to photograph Common Snipe but it was impossible – I knew exactly the place the bird landed but even being some 8 meters from it I could not see it – it was so perfectly masked in the short grass! Standing up to check where the bird was just made it to fly away again.

Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola)

On the way back to the parking lot I have noticed Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica) and Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola) in the shallow water of calm inlet – this time they let me get close enough to make few decent shots – the pictures are not great but pretty good given the locality. The photos were made at the same place as the pictures of Dunlin (Calidris alpina) last year – see the article Handicapped does not mean ugly

I wish you all nice migration time :-)

Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)

Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica)

Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola)