A long overdue update from what traditionally are one of the most exciting birding weeks in Norway, and usually have a lot to offer rarity wise. However, this late September and early October have been hampered with lots of wind and rain making it a bit difficult to bird the bushes. Also, it seems to have been very few birds around. Wind and rain seems to have been dominant for most of the Norwegian coast this autumn, so we feel a bit less alone in the frustration searching the empty bushes. It has been hard work to find any exciting stuff.

However - the first big rarity of the autumn turned up today 14th Oct. as a female looking Pied Wheatear (svartstrupesteinskvett) turned up. Unfortunately it gave very brief views, and was only observed by the finder for about 1 minute before it disappeared and was not found again despite extensive searching in the area. This is the third record for Røst, and 4th for Nordland of this national rarity that has about 34 previous records in Norway.

The period has as mentioned been very thin with birds, but we are indeed in peak autumn migration and the following is worth mentioning for the period:

• Taiga Bean Goose (taigasædgås): 2 longstaying birds at the airport are still present since 20th Sept.
  
  
• Sooty Shearwater (grålire): Only two have been seen, one on the 25th Sept and one 11th Oct.
  
  
• Pomarine Skua (polarjo): Two single adults have been seen migrating past the island (10th and 11th Oct).
  
  
• Gyr Falcon (jaktfalk): A beautiful adult female was touring the island showing well on the 1st Oct.
  
  
• Red-backed Shrike (tornskate): A juvenile was seen 30th Sept - 1st Oct in the northern part of the island. This is a rare bird in Northern Norway, but has been almost annual on Røst for the last 10 years or so. Sometimes with multiple records per year.
  
  
• Yellow-browed Warbler (gulbrynsanger): At least 8 different birds have been seen during the period. Two birds seen together 13th Oct were rather dull in colouration, but sadly no call was heard to point it towards the much rarer Hume’s Yellow-browed (blekbrynsanger). Seeing this Siberian taiga species is always a highlight during the autumn migration.
  
  
• Common Reed Warbler (rørsanger): One bird was caught and ringed 29th Sept and then caught again 1st Oct. This is the first seen on the island since 2016, and about the 11th record for Røst.
  
  
• Marsh Warbler (myrsanger): One caught and ringed 27th Sept and then caught again 30th Sept. This is the second ringed this autumn, and the third on Røst this year. Røst has a total of 13 records of this species.
  
  
• Barred Warbler (hauksanger): The longstaying individual from 6th Sept was last seen 30th Sept.
  
  
• Olive-backed Pipit (sibirpiplerke): It has been a very good year for this species. One new bird was found unringed during this period on the 24th Sept. This was at least the 7th bird this year with previously 6 being ringed further South on the island earlier this September. This Siberian species used to be considered a huge rarity in Norway as recently as the early 2000s. It has now become annual with several observations each year on Røst.
  
  -Common Rosefinch (rosenfink): One was caught and ringed today 14th October.
  
  
• Little Bunting (dvergspurv): One bird found 30th Sept, and two were ringed on the 13th Oct.
  
  Autumn is not over, and the there is still hope that more interesting birds will turn up in the coming week or so. It seems to be a little late autumn this year, as we still have some leaves on the trees and bushes and this brings hope that more birds will turn up soon. Let’s hope the next update is just around the corner ;)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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