From June 26^th to July 17^th I participated in the North Atlantic Sighting Survey (NASS) arranged by the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO). The Faroe Marine Research Institute had rented the pelagic trawler Ran, which is a a nice, 76 meter long vessel. We worked in two-hour shifts with two observers on two separated platforms. In total we were 8 spotters – four from the Faroes, one from Belgium, one from Germany, one from Scotland and one from Ireland.

In total we saw 17 species of cetaceans.

Blue whale

A single individual was seen west of southern Ireland

Fin whale

This large whale was seen in good numbers on most days and the population might have reached pre-whaling levels.

Sei whale

Seen quite regularly with scattered records across the survey area.

Humpback

Only a few sightings of this large whale

Minke whale

We only had a few sightings of minke whales. When the ocean starts getting just a little rough sightability sharply decreases for this small species.

Sperm whale

Remarkably common in most of the survey area especially in deep seas. Many were only registered on the hydrophone, but we also had several sightings of whales chilling in the surface just next to the boat.

Northern bottlenose whale

Seen regularly including some large pods.

Sowerby´s beaked whale

This small beaked whale was seen on a few occasions including breaching whales close to the ship.

Cuvier´s beaked whale

We had a few sightings on this ghostly looking beaked whale. We also saw a dead individual.

Long-finned pilot whale

Several pods were seen including some rather large gatherings of hundreds of animals.

Killer whale

Only a few sightings of this majestic dolphin, but one bull put on a show just 20 meters from the vessel. Quite a sight.

White-sided dolphin

Seen quite regularly especially in the northern parts of the survey area.

White-beaked dolphin

Seen on a few occasion, but I never managed to photograph the species.

Bottlenose dolphin

Seen quite regularly west of Ireland.

(Short-beaked) Common dolphin

Rather common in the southern parts of the survey area. We had several occasions of bowriding common dolphins.

Striped dolphin

Rather numerous in the southern transects. It was simply amazing to see these small dolphins breaching through the waves. And they really fly high.

Harbour porpoise

A few individuals were seen just west of Suðuroy.

The only likely species that we missed was Risso´s dolphin, but just when we came home we got news of an Atlantic right whale in a Irish bay. That would have been a great whale to observe.

Birds

Obviously I also looked at seabirds while doing the survey. On July 1^st I found a beautiful intermediate morph South polar skua in Icelandic waters. It was the first Icelandic record. Just hours later I photographed another South polar skua – this time a dark morph. It was identified in retrospect by Killian Mullarney, Robert Flood and Daniel López Velasco. Amazing to find two of these birds in a day. I wonder how many are out there.

Great, Pomarine, Arctic and Long-tailed skuas were also seen!

I had two sightings of summer-plumage Red phalaropes, that just passed the ship.

A single Sabine´s gull was seen just south of Icelandic waters.

In the northern and western transects Great shearwaters were regular with the maximum being just under 100 individuals in a day.

On the eastern transects Cory´s shearwaters were regular and at the end of the trip I found one in Icelandic waters – also a first for Iceland.

Other birds recorded include sooty and manx shearwaters, Northern gannets, Puffins, common guillemots, Lesser and Great black-backed gull, kittiwakes, Arctic terns, Northern wheatear, Fulmars, European and Leach´s storm-petrels and a single Sunfish.

All in all we had a great time doing the survey both when it comes to whales and birds. Thanks to the spotters and the crew for a great trip.

Silas Olofson

Autumn is my favorite time of year when in comes to birding on the Faroes. Though spring migration can be truly wonderful with loads of colorful birds autumn has a different feel to it. Slowly dense cover is fading, the leaves fall of the trees and the islands get battered by low-pressure after low-pressure. Autumn just gives me a feeling of excitement. You never know what bird will be in the next garden. As the first Yellow-browed warbler has been seen the game is on. When a bird hatched somewhere in the Siberian taiga has arrived who knows what else is around.

Autumn starts early though. Actually it starts in July in a way. This year was no exception has a small influx of Common Crossbills arrived in late July and a male Red-backed shrike was found by Ragnar Smith at Viðareiði at the end of the month. Red-backed shrikes are annual, but adult males are few and far between.

I spent most of the month of August on the research vessel Jákup Sverri. But while on land I worked for the Museum of Natural History counting Arctic Skuas and monitored the breeding success. Sadly the largest colonies at Akraberg, Saksun and Fugloy produced zero checkis. At Svínoy a few chickes hatched and at Viðareiði the situation was a bit better with several chicks fledging. As both Arctic Puffins and Black-legged kittiwakes seem to have had a good breeding season it is hard to understand why the Arctic Skuas lacked success this year. Maybe the summer was simply too wet and windy for the chicks to survive.

Passerine migrations slowly starts in mid August, but normally the start is rather slow. In late August action begins to pick up pace. In late August we had a significant arrival of Common Swifts. I found a flock of five birds at Viðareiði, where a Common Rosefich was also present on the 30^th.

Late August saw a massive arrival of American cliff swallows in Iceland. First there was an influx in New Foundland. Then I got a picture for a Faroese fisherman, who photographed one off Nuuk in Greenland. Numbers in Iceland then exploded in late August. I decided to visit Mykines – the westernmost island of the Faroes – on the 31^th of August as I though it would be a good bet for a Cliff swallows. As I arrived a local had just seen a strange swallow in the village and other locals had seen strange swallows in previous days. Just as we where docking the Danish Navy had helicopter exercises on the islands. As the helicopter platform is just next to the village and the stream where swallows normally gather all birds had gone when I arrived. I did manage for find 3 House Martins though. One pair has bred on the island this summer. But sadly I didn’t find any Cliff Swallows. I did hike west to Mykineshólmur, where a Gannet colony is located. Even though numbers have declined due to the avian flu it was great to see 41 hatchlings and about 440 adults. I estimated that about 20% of the pairs had managed to hatch a chick this summer, which is much better than I expected before arriving.

Early September had a minor arrival of migrants with scattered Willow Warblers, Lesser Whitethroats and a single Common rosefinch on the 5^th at Gásadalur. At least five Great spotted woodpeckers were also reported during the first weeks on September. On the 6^th I went out with Jákup Sverri to the Faroe bank to do research on the fishing stocks. The pelagic birding was simply mind-blowing with about 20 Great Shearwaters, one Cory´s Shearwater, 1000+ Sooty Shearwaters, some Arctic, Pomarine, Long-tailed and Great skuas. The highlight were two obervations of Desertas Petrels og the 9^th and 12^th September. More on that later.

From the 14^th to the 27^th I was on land. On the 16^th our youngest son turned 10. After preparing for the birthday party I took a walk at Viðareiði 10 minutes from home. Soon I found the first Yellow-browed warbler of the year. The first YBW of the autumn is always exciting. It has that awesome feeling to it. When a YBW can turn up anything is possible. Now it is just a question of getting out there. Put in the effort and you will eventually be rewarded with a rarity. It is not a question of if, but a question of when and what.

As I continued my walk I found two Willow warblers, a lesser Whitethroat, a Barred warbler and then another YBW. And then suddenly a small bunting with a redish rumped just out of a bush – a beautiful Rustic bunting. It showed amazingly well just a few meters away while a YBW was calling in the background. Obviously a lot of birds had arrived, when a single village held so many birds, but I had to head home – happy with the birding and looking forward to a great birthday party. It is only the 4th Rustic bunting for the Faroes. A testimony to the scarcity of birders on the islands.

On the 19^th I went to Suðuroy – the southernmost island on the Faroes. As it quite isolated it receives birds from both the east and the west. One day I hope to spend and entire autumn on the island as it is probably the best island for finding rarities due to its remoteness. The birding was great as I found the 3^rd Mediterranean gull for the Faroes at Sumba. A nice juvenile. A female Steller`s eider had also returned for its 8^th consecutive year.

At Fámjin I found an Americak black duck, which is most likely a returning bird. But non the less always a great bird to see. At Fámjin I also found a Wryneck that flew in from the ocean along with Blackcaps, Lesser whitethroats and YBWs in the gardens.

On the 23^rd I checked the island of Vágar. At Gásadalur I found a beautiful snowball aka Hornemann´s arctic redpoll. It was just b-e-a-utiful and showed really well. It is the 3^rd Hornemann´s for the Faroes.

In Gásadalur I also caught a glimpse of a small bird with a reddish tail. For a second I was sure that I had found a nightingale. I reported the sighting to Yann and Jón, but the bird simply vanished in spite of looking for hours. Eventually I gave up and headed home.

A brief checked on Viðareiði the same evening was mandatory. There I found a Eastern yellow wagtail. I managed both pictures and sound-recordings. My go-to guy when it comes to calls and sonograms – Danish birder Henrik Böhmer – was kind enough to make a sonogram comparing the bird with known EYW. The bird was present for at least 4 days. It was a good match and if accepted it will be the second for the Faroes. The first one I found in Sumba in November 2021.

On the 27^th I checked Gásadalur again. Within 30 mintes I finally managed to nail the mysterious bird first seen on the 23^rd. And it did turn out to be a Common nightingale. Only the 3^rd Faroese record.

At Miðvágur I caught a brief glimpse of a possible Tennessee warbler in the late afternoon in the sapsucker-plantation. Presumed Sapsucker marks can be seen on several trees, but the bird was never seen and thus not on the Faroese list. The possible Tennessee warbler was not seen again in spite of searching until sunset.

Now I am back out at sea and hopefully some great seabirds will show up. Surely the autumn must have some more in store for us 🙂

Silas

In February I started working on the research vessel Jákup Sverri. It is owned by the Faroe Marine Research Institute. The vessel conducts all kinds of tasks linked to marine research. Monitoring fish stocks by fishing along the same lines each year is a huge part of the work of the vessel.

In spring plankton growth is being monitored and later the spawning season for different fish species is also measured. A few trips every year only invovle hydrographic research, where ocean currents, temperatures, salinity, oxygen and other things are being measured.

I work as a deckman onboard Jàkup Sverri. It involves a lot of different tasks mostly related to fishing and the launching and use of measuring equipment. Jákup Sverri is considered one of the most advanced research vessels in world and is only a few years old. Unlike many research vessels the fish we catch is not discarded into the sea, but sold to the fish market. Thus sorting, measuring, cleaning and icing the catch is a huge part of the work onboard.

In my spare time I count seabirds and whales on a voluntary basis. But being on this research vessel is pretty much like doing pelagic birding every single day.

It is very interesting to do daily monitoring of birds at sea. To find out how weather, temperatures, time of year and other factors effect the birds, their behavior and numbers.

Since February I have been counting and photographing the Northern Gannets to find out how many individuals have at least one brown eye – which indicates that the bird has had the bird flu. Numbers covering the first half of the year suggest that just below 10% of adult Northern gannets have one or two dark eyes.

Being at sea gives a great opportunity to watch pelagic migration. Both Pomarine and Long-tailed Skuas migrate north in the month of May both east and west of the Faroes. A flock of 22 adult Long-tailed Skuas on the 21^th of May just west of the island of Koltur was quite a surprise. Pomarine skuas seems to peak in the first two weeks of May with the maximum being 21 birds on the 8^th of May.

A few surprises have turned up since I started working onboard. Here are a few:

A fly-by drake American wigeon on May 21^th on the Sandoy bank east of the Faroes.

Eurasian hobby on the 10^th of June some 180 nautical miles north of the Faroes.

An adult Sabine´s Gull of 11^th of June between Iceland and the Faroes.

The birding highlight so far this year were both Great and Cory’s Shearwater at the same time on Munkagrunnurin about 30 km from Suðuroy on the 12th of August. With daily news of amazing numbers of Cory’s further south I knew this could be the year to find it in Faroese waters. So my bins have been looking for hours and hours in all kinds of weather for the big brown shearwater. And finally Cory paid us a visit showing amazingly well on one of the very few sunny and calm days that we have had since February. The Cory’s was joined by a Great shearwater, 22 Sooty and a few Manx shearwaters also cruising around the vessel and I was simply ecstatic!!!

There is one record of a Scopoli’s Shearwater shot in August 1877. The bird has been re-examined and confirmed as a Scopoli’s shearwater by the Danish RC. There is also a sighting from land on May 1984, which is accepted as a Scopoli’s/Cory’s shearwater – though most likely Cory’s. If my bird from August 12^th is accepted by the Danish RC it will be the first definitive record of this species for the Faroes.

Another impressing feature of working at sea are the cetaceans. So far we have seen Orcas twice, Northern Bottlenoses five times, Long-finned pilot whales several times, White-sided dolphins a few times, humpbacks a few times, Mink Whales regularly and Bottlenose dolphins a single time. A few unidentified large whales have also been seen.

My interest for fish has also been re-ignited. I am currently trying to photograph as many species as possible and learn how to identify the tricky ones. It takes a lot of work and kinda feels like staring to bird again from scratch. But it is really exciting and I love the fact that I get to see new species of fish on such a regular scale.

The best thing about being at sea is that each day is different. You just never know what will happen tomorrow, later today or in an hour. I love the thrill. And I love the sea. Endless forms most beautiful in constant change.

Silas Olofson

It is time for a little review of the autumn and winter of 2022. I returned from Mongolia in late September and we have decided to settle down in the village where my wife grew up called Hvannasund on the Faroes after living mostly abroad since 2012.

Late September saw the arrival of low numbers of eastern migrants. The first scarce bird was a Marsh Warbler at Viðareiði on the 23^rd. Five Yellow-browed Warblers and a Wood Warbler in Hvalvík on the 27th were nice. On the 28^th I twitched the third Bar-headed Goose for the Faroes, which had been present for some days on Sandoy.

On Sandoy I also saw two Great Spotted Woodpeckers and a total of at least 10 documented birds were recorded on the Faroes during autumn. This is twice the number of the great invasion of 2012, where 5 birds were seen.

October started well with a Peregrine on Svínoy. Only the 12^th record for the Faroes. At least 10 Tree Sparrows were also present on the island including several juveniles proving that breeding has been going on probably since 2013 on the island with other birds breeding at Gjógv on Eysturoy.

October turned out to be quite windy and messy with lots of fast-moving depressions limiting arrivals from the east, but keeping the arrived birds grounded for much longer than usual. For instance a Pied Flycatcher was present for the entire month in Hvalvík.

On the 7^th the first mega turned up. I was birding on the island of Vágar on the western Faroe Islands. It was rainy but as I was driving to Sørvágur I saw that the sun was shining in Gásadalur, which is the westernmost village on the island. So I headed straight to the village. It only has two gardens, so checking for warblers is rather simple. Shortly after arrival I saw a stringing yellow bird in the scrubs. The jizz and colours were unlike any European warblers and I knew I was facing a yank. After a few very long minutes the bird emerged and the first Yellow Warbler for the Faroes was in the book. Soon the bird got very active and offered views beyond belief. This is only the third American warbler recorded on the Faroes following Tenneessee and Black-and-white Warbler back in the days. Now I look forward to the next one.

The following weekend the Faroese Ornithological Society arranged a tour to Suðuroy – the southernmost island of the archipelago. The female Steller´s Eider had returned to its wintering site in Sumba for the 7^th consecutive year. We also found two Ring-necked Ducks and an American Black Duck on the islands. But apart from that birds were few and far between.

Really bad and unstable weather made birding in October hard, but after some strong northerly winds I found a Hornemann´s Arctic Redpoll on the 13^th. It is probably a regular albeit scarce visitor to the Faroes if you look at the occurrence on Shetland for comparison. But this is only my second solid record with several birds being put into the ”maybe” bag by the Danish RC. There actually is only one accepted record of ssp. hornemanni on the Faroes before this.

Mid October saw the arrival of a few persistent eastern migrants including Barred Warbler, Yellow-browed Warblers and in Húsavík I found a Olive-backed Pipit. Only my third confirmed individual on the Faroes.

On the 19^th I took a hike to look for the returning male Snowy Owl that has been seen by herders for the last three consecutive autumn. This year it was first seen in late August. After a long hike I managed to find the bird. It showed amazingly well after I used more than an hour just approaching slowly. I even managed to collect some pellets, which I handed over to the Museum of Natural History, but they haven´t had time to look at them just yet.

On the 23^rd of October I visited Suðuroy again. In Fámjin I found the second (and my second self-found) White-crowned Sparrow. Still the only American sparrow-species recorded here.

Late October again showed some arrivals from the east including several Goldfinches, a Rook, Eurasian Sparrowhawk,a late Red-breasted Flycatcher on the 1^st of November and two Mistle Thrushes on the 2^nd.

Late November saw the arrival of several Tundra Bean Geese and Russian White-fronted Geese and at Toftavatn a total of 5 Ring-necked Ducks were present.

As December arrived we had strong northerly winds bringing down good numbers of Iceland and Glaucous Gulls. On the 8^th I got a photo from a man working off shore showing an adult Ivory Gull. I rushed to Suðuroy, where I got permission to go out with the boat close to the salmon farms. After 30 minutes the Ivory Gull showed amazingly well in the scarce light. What a beauty and what a gift before Christmas.

Late December saw snowfall that I haven´t seen since I was kid. Our cars were stuck for several day outside the house in the snow and the kids had a blast playing in the snow. Birding was very limited, but on the 30^th I almost spilled my morning coffee as a Rough-legged Buzzard flew past our window just 30 meters away being chased by corvids and gulls. I grabbed my camera and after 30 minutes of searching I relocated the bird and managed to document it by taking pictures. Quite a way of ending the year.

It is still cold now in early January and plenty of Iceland Gulls including a few Kumlien`s Gulls have arrived. Now it will be exciting to see what 2023 has to offer.

Silas

Autumn has turned into winter and I have returned to Mongolia after spending a little more than a year back home on the Faroe Islands due to covid-19. If you wish to continue reading about my birding adventures you can go to my blog birdingmongolia.wordpress.com

But how was the autumn birding on the Faroe Islands? This I will blog about this time. I have never been able to spend as much time in the field as I have done this autumn since my wife and kids had already returned to Mongolia. But apart from myself I don’t think anyone went out birding on a regular basis in order to look for rarities and I have no knowledge of any visiting birders, who came this autumn to look for migrants either. So I pretty much had to cover the entire country myself – which obviously is impossible though some others did some sporadic birding of course.

While Iceland had stunning numbers of American warblers in early autumn, I only managed to find 3 Pectoral Sandpipers and a single Semipalmated Sandpiper from America. Some good American birds must have visited the islands, but I just didn’t manage to find any of them. If only there were more birders around.

The dominant wind direction during autumn was between northwest and southwest, with very few days of easterlies. This meant that the numbers of eastern vagrants were low – and the weather windy and unsettled. If we take the Yellow-browed Warblers as an example I see around 100-150 during autumn on average. This autumn I only found 15. So it is 10% or so from my normal numbers. In general numbers were just low and only once in late October we had a notable arrival of eastern birds – mostly Redwings and Blackbirds, but also Siberian Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, a few Barred Warblers and a Citrine Wagtail. There was also a small arrival of three Little Egrets and a single Cattle Egret (third for the Faroes) in late October.

A juvenile Western Osprey arrived in October at Saksun, where is was really efficient in catching trout. It was still present in early November. Interesting to see if it attempt to winter of the Faroes.

Other rarities or scarcities during the autumn include the third Greenish Warbler for the Faroes, second Wilson’s Storm-petrel, Little Grebe, Blyth’s Reed Warbler, a few Rosy Starlings, three Ring-necked Ducks, Little Bunting and Little Stint, Common Coot and a few Hawfinches.

My personal highlight was obviously the male Snowy Owl in mid October, which seems to return regularly to the area around Halgafelstindur.

All in all this autumn was much below average when it comes to numbers of birds present. Normally there come periods of continual easterly winds at least a few times each autumn, which fill the gardens with birds. This autumn did not have any such arrival except for the one incident in late October, which still was too little too late.

But still I met my personal target of finding two new national firsts a year (when I am home), as I found both Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler and Eurasian Stone-curlew in late spring. And adding Snowy Owl and Wilson’s Storm-petrel to the equation the result is pretty sweet.

Silas Olofson

To be honest I have anticipated this blog for many years now. The day had to come eventually. Even if it required a private plane to Point Barrow in Alaska at age 97 I´d do it.

The story started back in 1999 and developed from there. At first I was soaked up in self-pity, but after a while it became too tragic not to laugh at – the story of the Snowy Owl and I.

I started birding very early on. At age ten I was hooked and twitched my first Pale-bellied Brents in my hometown of Fuglafjørður. I read all the field guides about birds that I could get my hands on and one of the birds that stood out was the Snowy Owl. Big and white with staring yellow eyes. A dream bird for anyone to see.

I made my first attempt to twitch a Snowy Owl aged 15 in 1999. A bird had been present in northern Denmark for weeks. I got a ride with some twitchers and we hit the road. As we reached the area we scanned with the scopes and found a white spot on a pole far away. Too far to tell what it was. We drove closer but a thunder-shower hit us and when we reached the pole, there was no white thing on top. Further search proved fruitless.

The second attempt was of a bird in the Hansted Reserve in Denmark. Again I got to drive with some twitchers. We arrived, scanned the area for hours, but then started to do alternative birding. We didn´t see the owl, but when I got home I learned that it was seen 20 minutes after we left – mocked by a Gyr Falcon.

I went back to the Faroes in vacation in 2000. During the week I was gone two Snowy Owls were just 7 kilometers away from the school I was attending. They both left the day before I returned.

I really wanted to see Snowy Owls. So I went to Lapland with some other birders in 2001. We checked breeding sites way off the grid. We say plenty of awesome birds, but we didn´t see any Snowy Owls – they was apparently breeding at another mountain peak that year we were told by a ranger as we left.

In 2006 we hard our first daughter. When my wife went into labor we rushed to the hospital. As the birth got close I got a message about a Snowy Owl 30 minutes drive away. After careful consideration I remained at the hospital. The Snowy Owl only stayed for that one day…

At a family birthday on the Faroes in 2009 my brother in law and I talked about football. After a while he said: “Oh, by the way, did you hear of the Snowy Owl at Múli?”. He pulled out his phone and showed me pictures that a friend of his had taken just 10 minutes drive from my home. It had been present the entire previous day. I rushed out the door with permission from my wife – but didn´t see any Snowy Owl. It was gone.

Then I moved to Mongolia in 2018. But I didn´t find any Snowy Owls there – but got the Great Grey Owl. Due to covid-19 we came to the Faroes in August 2020. In September and November a Snowy Owl was seen on Eysturoy. I hiked and hiked in the remote area, but didn´t find anything. Then I got a call from people hunting Hares. They had seen a beautiful Snowy Owl sitting on a specific rock. I hiked to the place. I found the rock, I found its droppings. But no bird.

Yesterday I got a call from a shepherd. He had just seen a Snowy Owl close to the Halgafelstindur mountain. I jumped into the car with my oldest daughter. Blizzards, rain and long hiking distance didn´t keep us from going. We hiked, got soaked and pressed on. And then it was there. The white dot in the distance. The Snowy Owl.

We obtained good views from a distance and then I tried to get some photos. It turned out that the adult male Snowy Owl was very approachable and allowed me to get great views. What a stunning bird! Beyond words simply. This is only the 5^th record for the Faroes in 32 years!

I am still not quite sure if I was dreaming, but it seems like I´ve finally seen a Snowy Owl 22 years after my first attempt to see the species. I´d did see it. I really did. No need for Point Barrow now.

Silas