Honey Buzzard Records in Norway and Iceland Autumn 2000
Norway
The only records of Honey Buzzard (Vepsevåk) found for the observatories in Norway accessible from Skånes Ornitologiska Förening ( http://www.skof.se/lank/andra/aktuella.htm , click on Norway; or http://www.skof.se/obs/index.html, click on Obsar från världen, followed by Norway) were:
|
Area |
Date |
Count |
Note |
|
Hordaland |
19/9 |
1 |
mot NV, Hiskjo, Bømlo. |
|
Trondheim |
11/9 |
1 |
trakk mot sør over Sverresborg |
|
Oslo og Akershus |
7/11 |
1 |
Årnestangen, Rælingen |
|
Oslo og Akershus. |
5/9 |
1 |
Årungen, Ås |
|
Oslo og Akershus |
20/8 |
1 |
Årnestangen, Rælingen |
|
Oslo og Akershus |
13/8 |
1 |
Årnestangen, Rælingen |
Nil returns came from:
Bird News from Norway
Siste nytt fra Røvær
Rapporter fra Akerøya
Observasjoner og bildegalleri
Fugleobservasjoner I Trøndelag
The implication is that there was no major movement westwards over Norway.
Iceland
An interesting record of Honey Buzzard [Býþjór] comes from Iceland at Bömóðsstaðir II, Laugardalshr. It is the 5th record for Iceland and the first since 1992. The bird, a juvenile, was found injured on 24th September and died on 26th September. See EBN for September 2000 at September and for October 2000 at October .
Iceland is 600km from Norway, 500km from Scotland and 1,000km from South Denmark. The record therefore certainly does indicate that Honey Buzzards can occasionally cross open water. The origin of the bird is unknown. If it had come from Norway or Scotland, which seems more likely on proximity, then this would suggest that 500-600km is at the upper limit of the powers of endurance of Honey Buzzards as the bird was found in poor condition. If it had come from south Denmark, then the journey is indeed remarkable. With the very small numbers over western Norway, a Scottish origin is perhaps the more likely.
It is interesting to note that a movement from Scotland to Iceland is well-recorded (Davies, 2001) for Red Kite Milvus milvus: an individual ringed and wing-tagged as a juvenile in Scotland in July 1997 was seen on Iceland from December 1997 to mid-September 1999 when found oiled. It was returned to Scotland. This was Iceland's first record for Red Kite. So apparently none have made the flight there before from Scandinavia or elsewhere on the continent.
Reference:
Davies, C, The European Bird Report, British Birds 94(3): 125-142 (2001).
