Collared Flycatcher and Hobby in Hordaland

A Collared Flycatcher was observed in Skjold, Øygarden today, 23 May. The bird was a female‑coloured individual actively feeding throughout the day, and gave brief and distant, but good views when I visited the site this evening.

Collared Flycatcher is an eastern species, breeding from eastern Europe and eastwards. In Norway it appears mainly as a spring vagrant. Most observations come from western Norway, particularly from coastal localities. There are 23 previous Norwegian records, where one was in Hordaland, in Alver in May 1978.

Most Norwegian records are from May. The earliest spring records occur around 1 May, and most birds appear between 5 and 25 May. Autumn records are extremely rare, with only a single record from September.

The bird spent its time on a recently cut clearing within a planted conifer forest on the otherwise exposed outer coast of western Norway. It hunted insects along the edges where open ground met the dense forest, slipping in and out of view as it moved between the clearings and the darker forest interior.

As we were searching for the flycatcher, an unexpected Hobby came sweeping overhead at high speed. This was only the eleventh record for Hordaland. Earlier sightings are scattered across the season, from an exceptionally early bird in Voss in April 1981, to summer and early autumn records in Eidfjord, Etne, Voss and Øygarden.