East coast, West coast!

Today we traveled more than 2x500km (2x310miles) back and forth to Halland on the west coast of Sweden to see an American pipit. It would have been a longshot, but we had two secret weapons at our disposal. Birding Team Claudia Staab joined forces with global superbirder Hans Jörnvall and wife and on top of that we had excellent local support in the form of Hans Johansson. The latter had generously made his local expertise available to us and we took the offer today.

We want to express our deepest gratitude to all. Without either the trip wouldn't have happened. Hans drove all 1000km steadily and swiftly and also helped id the bird. Local guide Hans showed us the way leading up to the bird and generously offered hot coffee and tasty cheese sandwiches. Thank you all!

The American pipit is very rare in Sweden to say the least and this individual has made Årnäshalvön a popular destination for all Swedish birders since November.

Initially the whole thing almost slipped on us, as the bird was scared away by a couple of eager birders just as we arrived. The pipit flew and couldn't be found for almost one hour. Seeing the bird fly away just as you arrive was a nightmare and it was really terrible to experience that after having spent the last five hours in a car gradually getting psyched for the moment.

After some intense searching we finally regained it and good times were had by all. I even managed to snap a couple of photos from a distance.


Bird of the day: American pipit -- Hedpiplärka -- Pazifikpieper -- Pipit d'Amérique -- Anthus rubescens rubescens