I rose at 0430 this morning determined to have a good mornings birding before breakfast and I most certainly did. Inspired by huge numbers of waders seen at Nordre Øyeren yesterday (over 1200 Greenshank) I made this my destination. I was on site at Svellet at 5am. This huge area of shallow water and mudflats is only viewable from a distance with a telescope so the views are not great but it is worth squiting your eyes and scanning. There had obviously been a lot of interchange of birds over night because I had "only" 300Greenshank but these were accompanied by 400Wood Sandpipers and smaller numbers of Ruff, Redshank and Curlew.
Amongst 160 Teal was a pair of Shoveler and sitting rather majestically on a small post in the water was an adult White Tailed Eagle whilst over the water an Osprey hunted.
Next stop was the large bay of Snekkervika. Here there were smaller numbers of waders but there were additional species: Whimbrel, Little Ringed Plover, Snipe and Ringed Plover. I again glimpsed a Redstart for my customary second but did have better views of a Spotted Flycatcher which appears to be the first for the year around Oslo. Also new for the year here were Whitethroat and Sand Martin. My Norwegian year list now stands at 154 putting me in 12th position among the people recording their lists on http://feltornitologene.no/kryss/index.htm?list=year&y=2010
I was home before 9am for breakfast with the family - not a bad way to start the day.
Yesterday I was up in Maridalen in the late evening and again saw the Tawny Owl who presence was betrayed by scolding Blackbirds - if only the rarer owls were this easy!
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