Magical Great Snipes

After the excitement of thursday morning I took a little (everything is realtive) break  from birding. We paid a visit to Valdresflya on Thursday evening in glorious sunshine. The Temminck's Stints were displaying along the road as we drove by (the roadside ditch being probably one of the best sources of food amongst all the snow). Alas no Dotterel to show the girls but a fast moving herd of 400 Reindeer on a nearby mountainside was good compensation. I couldn't resist another visit to the Great Snipe (dobbeltbekkasin) lek tonight. It was misty and chilly but this seemed to encourage earlier action with nearly continuous visible display from kust before 23:00. I found a good place to observe the action and was able to determine that there were at least 10 displaying birds. There were birds flying around with whirring wings, birds jumping, birds chasing each other and a continuous chorus of singing birds. I had birds singing within 10 metres of me on three sides after midnight but by then it was far too dark due to mist. I did manage some fairly decent video this time though which I will upload later. With the risk of repeating myself I can only describe it as MAGICAL!!