Smew

I joined Andreas Gullberg on another outing on his boat today. Still no Sanderling (sandløper) for me but we did have 3 Knot (polarsnipe) on Gåsungene and 6 Dunlin (myrsnipe) on other islands. At Holterkilen, Fornebu I finally got to grips with the Smew (lappfiskand) that has been there for two weeks. Often reported as an adult female, it looked to me very much like a bird of the year and checking the literature the brown (as opposed to black) lores confirm it as a juvenile/1^st winter.

Smew in the morning sunshine

Just off Fornebu we also had close views of this male Eider (ærfugl) (sexed due to the yellowy bill) which appears to be a leucistic individual – it is extremely pale.

leucistic male Eider

A quick walk around Storøya with Rune to try to relocate the Barred Warbler (hauksanger) gave us a probable in flight but nothing conclusive. In Storøykilen my first Water Rail (vannrikse) of the autumn was calling frequently and I even glimpsed it through the reeds.