Bearded Tits and the tristis that didn't show

Bearded Tits (skjeggmeis) have been turning up in Vestfold and Østfold in the last week so I was planning to see if any had turned up in the reedbeds at Fornebu where they used to be a regular feature of the late autumn but have been absent since the winter of 2008/09. Unfortunately I was beaten to it as one brave individual went out in yesterdays bad weather and found six! Today there was an improvement in the weather so I headed off hoping to secure some good photos of what must be one of Europe’s smartest birds. As I walked towards the reedbed at around 0935 I suddenly heard a lot of plinging. The birds were on the move. I managed to see at least three birds heading north east but also heard some plinging from another direction although I couldn’t locate the source. I hoped the other plingers would be in the reedbed but I couldn’t locate them. A Chiffchaff (gransanger) here was very brown and grey and lacking green tones but it’s call was of the “sweeo” variety suggesting an easterly origin rather that a Siberian (tristis).

Over at Storøykilen I had three Rooks flying over SW at some height – presumeably migrant birds from one of the few breeding locations further north in Norway. In Storøykilen I heard another easterly Chiffchaff and also what must have been a Siberian Chiffchaff (ssp. Tristis) although as I didn’t see the bird I cannot claim it as a definite record. The call matches all the recordings I have found and had a Water Rail quality about it (if you know what I mean!)

Otherwise few birds to see at Fornebu. I went to Bygdøy to see if the Bearded Tits had flown there but couldn’t find them in the small reedbed at Hengsenga.

A quick tour around Maridalen revealed a lake completely devoid of birds other than 2 Cormorant (storskarv). A pleasant surprise though was a family party of 2 adult and 4 juvenile Whooper Swans (sangsvane) feeding in a field by Sørbråten farm. This is most likely the remains of the pair with 6 young which bred on Dausjøen in May but managed to disappear shortly after birth. Presumably they have been using the undisturbed river north of Dausjøen.

One of 2 adults and the four remaining young from the Maridalen Whooper Swan pair