Today was a day for finally getting to grips with two
species that I have stuggled with. The first, Two-barred Crossbill
(båndkorsnebb) has totally avoided me until today despite there being a flock
of 4 on the island, and the other was Olive-backed Pipit (sibirpiplerke) which
finally allowed itself to be pinned down, admired and photographed.
We awoke to an overnight frost, clear skies and just a light
north easterly wind. These conditions were clearly not conducive to new
arrivals and my morning walk around Nordland was only enlivened by very close
views of the resident Hawk Owl which unfortunately looked as though it is
poorly – probably due to lack of food. Warblers were in short supply with 2
Chiffchaff (gransanger), 1 Yellow-browed (gulbryn) and singles of Blackcap
(munk) and Garden Warbler (hagesanger).
Heading south did not result in an increase in bird numbers
but the lack of wind made viewing conditions good and allowed us to locate what
was there. I found a Red-breasted Flycatcher close to where we had the male 2
days ago. It was very skulky and we saw it briefly but I did see it well enough
to be sure it lacked a red throat and was therefore a new bird. When the others
found a red throated male in the same garden later in the day I had to work hard
to convince the others on the the two bird theory!
The plantation was nearly completely devoid of birds but
another Hawk Owl here was clearly trying to hunt birds although we didn’t see
it have any luck.
A call from Kjell led me to the church where I was able to
absorb myself in an adult male and three juvenile Two-barred Crossbills feeding
on rowan berries and spruce cones seemingly oblivious to our presence. They
were quite vocal, mostly with a call very similar to Common Crossbill but one
bird also gave the trumpet call.
Kjell had also had a pipit earlier in the day that he
couldn’t quite decide (due to bad views) whether it was Tree or Olive-backed. I
headed to the area which was an area of long grass with some bushes. I played
the call of Olive-backed and got an immediate response from within the grass. I
called the others and we then went into the area and the bird flew up into
nearby bushes. We were able to confirm it was an OBP but it was a poorly marked
specimen. It obviously favoured the area and every time we flushed it from the
long grass (where it was invisible) it would either fly just a short distance
and drop down again or every now and again fly up into bushed which eventually
allowed some decent pictures to be taken. I also glimpsed it walking in long
grass at the base of a tree where it looked almost like a rodent as it lifted
its long legs over clumps of grass.
Whilst looking for the pipit a Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin)
flew up from my feet nearly giving me a heart attack.
Singles of House Martin (taksvale) and Swallow (låvesvale)
were new in and enjoyed the warm weather. The day ended with a count of around
10 Yellow-browed Warblers (5 for me) which feels very few but would be a count
nearly any other place in Europe would be pleased with!
Due to me having taken far too many pictures and my hard
disk being full I haven’t had a real chance to look at all the pictures I took
today, so here is a selection and I may have to have another post later once
I’ve had a chance to go through everything properly.
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| Hawk Owl (haukugle) - the seemingly poorly bird in Nordland |
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| and the bird in the south which seemed to have much more energy |
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| adult male Two-barred Crossbill (båndkorsnebb) |
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| juvenile 2BC |
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| finally! Olive-backed Pipit (sibirpiplerke) |
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| here creeping in the grass |
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| 2BC |
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