Siberian Chiffchaff

I had a reversal of photographic fortunes at Fornebu today. The Bearded Tits (skjeggmeis) and Siberian (tristis) Chiffchaff were still present (although haven’t been reported for a while) but this time I finally managed good pictures of the warbler whilst the tits stayed a long way out in the reedbed.

The reedbed seemed very dead when I arrived but after playing the call of Bearded Tits I got some response but the birds stayed a long way out in the reedbed and didn’t seem that curious. They did become a bit active though and flew around a bit and it was clear that there were at least two pairs and probably three which preferred their own company and did not form a larger flock. They have now been here three weeks and have presumably settled in and our used to there being other Bearded Tits in the reedbed hence their lack of curiosity when I played the call. In the last hour I was there I heard or saw no sign of them at all although they had not left the reedbed. This explains why they are reported so infrequently. I can see in one of the photos that a male is ringed although cannot make out anymore than that but presumably originates from The Great Big Dump.

Whilst hoping the tits would show again a Chiffchaff flitted into view. It was silent but looked good for tristis. I played the call of tristis and got an immediate response whereby it flew very close to me, so close that I had problems taking photos. It called just twice and was an immediate match to the recording I had but it soon lost interest in the playback and disappeared into the reedbed. This bird has also been present for three weeks but is even more anonymous than the tits.

Siberian (tristis) Chiffchaff - finally it allowed itself to be photographed but at times was just too close

notice how the colour tones vary depending on the angle. Here there are far warmer browner tones than the first two pictures

in this picture the wing bar looks fairly obvious and the supercillium quite large and flared at the back and could cause one to think of somethinng even rarer

 

Add caption

pair of Bearded Tits (skjeggmeis)

female Bearded Tit blending in with her surroundings

here you can see that this male is ringed on his left leg