A deluge

Yesterday’s rain in the air turned into a full blown deluge overnight with reports of flooding from much of South-Eastern Norway. The rain continued this morning and when I eventually ventured out I chose the hide at Østensjøvannet. It may suck as a birding hide but it does at least have a roof! I thought there may be lots of hirundines to see but had just 5 Swallows – it looks like the vast majority of hirundines and Swifts have left in the last week. One good bird was a female Shoveler which showed well from the hide. I also counted a massive 390 Coots (sothøne) which would appear to be a Norwegian record. As these were only birds I could see from the hide and there are normally quite a few by the bridge in the south then must have been well over 400 on the lake today.

In the rain I saw a surprising number of passerines with the football pitches by the lake holding 21 Yellow Wagtails, 15 White Wagtails and 3 Whinchats.

I drove around Maridalen but didn't bother getting out of the car as rising flooding on the road from a usually small stream made concerned that I wouldn't get home if I stayed too long...

 

Shoveler - the dark eye shows it to be a female and I assume it to be a 1cy bird without knowing exactly how to prove it..

one really appreciates the bill when viewing it head-on

the Shoveler with Coots (sothøne), Mute Swans (knoppsvane), Wigeon (brunnakke) and Mallards (stokkand)

Three Wigeon and a 2cy Mute Swan

 

With few pictures from today I can offer a couple of my, as usual, exceptional quality videos. Taken yesterday the first shows a selection of the raptors I saw and the second the Red-throated Pipit but be warned you may feel dizzy from the experience.