A new routine

Funny how quiet some days can be without you managing to put your finger on why. Today was windless, sunny and warm and I thought there would some raptor activity and other viz mig. Needless to say none of that going on. I spent quite a long time at Udenes looking over the Glomma River and there was hardly a bird to see. No swans and next to no ducks. Has the White-tailed Eagle I saw on Tuesday scared everything away? I did hear a distant Crane which is one of the very first birds in Norway this year but I would have much preferred to see it.
The Beans were present and their numbers have significantly increased. Counting them in an undulating field was very difficult and I came up with a minimum of 134. Reading rings was difficult but I had three new birds.

A short stop in Maridalen on my way home turned up 3 singing Skylarks despite there hardly being any bare ground, a flyover Grey Wagtail and the Great Grey Shrike still going strong.

After leaving the river the geese split into 2 groups. This flock of 58 on the snow was easy to see and I read a number of rings all of which are shown below

The black ring on left leg shows this to be 07 whose GPS transmitter has stopped working. The solar panel is visible here

6S which I saw for the first time this year and was one of the original birds I saw here in March 2012

6Y with a ringed but non-collared bird. The birds seemed to be paired and is likely to be 3X whose collar has dropped off

6Y again and 6U

6Z and 6X who are a pair and blue right (06) with an old GPS transmitter

6Z and 6X again plus yellow left (04) and blue right (06) again

3Y

7V whose is paired to 3Y

the rest of the flock was feeding at greater range in this adjoining field where they could disappear in deep depresions

here looking over to Udenes Church which is the viewpoint for watching the geese on the Glomma Rive which you can see below and to the left of the church. The geese are feeding in fields behind me meaning they have a short journey between roost/loafing site and feeding site

This was my only raptor of the day, a perched Common Buzzard (musvåk)

Maridalen's Great Grey Shrike (varsler)

 

Maridalen's first Skylark (sanglerke) of the year was singing from this perch

can you make out Grey Wagtail (vintererle) and Skylark?

the fields at Kirkeby, Maridalen where the Skylarks were. Note the ski tracks still visible in the snow