I’ll
begin with a short post on the Bean Geese which I saw on their breeding grounds
on a detour into Sweden. I saw five birds which were clearly not breeding (or
perhaps were failed breeders). They included a tagged bird which was why is how
I managed to find them in a rather vast area. The birds were feeding in a vegetation
rich bay of a larger lake close to a road and houses but unfortunately spooked
as I stumbled upon them although I managed a few photos. I saw
the birds again in flight about an hour later when their calling gave them
away. The tagged bird I saw was tag 10 who I had also seen in Akershus in March
and seemed to be paired.
The
vast breeding area for this population quite conceivably extends over the
border into Norway and I could see Norwegian mountains at the same time as I
saw the geese but a far as I know there are no breeding season records from the
Norwegian side although the area is not very accessible and
little visited.
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| Tag 10 (right) with mate |
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| and here is Tag 10 on 18 March in Akershus |
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| 10's mate. When I stumbled upon the birds I just took as many pictures as I could as I sensed from the birds calling that they would soon fly. It was only when looking at the pictures that I saw that I had captured 10 |
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| I hadn't initially noticed that there were 3 birds much closer to me but they saw me and as you can see from this birds tongue started calling loudly |
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| bad shot of all 5 in flight. The neck collar of 10 (2nd from right) is visible |
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| this map shows where Tag 10 has been recorded over the 2 days before I saw him. The Star (1) shows exactly where I encountered him. I will show pictures of the other numbered sites below |
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| Site 1 - the bay where I saw them. 10 and mate were feeding to the left and the three others to the right |
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| the lake is clearly used by fishermen |
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| the area where the 3were feeding |
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| the marshy area to the left of #2 which has clearly been favoured. |
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| the view of site 3 from the forest road |
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| and a closer view of site 3. The tag data shows this small pool with much lush vegetation around the sides was frequently used despite being very close to a road and house |
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| Looking out towards #4 and the mountains in hte background are in Norway (Whooper Swans on the right) |
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| the five geese flying in front of #4. Tag 10 is on the left |
There was also pairs of Whooper Swan and Black-throated Diver on the same a lake although neither seemed to be breeding
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