Hedmark 216 - Installment V

I’ll be off to Hedmark again before I am finished with the posts from my trip last week. Here are the final pictures and now it is only videos to go.

This post features amongst others Siberian Jay, Three-toed Woodpecker, Parrot Crossbill, Slavonian Grebe, Waxwing, Cuckoo and Willow Tit (which was seen in an as usual fruitless search for Siberian Tit).''

Siberian Jay - often a bird that just appears at close range and then disappears after a few minutes

Siberian Jay (lavskrike)

Three-toed Woodpecker - again a bird you just stumble upon and have a magic few minutes with

Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett)

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only 3 toes



the lack of yellow on the crown shows this to be a female - she was drumming so may not have been breeding

 Waxwing - a very rare breeder as far south as Hedmark

Waxwing (sidensvans) - can you spot the second bird?

Cuckoo (gjøk) with a caterpillar in its bill. I thought there were fewer this year than normal

compariative shots of the Cuckoo taken from the car with the two cameras. Below are uncropped and the heads are cropped showing that although the superzoom produces a larger that the crop of the heads is better quality from the bazooka

A Great Grey Shrike (varsler) on its breeding grounds

many Parrot Crossbills (furukorsnebb) in area of commercial pine forest

pair of Red-breasted Mergansers (siland) a duck that breeds both on the coast and on lakes far inland and often at fairly high altitudes. The male of this species, as seen here, goes into eclipse plumage at a very early stage so pairs must form early i the spring

Redstart (rødstjert) -  a poor picture of a species one foten hears singing in the forests in Hedmark especially where there is a pine

these domestic Reindeer were an unexpected site in the forests of Femund

Slavonian Grebes (horndykker) are fairly widespread breeders in Hedmark

this is where Siberian Tits have been reported as recently as 2013 and the habitat looks good but all I found, as usual, was....

Willow Tit (granmeis)

The mighty Femundsjøen - this area holds lots of good birds and animals but is very, very large!

new information boards and a shelter at Fulufjellet National Park which straddles both sides of the border with Sweden