Black-throated Divers

The fjord where the scoters were is also a good place for divers. Up to 20 each of Black-throated (including a couple of 1st summer birds) and Red-throated Divers plus a single 1st summer Great Northern Diver could be seen most visits.
Many of the Red-throated Divers were flying in to feed from breeding sites in the mountains but I think that the majority of Black-throated were non- or failed breeders.

One morning I had a group of Black-throated Divers feeding very close to the shore and they were so confiding that I was able to get down to the waters edge and lie down to take pictures. It was overcast so the light wasn't the best but here are the best pictures I took with a variety of exposure settings.

Little Egret

Little Egret (silkehegre)  Fornebu

A sure sign that the summer holidays are good is that I have been offline and not updated the blog. I have lots of photos and video from the cabin to go through and which will end up on the blog one day but now we are back in the south again. A day at home before further travels allowed me to see a Little Egret at Fornebu. This was an Akershus tick for me and I felt lucky to get this one because whilst I have been away there have been four Akershus ticks on offer and all of them national rarities. July is normally considered a very quiet month but not this year with Terek Sandpiper, Caspian Tern, White Stork and the Egret all being available and widely twitched by those still in town.

Little Egret is still a rare bird in Norway despite its abundance now in the UK although this year has seen a number of records and it may soon become a regular species here. This is my second Norwegian record after I bumped into one near Bergen in 1998 whilst visiting the prospective Mrs OsloBirder who was studying there whilst I was still working in London.

Hedmark Installment X - Three-toed Woodpecker

I've got lots of photos to go through of cabin birds and too little time so here is the last of my prepared earlier posts....

Three-toed Woodpeckers are birds that in my experience rarely reward you for hard work but instead just turn up in your face when you are least expecting this. And this was exactly the case with this female which started drumming beside me whilst I was carrying out a bird survey and then proceeded to show off at ridiculously close range.

Three toes (only) are clearly visible

Surf & Turf

This morning with little wind and good light I finally got a Surf Scoter within some sort of photo range and also had both Surfy and Knobby within the same long sweep of the scope. It seems that Knobby is further out for every day that passes (as was also the case last year) but there is a small group of Velvets that feeds close to the shore and I have a hope that one morning I will find Knobby or Surfy with this group.

At the cabin I have had Waxwings on three occasions with a group of three birds today looking like a family party. This is the third summer I’ve had Waxwings here so I suspect they breed in the area regularly. We’e also had a pair of White-tailed Eagles making a lot of noise, a regular pair of Red-throated Divers and a porpoise. Cabin life is good!

 



Surf Scoter (brilleand) at long range

this was taken with 260x digital zoom on the super zoom (other pictures taken with bazooka)

from yesterday with Stejneger's Scoter and Great Northern Diver in same shot

the close Velvets that I hope one of the rare scoters will join up with. In the is shot is a female, 2 young males and the rest are older males



an Otter from today

More snaps

My pre breakfast birding this morning turned up knobby again and a 1^st summer Great Northern Diver but nothing else too interesting.

Here is installment two of pictures from the road trip.

 

A male Red-necked Phalarope who probably had young somewhere as he was quite agitated

not difficult to see what Red-necked Phals eat

 

Sibe Jay – this species is surprisingly scare (or under reported) in Nordland County and these were the fourth observation reported in 2016

 

Waxwing which seem to breeding in higher than normal numbers in Southern Central Norway this year

 

Willow Tit – as usual my attempts to find Siberian Tit resulted in only Willow Tits

Some holiday snaps

With the rest of the family having to be woken up at 10:45 this morning I was able to fit in both birding and photo editing.

The birding front was rather spoilt by overcast skies and a fresh breeze which made searching the fjord rather difficult. A male King Eider in eclipse plumage was the highlight with the vast majority of Velvet Scoters too far out for them to be grilled and therefore no sightings of any of the rare scoters.

Here are a couple of pictures and a video of the Stejneger’s White-winged Scoter from yesterday

 

 

And here is a first instalment of photos from the drive up.

The Capers

 

A juv Willow Grouse

 

A Common Sandpiper

 

A Cuckoo

 

An adult Golden Eagle

A White-tailed Eagle

 

A mountain and a Long-tailed Skua