Tristis

I made way down to Fornebu once the rush hour toll fee had stopped ;-) and almost the first bird I heard in Storøykilen was Bearded Tit. The birds were making a lot of noise and sitting high in the reeds. Very soon after I got my eye on them 8 birds erupted up into the sky and flew around for a minute or so before plunging down again. At least one bird was still calling in the reedbed at this time. After a while I decided to head to Koksa to see if there were any birds in Koksa. Whilst walking there I heard Beardies flying high above me and failed to find any in Koksa or later in Storøykilen so it looks like they used the good weather to leave but it would not surprise me if the same or other birds turn up again later as there are not many reedbeds to choose between around Oslo.

From the reeds in Koksa I heard the special sound of a tristis (Siberian) Chiffchaff and got to see the bird subsequently quite well. It had a quite pronounced wing bar which made it a quite distinctive bird. This is now the third tristis I have seen in Oslo and Akershus compared to just a single Yellow-browed Warbler which is a ratio that in no way reflects the national observations of both species where Yellow-browed is a far commoner bird. I also heard (but didn’t see) a Chiffchaff calling with sweeoo call which has been reported a lot in Norway this autumn and can really get you excited for a short while.

I played the calls and songs of “normal” and Sibe Chiffchaff to the Sibe Chaff and only got a response when playing the song of Sibe which can be observed on the video. It responded by wing shivering and by making a quiet sound which reminded me of the sound you sometimes hear at the beginning of a normal Chiffchaffs song. Otherwise though it did not respond vocally to sound provocation.

Tristis (Siberian ) Chiffchaff in neutral light

here with sunligh behind the bird 

8 Bearded Tits (3 males & 5 females) shortly before erupting

this male remained in the reeds but was very vocal