OSLO BIRDER: Woodlark at Fornebu

Blue skies and no wind today made for perfect viewing conditions and I thought that a trip to Fornebu could be rewarded by some better pictures of the same old, same old. In fact, I managed to find some new birds and get some OK pictures. The Snow Buntings which have proved to be very popular were not to be found but in exactly the same place was a Wood Lark! Although this species breeds in Akershus it is very rarely seen away from the breeding grounds around Gardemoen airport and this was only my second sighting of the species at Fornebu. It showed well and called a few times and apart from 6 Starlings was the only passerine I saw in Nansenpark!

Two Siberian (tristis) Chiffchaffs were also new and showed well together. I located them on call and played call and song to them to try to get them to call again such that I could record it. This did not happen though but playing the song reacted in intense wing shivering from both birds which I managed to film (playing normal Chiffchaff song did not result in the same reaction). In very bright sunlight the birds appeared pale and the tobacco coloured ear coverts are not very obvious in my photos.

I only found Bearded Tits in Koksa where I first had four birds flying over and later had 5 birds feeding in the reedbed. These birds were quite noisy and showed well.

Water Rails are still present in both Storøykilen and Koksa and the Jack Snipe was also in his usual place. No overflying Pine Grosbeaks though, but they are coming…

Woodlark (trelerke) at Fornebu

Siberian (tristis) Chiffchaff - the only yellow is on the underwing coverts

I think that all the pictures above my be of the same bird but this picture is definitely different to the one directly above

I'm not sure which of the two birds this one was. In this picture the supercilium in front of the eye looks to be a bit yellowy which may not be a good feature for a classic tristis