Autumnal feeling in the Dale

Yesterday felt autumnal in Maridalen and it felt good 😊

Geese were on the stubble fields, a flock of Swallows was catching insects, finches and buntings were in flocks, thrushes are becoming more visible and there even some insect eaters. Migrant Bluethroat and Redstart were enough to make my day and Willow Warblers totalled 5 and Tree Pipits risked breaking into double figures!

The full list is here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S72828887

 

male Redstart (rødstjert)

same bird

Bluethroat (blåstrupe) getting some grief from a local Yellowhammer (gulspurv)

Willow Warbler (løvsanger) - 5 birds noted in total which is a pitiful amount for the end of August. It was also the only warbler species I saw

Yellowhammer (gulspurv) - an adult I believe

whereas this bird is clearly a youngster with some juvenile feathers still present

still lots of Nutcrackers around, the hazel nuts in its claws are the reason for their presence

the only gull I saw was this 3cy Lesser Black-backed Gull (sildemåke). It is unusual to see young birds (other than juveniles) in Norway

one of three Bramblings (bjørkefink). Another sure sign of autumn

the Greylag Geese (grågås) offered the chance for me to practice flight photography although taking pictures of large slow flying geese is a lot easier than small fast flying swifts (just thinking of when I find a Pallid later this year...)

there were 36 Canada Geese alongside the 200+ Greylags

the white on the head of this Greylag may just be leucism or could be the result of some farmyard geese genes