OSLO BIRDER: Bobbing Jack Snipe

After Monday’s snow I was excited to see what new birds had turned up yesterday. There was a thick layer of fog hanging over Maridalen that made viewing difficult, but it was clear that there were more birds around as I could hear and sometimes see lots of Redwings and Fieldfares in the air. A male Merlin was a real highlight and a species that I barely see annualy in Maridalen. A late Buzzard was also noteworthy as was a single Twite. There were quite a few Yellowhammers on the fields and I kept thinking I heard the “tick” of a Little Bunting but it always turned out to be a Yellowhammer. This autumn must represent the best chance of finding a Little Bunting as there have been lots of records in the country.

Moving to Fornebu the light was much better and I had intended to work the whole site. In the end I got no further than Storøykilen where I flushed a Jack Snipe and saw where it landed on the edge of a reedbed. I then spent an hour watching it in the scope. It did not do as much as I had hoped but every now again started bobbing. This is only the second time that I have observed this behaviour (and I was a teenaner the last time) and it bizarre and without any apparent purpose. It is unusual to see a Jack Snipe that is not frozen or in flight and I had really hoped to see it feeding and doing a but more than I witnessed but it was still a very exciting hour I spent with it and I managed some grainy, shaky video at full digital zoom.

Also here were two Siberian tristis Chiffchaffs that showed very well.

Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) - it was much easier to see in the scope, I promise

a male Merlin (dvergfalk) in Maridalen

and a late Buzzard (musvåk)

Twite (bergirisk) are scarce autumn visitors in Maridalen

a shoal of fish had attracted a flock of hungry gulls at Fornebu

and 5 Razorbills (alke) joined them, I saw in total 25 Razorbills on the sea which is a very high count and surprisingly there were no Guillemots to see