It is getting colder and colder and with snow
forecast soon I changed to winter tyres today and now feel ready for anything!
That does not mean I cannot be surprised though. Today, in Maridalen I visited
the field below the farm at Nes to see if there were still any Meadow Pipits
left (there has been a small flock hanging on here) and I did hear one which could
well be my last local bird this autumn as snow will undoubtedly push them off.
As I walked over the stubble field a bird flew up silently with white outer
tail feathers and whilst it was definitely a pipit it did not strike me as
being a Meadow. It landed in a nearby tree and when I got the binoculars on it
it did resemble a Meadow in general plumage but still did not feel like one. I
was able to walk quite close to the tree and see it well and it was looking
straight at me showing a fairly well marked face, warm breast and strong bill
and I briefly entertained the idea it could be a Olive-backed (surely the only
other option so late in the year?) but when I first saw it in the tree the rest
of the plumage was not right and as it moved around in the tree I saw that no
it definitely wasn’t an OBP but neither was it a Meadow.
So what was it?? A Tree Pipit obviously but
this is extremely late. There is only one other October record for Oslo (9 Oct)
and my latest Oslo record is 21 September. Nationally there are only 30 records
of Tree Pipit on or after 26 October of which only 3 are documented with a
photo and looking at the records many other should be considered as uncertain
(to put it politely).
I normally ID Tree Pipit based on the noise it makes
rather than its plumage. Most pipits call in flight, either when migrating over
or when scared up, and this nails the ID as the call is so much different from
the very similarly plumaged Meadow Pipit. I would normally say that an out of
season Tree Pipit would need to be heard and seen (seen to ensure it is not an
OBP which has a very similar call) but there is one structural feature that
nails a Tree Pipit vs. a Meadow Pipit and that is the hind claw which is much
shorter on Tree Pipit. This is not a feature I would never normally look at but
today I did and my pictures clearly show it. Plumage wise the very thin streaks
on the flanks are also a near certain character of Tree. Strange it never
called though.
The Great Grey Shrike showed well and the Razorbill
is still on the lake and was frequently diving for food so would seem to be thriving.
Earlier in the day I had visited Nordre Øyeren where
18 Taiga Bean Geese with Whooper Swans and Canada Geese was a good sighting and
a Bar-headed Goose was a year tick. I had three species of raptor: White-tailed
Eagle, Sparrowhawk and Goshawk which are the first BOPs I have seen for quite a
while. Usually in the autumn there are a few Rough-legged Buzzards to be seen migrating
south but not this year, at least for me.
 |
| my first view of silent pipit after it flew up into a tree. The face pattern immediately did not look right for Meadow |
 |
| here we see the short back claw and very thin stripes on the flanks which are diagnostic for Tree Pipit (trepiplerke) |
 |
| Great Grey Shrike (varsler) |
 |
| at least 10 (of 18) Taiga Bean Geese behind Canada Geese |
 |
| including one with a Greylag Goose like bill |
 |
| distant plastic |
 |
| female Bullfinch (dompap) |
 |
| and her mate |
No comments:
Post a Comment