Bewick's Swans and friends

There is more to birding than owls and at the moment we have migration to enjoy. Passerine migration is still going slowly and snow and -4C today is the reason for that - April can still offer up proper winter weather and millions of years of evolution has engrained that knowledge in species of birds that eat insects or need bare ground to feed on. My only new Oslo species, #116, since my last post was a passerine though with a Ring Ouzel on April 1^st. This was an early record on a warm day and since then I have seen few thrushes of any ilk.

Wildfowl are well on the move though and a traditional early April trip into Aurskog-Høland and Indre Østfold via the Glomma yesterday did not disappoint. There was lots of flood water in the valleys and very large flocks of geese (mostly Pink-footed), Whooper Swans and Cranes. It is still too early for large numbers of dabbling ducks although Teal are starting to arrive in small flocks. It also appears to be too early for raptor passage and the hoped for Red Kite or at least a Harrier sp. did not reveal itself.

There were a number of goodies though, the majority of which I knew would be there. In addition to seeing the 2cy Bewick’s Swan I found before Easter, there was also an adult pair to see (one of which is ringed, see below). I had White-fronted Geese at three locations, Taiga Bean Geese at two and a Great White Egret.

Kallaskjøen was covered in birds (and still a bit of ice)

Bewick's Swan (dvergsvane) ringed bird (752). Ringed as a juvenile female 13.8.2008 in Russia

there have been few reports since then and the last was in Denmark in December 2015 before she turned up in Norway 2 weeks ago

here mate to the left has a noticeably different bill pattern

their behaviour suggested a pair with what I interpreted as display (see video) but the ringed female (right) looks to be larger than the presumed male which doesn't make sense

flood waters and hundreds of swans and geese at Haneborg (not far from Kjelle)

the 2cy Bewick's was about the closest bird which made finding it easy

Great (White) Egret (egretthegre) have become regular in the autumn but are still rare in the spring although it cannot be many years until they breed

Hellesjøvannet where this one was would surely make a good breeding locality

my first Ring Ouzel (ringtrost) of the year in Maridalen

this worm eventually proved to be too much

although it gave it a good go

I came across a flock of 22 Taiga Beans Geese at one of their traditional feeds and seeing them in good light at quite close range they are a bewildering bunch and there are many single birds that look they are Tundra..

the right bird has a Tundra look to it

this bird had a metal ring and has therefore mostly likely previously had a collar which has now fallen off. The distinctive bill pattern may allow its identity to be determined. I believe this is 6X after going through all my old posts especially this one https://oslobirder.blogspot.com/2019/03/a-bit-more-like-it.html where there is a picture of the same bird with 6Z and here where there is a picture of 6Z and 6X https://oslobirder.blogspot.com/2016/03/a-new-routine.html. 6X is a bird I saw first in 2013!

this 2cy White-fronted Goose (tundragås) was associating with the Taigas

this large flock of wildfowl was on a field that I have never checked out before. They were not easy to grill but..

there were some White-fronted Geese amongst the hordes of Pink-feet

Cranes (trane) were very obvious yesterday with the largest flock being over 100 birds

nocturnal trips in Maridalen have revealed many Woodcocks (rugde). I saw this pair displaying in the thermal imager but they became shyer once illuminated

this fox was very confiding early on Easter Monday morning

this adult male Goshawk (hønsehauk) was initially seen chasing a Sparrowhawk that was in turn chasing a Chaffinch. Look how red its iris is

Lapwings (vipe) are so call that any chance to photograph them needs to be taken