Curlew Sand in Oslo!

Intermittent rain showers yesterday evening and in the night, low cloud this morning and low tide at 0930 meant there was only one thing to do this morning - work on my hopeless, one-sided infatuation with the islands and my quest for Oslo waders.

I fell back into old habits and showed Fru. Gressholmen my affection first. But when will I let it sink in that she doesn’t have any feelings for me. There was a really good amount of mud showing and I actually let out a cry of yes when I saw it but what was on the mud? 4 Black-headed Gulls😂. I did see single Greenshank, Common Sandpiper and Oystercatcher whilst on the island but all were on the rocky shores which you find everywhere in the fjord whereas Gressholmen is supposed to be wader site #1 because of the muddy tidal bay…

Well would Fru. Galteskjær forgive my infidelity and show off her delights for some brief voyeurism? As the ferry sped past on the way to Nakkholmen I saw two small waders but both turned out to be Common Sandpipers. Had I burnt my bridges with her just when I seemed to be getting somewhere? The ferry continues to Lindøya and then gives another even briefer chance of voyeurism as it heads to Hovedøya. I scanned and scanned and a wader dropped in from the north, landed for a second and then flew west. Up with camera and shoot and pray. And what do you know my first ever Oslo Curlew Sandpiper and #oslo2024 species 194. A camera is vital for «birding» Galteskjær as the binocular views are so brief that it is necessary to review pictures to be sure of what you see (e.g Little Stint would have been impossible to ID without relatively decent pics). This appears to be only the 9th ever Curlew Sand reported in Oslo so is a true Oslo rarity.

I have previously said Fru. Galteskjær has given me two new species for Oslo (Little Stint and Turnstone) but I was forgetting she also gave me my first Shag and Great Skua in Oslo and Gressholmen my first Red-necked Grebe). Anyways, the Curlew Sand is the fifth that Galty has shown me (3 to Gressy) and my #Osloever species #252.

This is my 11th visit to the islands in the last month so I have put in the effort but today’s sighting shows just how important luck is.

Curlew Sandpiper (tundrasnipe). the pictures won't be winning any prizes but the wing bar and distinctive white rump are visible and rule out any other species. The bill also looks suitably long and perhaps downcurved

 

these picture are even worse but show the colours better and suit a juv Curlew Sandpiper

the view of exposed mud at Gressholmen that prompted me to exclaim "yes". To be followed a few minutes later by a depression when I could not find a single wader

the two Common Sandpipers on Galteskjær