A hybrid duck and more snipe

I still haven’t finished going through my videos of snipes but have at least sorted out of the pictures from the last few days. It has been very wet and grey but every now and again the rain stops and you can appreciate how autumnal it is with the trees showing some great colours. Bird wise there has been little to see other than the snipes with Common now increasing to 21 at Maridalen. Long-tailed Tits seem to be on the move with suddenly many flocks seeming to move westwards after I had not really noted any earlier in the autumn.

An incredible sight in Maridalen yesterday was a flock of at least 10,000 Bramblings that flew west over the lake in a dense flock that stretched over 2km!!!!

The Stonechat in Maridalen was last seen on Monday and on Tuesday a bird was seen at Østensjøvannet. The pictures of it are far too grainy to be sure but it could well be the same bird. I went looking for it yesterday but it seemed to have moved on again. Østensjøvannet is not particularly birdy this autumn (except for geese) but Smew and a male Pintail were nice and a probable hybrid female aythya duck was a headache.

Maridalen pictures from Monday:

Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) and its Common cousin (enkeltbekkasin)

Jacky boy

Long-tailed Tit (stjertmeis)

my last sighting of the Stonechat (svartstrupe)

small numbers of Teal (krikkand) are on Maridalsvannet

Tuesday:

spot the Jack Snipe. Instead of my usual photo taken with a mobile at a couple of metres range this is taken with the 600mm at around 50m range

there he is

Common Snipe

more Common Snipe

Wednesday:

Common Snipe with reflection

The one parent Whooper Swan (sangsvane) family seems to have lost one of the young

a very small part of the Brambling (bjørkefink) flock that was 2km long as it flew over!

Today:

what may well be my last Adder (hogorm) of the year

Brambling

one of Maridalen's House Sparrow (gråspurv) family with its far commoner cousin a Tree Sparrow (pilfink)

Pink-footed Geese (kortnebbgås) that have stopped in Maridalen for a feed

Østensjøvannet:

this male Pintail (stjertand) arrived a while ago when still in eclipse plumage but is now nearly in complete breeding plumage (and far earlier than any of other dabbling ducks there). It lacks a proper long tail though

male Wigeon (brunnakke) in different phases of plumage progression

a Cormorant (storskarv)

and a confiding Grey Heron (hegre)

the Smew (lappfiskand) is still present

As duck hybrids of not most peoples cup of tea I have kept it for last.

It is possibly a pure Tufted Duck (toppand) but I reacted initially to its head shape and reddish plumage. The eye colour also looks too red for a pure Tufted. I thought initially there might be Ferruginous Duck (hvitøyeand) in it but it lacks the obvious white arse of that species. I will do some more research but will be pleased to here if anyone has any thoughts.

this and the next picture from Wednesday

and this and the next from today

here it does have some white under the tail even though it is not visible on the swimming bird

and a Tufted Duck with its very yellow eye and this bird also shows a Ferruginous like white arse which is not that uncommon for the species so should definitely be present on a hybrid between the two