MUCH too nice weather

 Sunshine, 14C and no wind is fantastic weather for the middle of October but is much too nice for birding. All birds that were here seem to have migrated south and hardly anything new has taken their place with the exception of my first Waxwings of the autumn today which flew south over me in Maridalen.

My hopes of finding a wing bar or two are fading big time and today I couldn’t even find a Chiffchaff.

A confiding Three-toed Woodpecker livened up a mushroom picking trip on Sunday when we also found lots of funnel chanterelle (traktkanterell) so both me and Mrs OB were happy with the walk in the woods. Fornebu has only has a Jack Snipe to liven things up and in Maridalen the presence of two Whooper Swan families and an additional adult (or more likely a 2^nd winter) is the only, and rather underwhelming, highlight.

Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin)

Whooper Swans (sangsvane) in Maridalen. On the left is the family of 4 which must be the local breeding birds and on the right is a family of 5 with an additional older bird. This is the closest I have seen the two groups and I assume that the breeding pair have been their usual aggressive, territorial selves

the family of 4

and the alert adult on the left which must be the male

the family of 5 with the additional bird at the front

the additional bird is not pure white and I don't think this is muck (although the bill looks to have mud on it) but rather a sign of immaturity. No young were raised last year in the Dale so if it a 2cy then it is from elsewhere but if it is a 3cy then it could be from the Dale as 3 young fledged