Well, I can no longer complain about the weather being too
nice as it is raining and blowing and if, maybe if, I were to venture outside
there could be a whole tree of wing bars waiting for me.
I escaped Oslo’s weather on Tuesday and Wednesday with an
impromptu visit to Tromsø to give Jr some much needed TLC. I arrived to 15cm of
fresh snow and blue skies. There is only one month left of sunshine before the
sun doesn’t rise for two whole months and even now the sun was always low in
the sky. There are still lots of rowan berries in Tromsø which is in stark
contrast to Oslo where a very poor crop was stripped from the trees by thrushes
weeks ago. There were few birds in Tromsø though. I had a good walk when Jr was
at lectures and 60 odd Waxwings was the absolute highlight and also the
commonest passerine (just 30 or so Fieldfares). On the fjord there were flocks
of Eider that were too distant for me to grill and also Long-tailed Ducks. I was
surprised to find a Curlew but otherwise the muddy bay where I had spent much
time in September was a bird free zone.
a Waxwing (sidensvans) in Tromsø
A trip to Fornebu yesterday did reveal some new and slightly
exciting birds. A Wheatear at the same spot as the Turtle Dove had been had, of
course, to be looked at properly but was just of the common variety. It is
truly late record though. A tern then caused me quite a headache. A tern close
to Oslo at the end of October has to be an Arctic but with my tern
problems from September still troubling me and the knowledge that a Common Tern
was seen (and photographed) in the same spot less than 2 weeks ago I was
determined to make sure I got the ID of this one right. In flight from a distance
it did indeed look like an Arctic but I managed to get so close to the bird
that I think I lost the bigger picture. I spent a long time with it perched
just metres from me and also fishing close by (it was snatching small fish from
the water surface) and ended up concluding that it was a 1st winter Common
Tern although the lack of a clear dark bar on the secondaries was at odds with
this but I explained that to myself by it being an advanced bird that had
somehow moulted these to adult feathers already (something that they don’t do).
Later on someone else reported the bird as an Arctic and I quickly replied that
I reckoned it was a Common…. This quickly prompted me to look at my pictures on
the PC (instead of on the back of the camera) and I couldn’t help but agree that
it must be an Arctic although I still find it to be a far from classic bird but
I think that may be because I am not used to seeing them so close at this time
of the year. The more distant flight photos are much easier to ID from.
The hope of a wing bar or two survives with a visit to Værøy
next week now on the cards. This late in the autumn there may well be no
Yellow-browed Warblers but hopefully far greater rarities from even further east.
Or most likely absolutely sweet FA.
a late Wheatear (steinskvett)
it my have been difficult for me to ID this young Arctic Tern (rødnebbterne) but it was not difficult to get close to it
if I had just had this picture from when I first saw it distantly then I think I would have never thought twice about it being a 1cy Arctic
getting a bit closer it is still fairly straightforward
with one of a number of fish it snatched from the waters surface
it was pictures like this that confused me as I expected the secondaries to be pure white but the secondaries are actually mostly hidden under the greater coverts
I also got confused by that I thought were too long legs and too much red on the bill
no real doubt what it is from this picture either
Jack Snipe are still around and the "hunt" for them remains exciting even if I use the thermal
spot Jack?
using the flash on a dull autumn day brings our far more colours
In Maridalen there are now 11 Whooper Swans with the lone subadult now seemingly having attracted a mate and today a lone Pink-footed Goose had joined them
Whooper Swans (sangsvane) the family of 4 which I am sure are the valleys long term birds
2 of the same birds
the additional 7 birds a family of 5 and the two birds below
the bird on the right which is not fully adult turned up first alone and has now been joined by this other bird
a Pink-footed Goose (kortnebbgås). There has been a widespread influx of out of course Taiga Bean Geese in Norway and beyond (including to Ireland for the first time in over a decade) so when I first saw there was a goose with the swans I really hoped that is what it would be
the field that the swans use has also been very popular with Jays (nøtteskrike) with up to 20 feeding there
I have been drawn back to Nordre Øyeren daily now in
the hope of uncovering something rare. The numbers of geese are just enormous
and you can see them either feeding on stubble fields or resting on the water
at Svellet. There are at least 2000 each of Barnacles and Greylags but probably
a lot more as well as 400 Canadas. Finding something scarcer amongst all these
has proved tough going but I have now found a single White-fronted Goose,
single Bar-headed, single Pink-footed and 3 Greylag x Canada hybrids. I have
only found one bird with with a collar - a Greylag ringed in Germany in 2021
and since either close to Oslo or in Germany.
I have spent too long looking at the Canadas and have got a
headache at the amount on variability amongst them with some birds definitely
looking «wilder» than others but all probably within the variation of size and
plumage of a feral population that probably has little genetic diversity.
White-fronted Goose (tundragås)
Bar-headed Goose (stripegås)
neck collared Greylag (grågås) D780 and its history below
this Canada looked very interesting from afar
but closer up I wasn't s sure
and this one while not being so dark also looked quite different
enormous numbers
Water levels have risen a lot due to heavy rain and there is
no longer mud in Svellet so waders and dabbling ducks have vanished but there
are now 4 Little Gulls and also 4 «commic» Terns (I remember as a child hearing
the term Commic Tern and not being able to find it in my bird book. It caused
me lots of confusion for a long time until I finally plucked up the courage to
ask an older birder what it was and found out it was from COMMon and ArctIC and
referred to unidentified birds of the species pair. I also remember very soon
after calling out “Commic Tern” and it being a white dove….). I initially
thought there were 2 Common and 2 Arctic but with better views have now come to
the conclusion that there are at least 3 Common and the fourth bird is also
most likely a Common. It has been quite a learning experience where I relied
too much on jizz and behaviour to start with.
a commic tern and 2 Little Gulls (dvergmåke)
3 f the 4 Little Gulls. All were 1cy
this 1cy tern with grey secondaries must be a Common (makrellterne)
I have had 10 species of raptor which is a good showing and
my first Great Grey Shrike of the autumn.
my first Great Gre Shrike (varlser) of the autumn which I saw eating a mouse
a very distant, but very smart, male Hen Harrier (myrhauk)
Peregrine (vandrefalk) and a pale Common Buzzard (musvåk)
this immature White-tailed Eagle (havørn) flew over Svellet
and a bit later I found it on a field that had previously been covered in geese with just a few crows for company
Merlin (dvergalk)
I have also had a couple of attempts to locate the Taiga
Beans but have failed. I assume they are still around as it would be record
early if they have already left and I remember that in previous years the GPS
tagged bird(s) have shown they have often used one particular field that is
very well hidden and that I have never tried to get to as I am certain it will
just result in flushing the birds – they may well be using it again.
I have only had a couple of quick visits to Maridalen but a
perched and then hunting White-tailed Eagle was a very good sighting.
the Crane (trane) family is still feeding in Maridalen
it is very unusual to find a perched White-tailed Eagle in the Dale
