Citrine Wagtail twitch

Before I recount the very successful and enjoyable weekend in Valdres I have a dirty little twitch to confess to. Whilst we were away Anders found a Citrine Wagtail at Årnestangen and with it still being present yesterday I had to go for it today. This would be an Akershus County tick for me and there have only been two previous records in Akershus plus one in Oslo, all being spring males.

As I arrived at the field where it was reported yesterday I immediately heard a simple wagtail song that very much resembled the song of thunbergi Yellow Wagtail but was perhaps a tad more zingy. It took a long time to locate the bird but I eventually found him (because a singing wagtail has to be a male?) on the ground in the middle of a field that had only recently been ploughed and sown (and in the process taken out at least one Lapwing nest). Only problem was that the plumage was very female like and in fact the only plumage element suggesting male (to me) were the black(ish) “shoulders”. My reading of the literature is that even a 1st summer male Citrine Wagtail should have a more developed plumage although I think the only explanation for this birds plumage is that it is a 1st summer male.

It spent nearly all of its time on the ground in the middle of the field and one reason may have been that a male thunbergi Yellow Wagtail was singing from bushes on the edge of the field. At one point though it did fly up into the same bushes and I had both birds singing close to each other (and close to me). The songs were very similar and I duly decided to record them although I have since discovered that in familiar style I failed to press the record button….

Also, my pictures have not come out as well as I thought they would. Despite the views through the scope being good my pictures have suffered from distance and heat haze. The song was so similar to the local Yellow Wags that I wonder whether I would have reacted had I not known there was a Citrine there and it did also not give its contact call either when I was there. On my last few visits to Årnestangen I have walked past singing “Yellow” Wagtails without spending any time trying to see them and now wonder whether it could have been there a while as beginning of June is a bit of a late date for one to turn up.

Citrine Wagtail (sitronerle). It sang so must be a male but plumage is strange

here I got very close to it when it sang from a bush but I was always below and in front so my pictures do not show any of the "interesting" bits

the male thunbergi (Grey-headed) Yellow Wagtail that sang nearby. This bird has a slight white supercilium perhaps suggesting some other subspecific genes in its heritage

Lista Bird Fair

My first trip to Lista was a very enjoyable affair. The company of like minded souls, good weather and some good birds all contributed to a great weekend although 2 x 7 hours driving in a car packed with 5 males and lots of baggage would ideally not have been part of the experience ;-)

The Bird Fair consisted of a 9 hour bird race and then a social gathering with a talk about feathers on owls (don’t ask) and then a competition which would result in the rather ambitious title of Norwegian Birding Champion being awarded. The team I was a member of (in the illustrious company of Andreas Gullberg, Rune Zakariassen and Knut Eie) recorded 112 species which put us in joint second place which given our lack of local knowledge was a very satisfactory result. The members of the best four (?) teams were then allowed to compete in the competition which started with 20 mystery bird photos which were just shown for a few seconds and could consist of more than one species. I came joint first in this part of the competition which then went to a counting competition where four of us were briefly shown five photos and had to estimate how many birds there were. I started very badly when I estimated 100 birds from a photo that had 50 and where everyone else was in the 30-50 range but came back strongly and ended up joint first after the second phase. Two of us then went into sudden death. We both got the first two photos right before getting the next three wrong (and both giving the same wrong suggestion) before I didn’t have a clue on the 6^th picture (wasn’t even completely convinced it was a duck…) but my 18 year old opponent, Benjamin Grimsby, deservedly saw it for what it was (a Long-tailed Duck) and I had to settle for being the second best birder in Norway….

What birds did we see though? On the way down we twitched a Little Egret and then on the day we had White-billed Diver, male Two-barred Crossbill and Citrine Wagtail (although this was after the race had finished). Lista is definitely a great birding locality although it was a bit strange to see how excited the locals were with Black Woodpecker and Nutcracker which I am used to seeing in Maridalen. Both these species turn up rarely at Lista where they often try to migrate out to see but end up turning around (as they did when we were there). British birders will undoubtedly wish that they didn’t turn around and it could well be via Lista that the very few British records of Nutcracker have originated from Lista and although Black Woodpecker hasn’t made it to the UK maybe one day…

The lighthouse at Lista. The bird observatory uses the lighthouse buildings and rings in the lighthouse garden

The two black spots are Black Woodpeckers that thought better of flying out to see but did stop in a bush and on a pylon

juv Citrine Wagtail (sitronerle)

this young Great Spotted Woodpecker also looked like it was heading out to see before stopping in the last tree

male Two-barred Crossbill (båndkorsnebb)

 

this bird was particularly large billed but frequently gave the distinctive trupet call

Little Egret (silkehegre) at dusk

Cycling my way to glory, of sorts

At noon I really felt that things were going Pete Tong and I was contemplating chucking in the towel. The winds today were from WNW and occasionally gusted at around 15m/s. This combined with frequent showers made birding unpleasant and initially unproductive. My pre-breakfast check of Nordland gave zero warblers, zero Goldcrests and just 2 Coal Tits of any interest although these were present yesterday. So the change in the weather hadn’t resulted in new birds but had allowed birds to move on from Værøy.

With John having gone home I was reliant on a bike to get around the island. It worked out very well and to be honest birding by bike here is much better than a combination of car and walking. It is less tiring, allows you to cover a lot of ground and you get to check out some areas (not necessarily productive ones) that you would have just driven past before.

The cycle from Nordland to the first gardens in Sørland took 20 minutes and I then headed directly to the Plantation as I reckoned this would be the most sheltered area of the island and have the biggest concentration of birds. A number of Coal Tits had congregated there with a minimum of 15 but other birds were present in very small numbers. I detected only 8 Goldcrests, 5 Chiffchaffs and 2 Yellow-browed Warblers so yet more sign of birds having cleared out but nothing new having arrived. As the morning wore on I had a little uplifting moment when one of the Yellow-browed’s call penetrated the drizzle and reminded me how lucky I was to be watching this great species so the day couldn’t be that bad really…. About this time small mixed flocks of thrushes appeared and were flying around calling and giving the impression of being very disorientated but also raising the hope that some birds may be arriving during the day.

As I cycled around the gardens I had another couple of groups of vocal Coal Tits but no more warblers of any kind and I didn’t see Hawk Owl or Great Grey Shrike. The two young male Ruffs were still present in their favoured garden but yesterday’s female has moved on. It was now noon and I was thinking that the only possibility to salvage something from the day was to cycle back to Nordland and try some seawatching. But wait a minute what was that call? It’s a Citrine Wagtail! And there it was above me not that I could see much more than it was a wagtail but shorter tailed than a White. It looked like it went down amongst some rocks but just then a squall came through and I could not find it again despite waiting and searching for a good half an hour. Reckoning that it would not be leaving the island in this weather I went about searching freshly cut lawns and any pools I could find to see if I could refind it. This did not result in anything other than a few White Wagtails and I then widened my search and checked out one of the areas of fish drying racks which normally holds good numbers of seedeaters. There was a very large flock of House Sparrows feeding here and amongst them yet another Værøy first: a Tree Sparrow. The fourth Værøy first of the trip (or at least according to Artsobservasjoner) but none of them has exactly been exciting..

Also here a few Redpolls and amongst them were two very smart Arctic Redpolls plus a number of birds that could well have been Arctics but who knows and given that the science is now telling us that all the redpolls are just one species which develops different plumage characters depending on where it lives then it would make sense that there are lots of intermediate looking birds.

I made the most of these Arctics because DNA aside they are really smart birds and one was when it flew a proverbial flying snowball. After these I was ready for another search for the wagtail. I had a hope that the Ruff garden would be a good place and would you believe it but 2 hours and 10 minutes after my initial encounter there was a smart Citrine Wagtail sitting by the road. Unfortunately it was not like last years bird and was quite flighty but did call loudly every time it flew. It soon flew a few hundred metres to the north and then a minute later I heard a Citrine to the south of me. I was wondering how it had managed to relocate without me noticing when the one from north flew towards me calling and then there were 2 Citrine Wagtails flying together. I saw roughly where they landed and cycled as quickly as I could in that direction only to inadvertently flush them from beside the road. They then flew to a large recently mown lawn where I watched them at distance in drizzle. Two Citrine Wagtails together – what a way to salvage the day!! The birds were quite different although both were 1cy. One had much more grey on the flanks and had a less distinct white border to the ear coverts but never-the-less was a Citrine. I didn’t manage to get too close to them so the pictures are just of the documentation variety but maybe tomorrow I’ll have another chance.

At 1530 I really was finished and headed for the north with the plan to have a long warm shower and then man up for a bit of seawatching. I put my plan into action and at 1640 was sat with the scope looking out North West over the sea. Gannets and Kittiwakes were flying around but nothing more interesting until at 1700 I had a Norwegian tick – a Sooty Shearwater (grålire) headed south and gave a great display of shearing with high bounding arc on stiff wings which I was able to follow for a couple of minutes. 15 minutes after this a bank of cloud and rain came in and I cycled as fast as I could back to the hotel. And that was my birding day – 11 hours birding, 1 Norwegian tick, a Værøy X and a couple of Citrine Wags – got to be happy with that!

the first Citrine Wagtail (sitronerle)

same bird

same bird

the two Citrine Wagtail gether. The bird on the right is the same as the bird above whereas the bird on the left has much duskier flanks and a less obvious white frame/border to the ear coverts

bird one together with a White Wagtail

 

Tree Sparrow (pilfink)

spot the odd one out

for a long time I thought this would be the picture of the day but luckily things improved

 a better picture of Yellow-browed Warbler (gulbrynsanger)

 

Some Arctic Redpolls (polarisik)



the bird on the right is a classic "snowball" but the bird on the left is less clear although was also an Arctic for me

the Snowball

an intermediate bird with perhaps too many black feathers in the undertail coverts

another bird that is difficult but has a tiny bill and nice beige colours but again probably too many and too large black feathers in the undertail coverts to fit the classic description of an "Arctic" but where do you draw the line in a clinal morphological species?

should be little doubt about this one

but what about this one?

the snow ball again with a couple of other sp.

looking good

snow ball - note a single thin black feather in undertail coverts

snow ball but notice the long black flank streak

this streaked individual is not an arctic but is it a Scandinavian bird or from further west?

one of at least 31 Coal Tits (svartmeis) today

part of a large flock of House Sparrows (gråspurv)

female House Sparrow

Male House Sparrow

 



Værøy 2014 day 5

The expectations for today were so much that I was up before my alarm went off (thus also and refreshingly ensuring number one spot in the number two queue) and in the field at first light. The anticipated deluge of birds had clearly not happened though and two hours in Nordland revealed there was nothing new in except for a constantly calling Goldcrest (fuglekonge) and a Dunnock (jernspurv) flying high over and calling. Just as we were about to leave for the south of the island though Kjell found a Red-backed Shrike (tornskate) and suddenly if felt like game on. Aren't we fools?!

Eight hours of slogging it around the island gave me only a sore back although I did bag five new species for the trip: Shelduck (gravand), Bullfinch (dompap), Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin), Greenfinch (grønnfink) and Wood Pigeon (ringdue) plus a new subspecies with a very vocal although poorly seen presumed tristis (Siberian) Chiffchaff. The later helped keep the motivation levels up but the day really didn't deliver as hoped and I now only have tomorrow until 4pm to find something really good.

This being Værøy though meant there were still good birds hanging around and I did have Citrine Wag (sitronerle), Rosefinch (rosenfink), Barred Warbler (hauksanger), Y-b Warbler (gulbrynsanger), Golden Eagle (kongeørn), White-tailed Eagle (havørn), Peregrine (vandrefalk) and 100+ Ring Ouzels (ringtrost).

A Starling (stær) I came across was an amazing mimic. He was part of a group of 30 birds and was one of only two that were singing. He mimicked Whimbrel (småspove), Oystercatcher (tjeld), Herring Gull (gråmåke), Wren (gjerdesmett) and Redwing (rødvingetrost). His mimicking of Whimbrel has me seriously doubting the bird I have recorded the last couple of days on call only!

A tailess Red-backed Shrike (tornskate) was today's highlight

tristis Siberian Chiffchaff - it wasn't easy to photograph. Note it is ringed - probably here on Værøy 2 days ago

Ring Ouzel

young Golden Eagle with a squadron of Ravens

Barred Warbler

Citrine Wagtail

 

Starlings

Video of Starlings. You can here it mimicking Whimbrel, Oystercatcher, Redwing and Wren and probably some others.

Værøy Day 4 2014

Being number three in the queue for number twos this morning got the day off to pungent start and early morning rain and few birds had me thinking that the tone for the day had been set. However the sun came out and suddenly there was life. Yellow-browed Warbler (gulbrynsanger) and Barred Warbler (hauksanger) both allowed themselves to be photographed better than before and the smell of roses began to scent the air!

Heading in the van towards the south of the island there was a bit of banter about where we would all start searching as we all need to have our own area so that we all have a chance of finding our own birds. I chose to start out by the helicopter pad and make my way north thus also ensuring a good work out. Birds were few and far between although the knowledge that others had found Red-breasted Fly (dvergfluesnapper) and OBP (sibirpiplerke) kept me alert.

I walked over some fields to check out the muddy edges of the tidal lagoon and stumbled upon a single wader. Initially seeing it from behind I thought perhaps breeding plumaged Purple Sand (fjæreplytt) before quickly realising Pec Sand (alaskasnipe) and another selfie Norwegian tick. The bird promptly flew off high calling but remarkably was found not too long after a kilometre to the north and everyone got to enjoy it and burn off a few hundred gigabytes.

The Citrine Wag (sitronerle) was still in its favoured garden by the shop and life felt good. I glimpsed the R-b Fly but as is my fate failed to see either of the two OBPs that were found today. A 5 second view of a Common Rosefinch (rosenfink) was some compensation.

With winds now veering to the east we have very high expectations for tomorrow.

The Pectoral Sandpiper (alaskasnipe) when I found it

when refound

Twitching Værøy style. The bird is below the rust barrel just above the grass

a happy Oslobirder

creeping along doing its Long-toed Stint impression

neck extended trying to look like a Ruff

Barred Warbler (hauksanger)

Citrine Wagtail for its third day

it's not often I take a picture of a Carrion Crow

can you spot the Red-breasted Flycatcher?

it's not often that I find a photogenic Rock Pipit (skjærpiplerke) but this one was exceptionally trusting

 

Two Sanderlings (sandløper) from yesterday evening

there are many Twite (bergirisk) on the island. These were part of a flock of 150+

the view looking north from Værøy. The mountains on Lofoten got an overnight dusting of snow that disappeared during the day

Yellow-browed Warbler (gulbrynsanger)