Red-footed Falcon

1st summer female Red-footed Falcon (aftenfalk)

1 May is a day of very high, though rarely met, expectations. With spring this year being so early Jack and I had decided that May 1st would be the new May 9th and positioned ourselves expectantly at Huk from 05:15 but were to be disappointed. Despite southerly winds and some cloud cover there was basically zero viz mig to observe. No Common Scoters and just a single diver for example were a sure sign of lack of movement. Three female Long-tailed Duck that suddenly dropped in were there a real surprise but when a bank of fog rolled in we decided it was time to head to Svellet.

 

1 May at Svellet is guaranteed to be good right? Water levels are still falling slowly and it looks mighty and I am hoping for something to match my LesserYellowlegs in 2020. But the waders don’t seem to think so and it was a major disappointment. A flyover Great White Egret would just a few years ago been a major highlight but these days is nearly old hat😉.

Great White Egret (egretthegre) flying over Svellet. This bird is missing its inner primary on both wings which may make it possible to individually identify if it turns up at other locations. The bird I saw a week ago did not have these missing although I guess they could have been lost since then

Svellet on 29 April all mud and shallow water but hardly a wader, yet...

 

the water level is falling more slowly but has fallen an additional 10cm in the last two days.

Hellesjøvannet offered my first Hobby of the year, a White-tailed Eagle and at least 6 Marsh Harriers with a surprise Slavonian Grebe but no booming Bitteren or more exciting raptors.

 

A twitch provided me with my best bird of the last few days when I drove to Moss to enjoy a very confiding 1st summer female Red-footed Falcon. She has taken up residence on a golf course and spent most of her time on the fairways eating worms and beetles. She would sometimes fly down from a perch to grab something but other times would run around like a thrush seeming to find things by hearing them. Only once did she fly around grabbing insects in the air.

 

spot the falcon?

from when it was flying around. If I got a shot like this in Maridalen one day I could be over the moon

catching small flying insects

is clearly moulting its tail feathers and has some missing and also feathers of different generations

eating a worm

down the hatch

A rare trip to Kurefjorden was rather disappointing with few very waders.

a Woodcock (rugde) nest in Maridalen that was deserted due to forestry work just metres away which amazingly enough is allowed to continue throughout the year

a singing Whitethroat (tornsanger)

Reacquainting myself with Hazel Grouse

It is rather difficult to follow up blog posts on Red-footed Falcon and Pallid Harrier and this will in no way compete with them but Hazel Grouse does always help keep up ones humour 😊.

It is very autumnal now and changing weather results in very different birds. I have concentrated on the Dale the last 3 days with a hope of some raptor passage but Sparrowhawk, Buzzard and a single Kestrel were all I managed to see.

On Wednesday there was a large arrival of passerines with many finches, Mipits, Dunnocks and Chiffchaffs announcing their presence. There were also 3 Wheatears and a single Whinchat still present but hardly any thrushes. Single Ringed Plover and Common Sandpiper on the lake were also a promising sign that an interesting wader may still turn up.

By Thursday there were hardly any passerines to be found but a few more ducks on the lake included the first Tufted Duck and Common Scoter of the year.

Today saw hardly any passerines and the diving ducks had moved on but a total of 15 Common Snipe around the lake was a high local count. With there being so few birds to see on the fields or lake I decided to pay my first trip to the forest for a few months and was rewarded with a singing Hazel Grouse.

singing male Hazel Grouse (jerpe)

my first ever autumn Ringed Plover (sandlo) on Maridalsvannet

an early Common Scoter (svartand) - a juvenile with unusually white cheeks

5 Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin)

and here are some videos of Red-footed Falcon, Great White Egret and Black-tailed Godwit that I have only jut got round to editing:

Red-footed Falcon and other raptors

Since my last post I have spent a LOT of time looking for raptors. The target has been Pallid Harrier and/or Red-footed Falcon. Pallids are now moving through southern Norway with ringed birds from Finland being seen and the Red-foots have been seen in large numbers around the Baltic and should also turn up in Norway.

I concentrated my efforts on Nordre Øyeren and was there Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Over the three days I noted 12 species but none of the rarities I was hoping for but multiple Hen Harriers, White-tailed Eagles and Honey Buzzard gave some quality. The other species I saw were Marsh Harrier, Osprey, Buzzard, Goshawk, Sparrowhawk, Merlin, Peregrine, Kestrel and Hobby.

Great White Egret, Black-tailed Godwit, Sanderling, Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint and a heard only Red-throated Pipit made for very enjoyable birding.

On Saturday news broke of a juv Red-footed Falcon an hour from Oslo and on Sunday afternoon I had to drop Jr Jr off somewhere that was nearly half way there so I decided to carry on. The bird had seen all through the morning but seemed to have disappeared an hour before I arrived and there were a few birders looking forlornly at all the overhead wires in the area when I arrived. Almost the first bird I saw getting out of the car was a Red Kite though so that was a good start! It was distant but great to have only my fifth sighting of this species in Norway although it has started breeding now and will probably become commoner and commoner. The falcon was not to be found though and slowly the other birders disappeared and I decided to drive around the area. I knew that the falcon had been seen together with a Cuckoo and when I found a Cuckoo on wires I got very excited but despite much searching couldn’t find its companion. I returned to where I had seen the Kite and noted Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Hobby, Sparrowhawk plus many Buzzards. Eventually It was time to start heading home and I had a choice of two directions. As the petrol light had come on I decided to take the route which would take me quickest to a petrol station and what a fortuitous choice that was! It took me past where I had earlier seen the Cuckoo and sure enough it was there and then suddenly it had a companion!! I got to see them both very well on roadside wires. They both frequently dropped to the ground (a stubble field) before flying back up with a large caterpillar and the falcon also took dragonflies. I put out the news and some of the birders I had seen earlier were still in the area and got to see it.

So 14 species of raptor over 5 days ain’t bad going 😊

As I write this post I have received a message of a juv Pallid Harrier only half a hour from Oslo. Should I go?

There are a lot of photos here and I also have video to go through but will post that later.

1cy Red-footed Falcon (aftenfalk) - I'm pretty happy with this picture :-) 

together with the young Cuckoo (gjøk)

not so good pictures of the Red Kite (glente) but it does at least count as a record shot

one of 3-4 young Hen Harriers (myrhauk) last week

2 together

same bird

and with a Great White Egret (egretthegre)

Hen Harrier, Kestrel (tårnfalk) and adult White-tailed Eagle (havørn). There were another harrier and eagle in the scame thermal!

young (juvenile?) and adult White-tailed Eagle

this is definitely a juvenile

2 young birds. There were at least 5 and probably more White-tailed Eagles in the Nordre Øyeren area

adult Hobby (lerkefalk)

young Buzzard (musvåk)

young Black-tailed Godwits (svarthalespove) of the icelandic race

bugling Cranes (trane) including 2 juveniles

Bramblings (bjørkefink) are now coming through in good numbers

and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers (dvergspett) are quite vocal

a flock of Pintail (stjertand)

in Maridalen the water levels are falling and there is still time for that Dunlin but so far only Snipe are attracted

Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin)

this one tried to hide by submerging itself