Vestfold

I reacquainted myself with birding in Vestfold today and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have avoided birding here the last few years as I have often encountered terrible traffic heading into and out of Oslo which I never encounter if I head for Østfold but today traffic was not a problem. I ended up not going for the Great Grey Owl as I knew that plenty of others were looking in vain so I stayed in a holding pattern to the north which would allow me to begin my attack run should the target be located, which it wasn’t.

I did enjoy a Hawk Owl though which hopefully will hang around for another 10 days when I will be guiding clients who have this bird high on their wish list. Otherwise I visited sites around the towns of Tønsberg and Horten which hold a few good birds in the winter month. In Tønsberg at Presterødkilen there were good numbers of ducks including two female Smew and a female Scaup. Working my way up the coast towards Horten I stopped at various places but a strong northerly wind made it difficult to pick up anything on the sea.

In Horten I saw a few Rooks which is a surprisingly difficult species in Norway. For some reason the species only breeds in about five areas in Norway with a small colony in Horten the closest to Oslo. Here they breed and feed in the town so do not seem to be too particular in their requirements so why they should be so local is a mystery. I had very close views of one bird whilst I sat in the car, in fact probably the closest views of ever had of the species, and was amazed at how colourful it was with an amazing metallic sheen to the black plumage.

Another very local bird winters time (and definitely rarer than Great Grey Owl) is Mistle Thrush with less than 10 birds this winter. They are attracted to mistletoe (hence their English name I guess?) and Horten must have the largest growth of mistletoe in Norway and annually attracts overwintering Mistle Thrushes. With so much mistletoe though it is difficult to know where to look exactly but I had a bit of luck when I parked the car in a suitable area got out and found a bird perched literally above me J

Hawk Owl! I did get (slightly) better views..

it was at the top of a very high tree though

with lots of branches in the way. Nice bird as always though

it was easy to see what had brought the owl here. Mouse tracks everywhere

Mistle Thrush (duetrost) - rarest bird of the day. Living up to its name eating mistletoe

 

Rook (kornkråke). I had this bird at too close range and in a bit too poor light to rally capture the metallic sheen in its plumage

not quite sure what it was trying to eat here

close to the car!

Two female Smew (lappfiskand) at Presterødkilen

 

impossible to know for sure but this may be an offspring of the hybrid Black Duck (that was originally accepted as a pure bird) that was resident here for many years. Note also a male Goosander in the picture

 

Juletide birding

I managed just under an hour of real in the flesh birding today whilst visiting family in Tønsberg. The bird rich bay at Presterødkilen was frozen over but at the edge of the ice by Rosanes there was quite a concentration of birds visible in the half light of a late December overcast morning. Most exciting was a male Smew (lappfiskand) probably the first male of this species I have seen for over a year. Some interesting behaviour came from a mixed flock of Scaup (bergand) and Wigeon (brunnakke). The Scaup were actively feeding by diving and coming up with grass like vegetation which the Wigeon would then either eat what was discarded by the Scaup or sometimes try to steal from the Scaup. Without this source of food I cannot see how the Wigeon would be able to survive here when there is so much ice.

The male Smew - even white birds look grey on days like this

This Grey Heron would presumably have had trouble catching a fish from this position

The mixed Scaup and Wigeon flock

I had a small redpoll flock also containing a single Siskin (grønnsisk) which is a scarce sight this winter. One bird was a Lesser Redpoll (brunsisik) but the rest including this bird looked more like Common (Mealy) Redpolls (gråsisik) although this bird does have a quite buffy coloured wing bar which might be more consistent with it being a Lesser - not always an easy subject matter.

Tønsberg

Have you ever wondered why the most popular blog post here is of a Black Duck? The reason is that after I published one of the pictures on Surfbirds, the bird in question (which has been in residence in Tønsberg for over a decade) ended up being discussed on the US ID Frontiers forum. I had hoped the picture would be picked up as the bird has long been controversial and I have always been under impressed by its appearance. The pictures on my blog which were quite good (!) have contributed to an overweight of opinion that this bird is a hybrid rather than it being the currently accepted genuine 100% Black Duck. NSKF is currently reviewing all Norwegian Black Duck (rødfotand) records and it is pretty likely that the status of this bird will not remain unchanged.

I renewed my acquaintance with the bird today and whilst it being quite an obvious bird it is easy to see that it most likely has a small percentage of Mallard (stokkand) genes in it although I would imagine it that these have come more than two generation back in time which raises another question as to where you draw the line for what is pure or not (re. That other favourite of mine: gulls).

We were visiting my brother-in-law in Tønsberg for the weekend and I snuck out before breakfast this morning. Snow and freezing temperatures have now, and finally, descended on Southern Norway and it was good to be out in the cold. The duck is normally to be found at Rosanes and here there was also a male Smew – surely the finest duck in Europe. It took me a while to locate the Black(ish) Duck which was with Mallards under boat moorings but it showed pretty well and I got some pictures in the low morning sun.

Otherwise today I had both Marsh and Willow Tits together on a bird feeder although didn’t have the camera for what would have been a very educational picture and also a rare winter record of Dunnock – this also on a feeder.

My posting on the blog this evening  was delayed due to watching a FANTASTIC Norwegian nature program. This is part three of an eight part series and I would highly recommend watching it. I don't know if this link will work for those outside of Norway but I hope so as you will get to see unique footage of nesting Snowy Owls.

male Black(ish) Duck. The pale fringes to the flank feathers are one feature that was highlighted as showing hybird influence

in the warm first sun of the morning the bird looks too brown for the real deal. Also (and despite some people denying its existence) you can, too my eyes, see a green sheen  to the back of the head which is a clear indication of Mallard genes

distant male Smew (lappfiskand) and Goldeneye

One less bogey to pick (off)

I headed for the Tønsberg/Horten area in Vestfold today hoping to add to my year list. The first stop was Rosanes where the main target was the male Black Duck that is now into its 11th year here. Despite normally being an easy bird I could not find it although a lot of ice had reduced the number of Mallards in the area considerably. I did see at least 3 proofs of its (past) existence though in the form of hybrids presumably with Mallard. A few Goosander, Red-breasted Merganser and Goldeneye had a female Smew in their midst and amongst the 100 or so Mallard were 5 Teal and a male Pintail.

Then I scanned the bay and picked off my bogey. RED-NECKED GREBE was finally added to my Norwegian list. It was easy to ID (they really are quite different from Great Crested) and gave reasonable if slightly distant views. I even managed a couple of record shots:

Red-necked Grebe

In Presterødkilen 2 male Pochard were hanging with 40 Tufted Ducks and were a good winter record.

I then drove to Horten checking the sea where ever possible. My hope was to find some white-winged Gulls but I failed on this score. Near Horten at Steinbrygga the bay held a flock of 26 Great Crested Grebes and a single Red-throated Diver and at Møringa 8 Oystercathers were a good winter record.

The Med Gull seems to have settled into some rhythm with 3 sightings since Sunday in the mid afternoon at Frognerparken. Maybe time to give it one last go?

Smew