OSLO BIRDER: Yellow-browed Warbler

Showing posts with label Yellow-browed Warbler. Show all posts

Tuesday, 10 October 2023

Sibes on Værøy good, Sibes at home best!

It is one thing travelling to Værøy and finding Sibes but it is something completely different to find them around Oslo. On Saturday Jack and I had an early morning trip to Fornebu and I was hoping to find (I am described at home as a naïve optimist..) Little Bunting, Yellow-browed Warbler and/or Olive-backed Pipit. Rather surprisingly this did not happen and we had to make do with a few Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps.

I am an optimist though and on Monday I was again at Fornebu in lovely crisp autumnal weather with ice on puddles following the first two nights with frost and there was an obvious arrival of birds especially thrushes. Lots of calling Song Thrushes had me thinking of Little Bunting but suddenly amongst the calls of Redwings I heard a call that on Værøy would have been an in the bag Olive-backed Pipit. It called again but I could not see it flying over and that was is it. OBP has never been recorded in Oslo & Akershus and a call only record will not be enough to add it to the list but a fun if brief and frustrating experience it was.

Today was far less infuriating though as I saw a Yellow-browed Warbler! Also at Fornebu it was proof that you don’t go birding with Jack if you want to find something scarce 😊 This bird did not call at all whilst I watched it which is the same experience with the two other birds I have found in south eastern Norway whereas birds on Værøy which are usually very freshly arrived can call a lot and this is how you usually find them.

Fornebu gave good views of Bearded Tits and Kingfisher (but again not when you are with Jack) so Simon was a happy birder.

To top it all I was out last night owling which made me even happier and will merit its own post soon.

Yellow-browed Warbler (gulbrynsanger) at Fornebu!

I engaged in a lot of pishing to try to bring the warbler closer but all it did was bring Goldcrests (fuglekonge) closer but they are nice too :-)

and this juvenile Siskin (grønnsisik) was also interested

I don't think pishing works on Kingfishers (isfugl)

and it may work on Bearded Tits (skjeggmeis) although I can't remember ever trying

this late Queen of Spain Fritillary (sølvkåpe) was a real surprise on Monday as it followed 2 nights of frosts and I thought the butterfly season would be over. It looks to be a quite fresh individual

Thursday, 21 September 2023

Værøy 2023 Day 1

So my first full day on Værøy has come to an end and I am a happy man 😊. At 13:28 I heard Yellow-browed Warbler and then at 13:31 I saw one (of eventually 3) so my Værøy trip is already a success and anything else is pure bonus. One of these bonuses turned up before the YbW with a Hawk Owl on a roof top being mobbed by two Hooded Crows - regular readers of this blog will understand that this sighting alone is enough to give me the shakes.

Other than these species the big event has been an unprecedented influx of Rough-legged Buzzards with over 40 being seen yesterday before I arrived. I have had to make do with around 10 birds but given that I have only seen two single birds here before then this was quite something.

Jack Snipe have also been incredibly numerous and I have seen 10 of over 20 recorded on the island.

I eventually took the helicopter out yesterday rather than the ferry because it has been VERY windy and I figured a short but expensive helicopter trip would beat a free but 3 hour long bumpy boat trip.

The wind has made birding very difficult today but tomorrow it is forecast to be much less wind so we have high hopes.

Yellow-browed Warbler (gulbrynsanger)

Hawkie getting fed up with Hoodie

White-tailed Eagle (havørn) are numerous

Snow Bunting (snøspurv)

Golden Eagle (kongeørn)

Rough-legged Buzzard (fjellvåk) with a rat which is the only rodent on Værøy

Arctic Tern (rødnebbterne)

Garden Warbler (hagesanger). I had 5 species of Warbler with Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Blackcap in addition to the two whose photos grace this post

A Dipper (fossekal) my first on Værøy and only the second record here - as rare as White’s Thrush!

Real, wild Barnacle Geese (hvitkinngås) on their way from Svalbard to the UK

All the Rough-legged Buzzard that I looked closely at were 1cy. They must have had a good breeding season and the strong easterly winds have brought them out here

Friday, 30 September 2022

Røst day 2

My second day on Røst, although the first in daylight was a great success even if there was no major rarity (Norway’s second Two-barred Greenish Warbler which was found earlier in the week has unfortunately moved on now). This is actually my third visit to Røst after a summer visit in 2000 when I saw Snowy Owl and a visit in late September 2003 when I stayed for a couple of days without seeing too much (although my name is the NSKF rarities report for being a co-finder of an American Golden Plover which I remember very little about).

We were 8 birders on Røst today and the nature of the island makes it much easier to cover on foot than Værøy and with far less vegetation then we should discover a far higher percentage of the birds present than on Værøy. Røst has far more wetlands than Værøy so there are many more waders and ducks but there are fewer passerines especially thrushes and finches.

I have walked 28,473 steps today and am rather knackered so I will keep this brief now😊. The two highlights for me were an adult Gyr Falcon close enough for photos (all my previous sightings of Gyr have been long distance) and hearing, and of course seeing, Yellow-browed Warbler which is a very necessary part of every autumn.

Other good birds were Olive-backed Pipit, Tree Pipit (which is rarer here than OBP), Taiga Bean Goose, Arctic Redpoll and my first Black-tailed Godwit in Norland. The full eBird checklist can be seen here.