I got up before 5 this morning with a hope that a
drop in the northerly winds would have a positive impact on the migrant scene
and especially waders at Svellet. All that it seemed to have done though was to
have encouraged birds to leave without replacing them with anything new. I was on
site at 0530 and spent 45 minutes covering the east side (there did not look to
be any birds on the west side). I had only 50 Greenshank, 2 Whimbrel and no
more than 5 Wood Sandpipers and definitely no Lesser Yellowlegs which was a
shame as lighting and distances (due to slowly rising water levels) were much
better than previously.
I therefore decided to do Årnestangen. There was
very little sign of any new birds here and it was all rather disappointing. When
I got to the end at 8am a message came through that the Yellowlegs was present.
I felt surprised, annoyed (with myself) but not entirely confident (in the
sighting) but given that there didn’t seem to be anything at Årnestangen it was
an easy decision to go back. I walked back to the car in what must be a
personal record of 31 minutes and drove back to Svellet. When I got down to the
water a sweep through the small number of Greenshank present revealed a brown
bird with long yellow legs... but it was a striking female Ruff. This hadn’t
been present earlier but I had seen a similar bird flying nervously around in
Snekkervika so it was presumably this bird. Well, at least I had got some much
needed exercise (I am developing a Corona belly). Sightings from yesterday have
also been quietly retracted after pictures apparently also show a Ruff. The
question is therefore whether the bird was seen yesterday at all with the only
remaining observation being from before 5am when to be perfectly honest it ain’t
light enough to ID such a difficult bird at Svellet!!
The day was still early and I felt a twitch developing.
A male Ferruginous Duck had been found an hours drive south of Oslo yesterday.
I would not normally go for a bird like this but the species has always been a
favourite (after having seen them in Israel and Tunisia) and I thought what the
heck. It was a long drive from Svellet but I got there by 1040. The location is
very close to the last long (more than an hours drive) twitch that I was on
which was for the Brown Shrike in October 2018. The bird is unringed and the
wings are not clipped and it looks pristine so it will be accepted as wild BUT
it had a very plastic feel about. Its chosen location is a small farm pond (barely
50 metres in diameter) and it was rather unafraid of people (swam to within 10
metres of us). It was very skulky and most of the time invisibile in the
vegetation along the edges but this was because of the unwanted attention it
received from an aggressive male Goldeneye that attacked it everytime it showed
itself. The Goldeneye was responsible for me seeing it the first time when it
chased it out of the vegetation and made it fly. Later though the Fudge Duck swan
through the vegetation towards us and was not at all bothered by my having to
shout to the assembled birders/toggers that it was right below them (not sure
if all of them saw it…but those who did got some rather good pictures and far
better than mine – something was not right with the camera settings). It then
swam out on to the open water less than 10m from us and had a good preen before
returning into the vegetation when the Goldeneye spotted it. Nice bird though 😊
The farm pond was a very birdy place with both
Spotted and Pied Flycatchers, Moorhens and a couple of broods of newly hatched
Mallards.
A quick stop in Maridalen revealed that the Mute
Swan pair that has been around this spring is nest building. They are a young
pair and I doubt that much will come of it but this is the first time Mute
Swans have shown signs of breeding in the Dale. There was also a new pair of
Three-toed Woodpeckers which makes, I reckon, at least 4 pairs – normally we
are happy to find one pair.
Adult male Ferruginous Duck (hvitøyeand) - only about the 10th record in Norway
the first view after it was chased by a Goldeneye
I see you!
when it showed on the open water there was something wrong with my camera settings and I didn't get the pictures I should have
the farm pond that held the duck
Two Greenshank (gluttsnipe) at Svellet today
There are two pairs of Goshawks on territory in Maridalen this year. This pair is on eggs but the other pair is building a new nest (not using last years) and will I suspect not breed succesfully this year although will be set up for 2021
Yesterday saw a very unsuccessful attempt at dog walking and birding (which up until now has generally gone well). I did get to hear a Thrush Nightingale very well at Fornebu but all my attempts at seeing the bird were thwarted by a Beast who was not happy unless he was the centre of attention (I blame the owner…). Listen to the bird in this video taken on my phone:
I had thought of going early to Svellet this morning
with the hope of getting some better pictures of the Yellowlegs without the
heat haze ruining everything. In the end a family breakfast (rightly) triumphed
but others did succeed in that quest and better pictures have been taken so
negating the need for me to write a description 😅 Here are three pictures that Reidar Myhre took and which do the job!
Greenshank and Lesser Yellowlegs. This picture show the size difference well and the dark wings and back and pale rump of the Yellowlegs - just the sort of photo I was hoping for! Photo: Reidar Myhre
the yellow legs are also visible. Photo: Reidar Mhyre
I chose to go to Maridalen with the Beast but with
clear blue skies and northerly winds I did not have high hopes. A couple of
singing Redstarts, Sand Martin, Crane, Three-toed Woodpecker and fighting
between the breeding Whooper Swan pair and an intruding pair gave me plenty to enjoy
though.
male Redstart (rødstjert). The white in the throat and brown wings point to this being a 2cy
whereas this male with much bolder colours is presumably 3cy+
Sand Martin (sandsvale) is never an easy bird to see in Maridalen although it does sometimes try to breed
this male Three-toed 'pecker was drumming and the female was hopefully either nest building or perhaps already on eggs nearby
Whooper Swan (sangsvane)
just a single Crane (trane) seen today.
this pair of Common Scoter (svartand) appeared on Maridalsvannet during a rain storm on Sunday evening but disappeared shortly afterwards
this Stock Dove (skogdue) still pops up occasionally in Maridalen and I suspect they are breeding
I’ve been whining a lot the last couple of days
about how I am missing the good birds and the Bird Gods are not shining on me –
I sound like a spoilt kid don’t I? Well, I’m not just spoilt I’m also a bit of
a fool because the Bird Gods were indeed shining on me on both Saturday and Sunday
but I could not see it.
Luckily though they kept their faith in me, even if I
was losing mine in them, and finally today I opened the gold-plated package
they had made for me.
On both Saturday and Sunday morning I had seen a
wader at Svellet that I had struggled with. I had seen the bird with Greenshank
and a male Ruff. Plumage wise I was thinking that the pattern on the back
looked good for a female Ruff but the plumage was just too pale and the bill
too long for that species. The legs were an orangey colour but as it often the
case at Svellet the distances involved were just too great for lots of detail.
I have previously struggled here in the spring in being able to differentiate
between Redshanks and female Ruff and felt that the choice lay between these
two species although I did briefly consider Stilt Sandpiper as a possibility.
In the end I concluded with a 1st winter Redshank that was in some
strange transition plumage between juvenile and summer plumage although I was
never quite OK with this and did also wonder whether it could be a hybrid of
some sort.
Today I arrived at Svellet around 10am and the heat
haze was already a problem but due to slowly rising water levels many of the
birds were closer than at the weekend. I did a rough sweep and noticed nothing
exciting (hoping for Avocet or failing that godwits) and then went about
counting the waders. 250 Greenshank and 90 Wood Sands were nearly a doubling
from yesterday and I saw 3 Redshank. Two were normal dark summer plumaged birds
but one was very pale and not quite right and was the same bird I had struggled
with the previous two days. It then walked up to a Redshank and a male Ruff and
it finally dawned on me that it was neither of these species. It was marginally
smaller than the Redshank, although the legs were longer and the legs were more pale orange than red, the bill
was finer and the plumage could not be horseshoed into some strange
transition plumage. I was not yet any wiser as to what it was but as I kept
looking at it and racking my brain it finally dawned on me that Lesser
Yellowlegs was the best option. Because of the distance and heat haze I was
just not able to see enough plumage characters to nail it and realised I need
to see the bird fly. This meant waiting (with an impatient dog pulling on the
lead) but finally an unseen raptor put everything up and I clinched it – there was
no white in the wing or on the back and just a white rump. Size ruled out Greater
Yellowlegs or Wood Sandpiper which also look similar in flight so I was able to
put the news out.
Quite a few people arrived (also people who like me
had gone through the waders at Svellet at the weekend without identifying it)
and got a new county tick or lifer. A togger even turned up without bins or a
scope (had obviously not been to Svellet before) and pointed the camera at the
closest wader and wondered if that was the one. It was a Wood Sandpiper but
that apparently was also a tick -two for the price of one…..
My photos are not even record shots although I do
have a couple of flight shots that might be of use but I have a video that is a
bit better. Lots of other people have seen it during the afternoon and evening
so hopefully some record shots will surface as I hate writing descriptions 😉
this picture is taken with a 150mm but shows the distance involved. The mudflats create a terrible heat haze
this flight shot shows Greenshank, Greenshank, Lesser Yellowlegs, male Ruff (I presume) & Redshank.
The dark wings and white going up the back can be seen on the Greenshank and the white on the back & the wings can be seen on the Redshank whereas the Lesser Yellowlegs has dark wings and just white on the rump....
Greenshank (gluttsnipe) left and Lesser Yellowlegs (gulbeinsnipe) right
I dropped even a cursory check of Maridalen this
morning with blue skies making me want to get to Svellet before the sun ruined
things. Viewing conditions were good but the weather had clearly caused more
birds to leave than arrive and Greenshank numbers had fallen to 132 although
Wood Sands had increased to 56. A female Ruff had now joined the three males
but otherwise there was nothing new in except for a flyover Yellow Wagtail
which was my first for the year.
At Snekkervika distant Marsh Harrier and White-tailed
Eagle were OK raptors to see but still no sign of a Pallid Harrier for me.
Yesterday evening pictures emerged of a White Stork
on Facebook at a location less than 30 minutes drive from Øyeren. I considered
going to look for the bird myself but decided to hope others refound it and
reported it. At 8am a check of Facebook revealed that the finder had seen the bird
again this morning. There was a location mentioned and he said it wasn’t 100%
correct but close enough. I therefore drove expectantly there thinking how hard
can it be to find a Stork? When I got to the plot there were a handful of
birders already there who hadn’t seen the bird and commented that the fields
here didn’t look like the ones the bird was pictured in. I asked if anyone had
contacted the finder and got a response suggesting that was a silly thing to
suggest. I found his number, called him and spoke to a very nice and helpful
person. His house was right where we were and I was invited there to look at
the map with him. I was invited in, given coffee and shown on the map that the
bird was actually about 4km away but they would happily drive with me there.
The original confusion as to location had been because Artsobservasjoner is
unfortunately a difficult system for new users and he had been unable, quite understandably,
to enter the correct location. This lack of user friendliness and the fact that
Artsdatabank has not done anything to improve it over the last decade is one of
the reasons that I now use eBird.
We got into our cars and I checked my phone to find
out that whilst we were inside the assembled birders had seen the Stork flying
high over the house…… By the time I saw the message though (7 minutes after it
was sent) the bird was out of sight and a check of the original fields drew a
blank…. This is why I hate twitching!!!!! If only the Bird Gods rewarded good
behaviour then it would be OK but they just seem random….
A dog and wife walk around Maridalen revealed little
in the way of birds except for my first Wood Warbler which sang beautifully for
us.
Day 2 of May and things should be hotting up. Timing
is of course key and what for some people will go down as hot day will go down
as luke-warm for others.
I awoke (no alarm needed) just after 5am and got
into Maridalen around 0540. No snow or cloud today and it felt very birdless. I
only gave it half an hour before deciding to get to Svellet before the sun and
heat had a chance to ruin the viewing conditions. As I left Maridalen I saw
Halvard driving in and it doesn’t look like I made the wrong decision this time.
There were a LOT more birds on Svellet than yesterday and most encouragingly
the water level has not been raised at all the last 4 days – this year has the
chance of being absolutely epic and rivalling 13 & 14 May 2010 when there
over 2000 waders were counted on Svellet (normally by this date there is no mud
left).
Today Greenshank had risen to 261 up from 35 at the
same time yesterday and Wood Sandpipers to 40 from none. Also present were 10
Oystercatcher, 4 Ringed Plover, 8 Whimbrel, 25 Curlew, 5 Redshank and 3 male
Ruff in resplendent in their breeding plumage. Teal numbers had also increased
to 253 and with them were a pair of Pintail and 13 Wigeon.
I then went to Snekkervika where I positioned myself
for good views out over Årnestangen where I hoped to pick up raptors. That was
not to be the case with only singles of Osprey, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel. After
an hour of watching I decided it was time to be a family man and head home at
around 9am. When I got home my phone plinged and there was a picture of a male
Pallid Harrier from Årnestangen. As I said luke-warm for some and boiling hot for
others!
Whilst not seeing any raptors I did have a couple of
singing Whinchat. One was occasionally sounding like a Rosefinch (as they often
do) and they really do sound similar so it is easy to be fooled. It is however
two weeks until Rosefinches turn up so absolutely nobody should be so foolish
as to allowed themselves to be fooled just yet…There was also a nice male Redstart and a female Lesser Spotted
Woodpecker and male Great Spotted Woodpecker took turns drumming from the same
metal top to a telegraph pole. The Lesser had initially been calling and I had
to go and find it as I find separating the call from that of Wryneck to be all
but impossible – I still have to look forward to finding my first Wryneck of
2020.
First a video the two 'peckers:
Male Redstarts (rødstjert) are really rather nice
one of the Skylarks (sanglerke) hanging on at Fornebu
and a Wheatear (steinskvett) also at Fornebu whilst out with the family this afternoon
May 1st is a bank holiday I Norway and
has always been a day I look forward to because it usually delivers on the bird front. It has not been unusual that there has
still been some ice on Maridalsvannet at this date but this year ice
disappeared many weeks ago. The weather forecast had looked promising for a long
time with overnight rain forecast however yesterday was such a quiet day and
the rain was due to start so early in the night that by yesterday evening my
expectation were very low. I was still out in the Dale by 6am but it was cold
(only 2C) and there was snow on the ground and after half an hour of not seeing
anything I decamped to Norde Øyeren (where I had yesterday seen my first Whimbrel
and a Hen Harrier yesterday). Svellet and Snekkervika are looking even better
but the birds have yet to arrive in any numbers: I did have ca.150 waders today
though with 74 Greenshank dominating (although I see that by the afternoon numbers had increase at least three-fold). A singing Lesser Whitethroat was a year
tick.
A message from Halvard (who had not lost faith in
the Dale) that there were Golden Plovers in Maridalen made me return there on
my way home. It was now raining even more than earlier on (despite the forecast
saying it should have stopped). There were clearly more birds than earlier with
thrushes now on the fields and waders in the air. I ended up having a minimum
of 27 Golden Plovers and 17 Greenshank although Halvard had noted over 50
Greenshank. There were also some insect eating passerines on the fields now
with 5 Wheatear, 1 Whinchat and very surprisingly a female Pied Flycatcher
looking for food on a ploughed field (yesterday I had seen a Willow Warbler
doing the same so food is clearly difficult to find.
As I left Maridalen at 10.15 to go and get some
breakfast I met Anders who was cycling in (having sensibly waited until the
worst of the rain was over). Not long later he sent me a message that he had
found a male Lapland Bunting which was one of the species I had hoped to find.
Around an hour later I was back there with Mrs O.B and the Beast. The Bunting had
unfortunately done a bunk in the meantime but my first, and an early, Hobby of
the year was a nice compensation and I also managed a photo (of sorts) which makes
it the first documented Hobby of the year in Norway (this species is
notoriously misidentified and nearly no early records are ever documented…). The
only other interesting bird we had (on an otherwise very pleasant walk) was a
male Three-toed Woodpecker in an unexpected locality by farmland (this
species seems to be everywhere this year).
Add Hobby (lerkefalk) - the first documented bird in Norway in 2020
some of the Golden Plovers (heilo) in Maridalen today - they are always a pleasure to see and not least hear as they give their mournful call
coming into land
the local Lapwings (vipe) were not happy with their presence
male Pied Flycatcher (svarthvit fluesnapper) searching for food from a normal perch
whereas this female was with a Whinchat (buskskvett) and searching for food on a ploughed field
