Day 4 was weather wise pretty much perfect for being in the field and far better than the forecast. Often there was no wind at all and you could hear the noise of a warbler’s bill snapping at an insect. There were only a few indications of new arrivals and it was not a big day by any stretch of the imagination but it was a good day to be out and about and 16,000 steps were pounded.
Experience of the day was a pod of Killer Whales powering through the sea off the north of the island early morning.
Bird of the day was a Common Rosefinch (only my third on Værøy and a species that is close to but not annual out here).
Learning of the day was that I cannot tell Olive-backed and Tree Pipits apart on call. These two species were traditionally considered inseparable on call but in the last 10-20 years it has been accepted that with experience you can tell apart. Based on my experiences and observations on Værøy I also thought I could but today that confidence came crashing down. I heard a pipit calling in flight and immediately identified it as an OBP. I had my phone ready to play the call and straightaway the pipit appeared above me calling and the call was as far as I was concerned the same as I was playing. It landed on the fish drying racks just a few metres away and I immediately set about taking pictures. Head on it did indeed look like an OBP with a black spot on the cheek but as it turned sideways on to me I thought the wing bars looked far too white and I wasn’t seeing any green tones. Then when it turned away and I saw the well streaked back I realised without doubt it was a Tree Pipit. This whole experience made me immediately realise my OBP record from yesterday had to be pulled and also had me wondering how I could have got it so wrong.
OBP in late autumn outnumbers TP on Værøy by around 10 to 1 and therefore identifying a bird as OBP based on call and then confirming it by seeing it is statistically very likely to happen. Had I (we) just been playing the numbers? I don’t know the answer to that but a Tree Pipit in October is rarer than an Olive-backed so I should perhaps be happy with my observation.
Other quality birds were a single YbW, Jack Snipe, Bullfinch, a tristis Chiffchaff, proper Barnacles Geese from Svalbard (rather than the feral birds around Oslo) and a Short-eared Owl and quantity was provided with hundreds of Redwings and Redpolls.
The view at 0715 - it all looked very promising
Sunrise at 07:29
Migrating Barnacle Geese (hvitkinngås)
Looking north at 08:08 with the island of Mosken and behind it the Lofoten island chain
Killer Whale
Not an Olive-backed (sibirpip) but a Tree Pipit (trepiplerke)
Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin)
Common Rosefinch (rosenfink)
The wood (skogen) suffered in a storm a few years ago and all the trees in the middle have now disappeared leaving just a ring of trees. The Rosefinch was in the too of the tall Rowans to the right
Very Grosbeak like
A Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin) doing an impression of a Jack by freezing at close range
Today was the day that was expected, based on the weather forecast, to be THE day. However, as is often the case, the Bird Gods had other ideas. It was a very nice to be out and the steps were put in (although only 16,000 today) and the wind was from the east but it was a case of more birds leaving than arriving with for example the Little Bunting and Turtle Dove not to be seen.
I did have a fly over Olive-backed Pipit (no photo) and took photos and video of both Yellow-browed and Barred Warbler but these are pretty much the bare minimum of what you expect here on Oct 1st.
Yellow-browed Warbler video:
Barred Warbler video taken from the balcony of Værøy Bird Observatory aka Kjell’s house.
Yellow-browed Warbler (gulbrynsanger). After hearing a bird in the same area yesterday I got to see one today and the photos are at least better than I managed in Maridalen
Barred Warbler (hauksanger)
Værøy makes Oslo Birder feel welcome
Two late Swallows (låvesvale) with the military installation known simply as “Nato” in the background
Day 1 was just a couple of hours in bad light and nothing special seen.
Day 2 though was a full day in good viewing conditions with sun and initially at least little wind although it did pick up a bit in the afternoon. Winds were easterly but just locally with nothing to bring birds from Siberia.
My day started well with a Little Bunting, a Turtle Dove and a heard only Yellow-browed Warbler but after that my 21,000 steps did not produce very much. A Corn Bunting was the best bird of the day and a Værøy first but was only seen by Kjell although has probably been around for a few days (heard only before) so will hopefully show again.
Little Bunting (dvergspurv)
Turtle Dove (turteldue) in full juvenile plumage. The bird has been around a few days and there has been discussion at to whether it is an Oriental ssp meena as it can appear quite large but I think European is the right ID
The fish drying racks which held both the bunting and the dove. On Røst this is an important “habitat” for rare birds but on Værøy where there are far more trees I have previosuly rarely found much amongst them
I bet you were hoping these reunion posts were over, and I must admit I thought they were too, but my first visit to Værøy since 2023 and reuniting the Kjell, Stein and Simon gang definitely deserves a Reunion post.
I am posting this as I wait for the helicopter from Bodø to Værøy. I had intended to take the ferry and look for seabirds but there are gale force winds so the idea of a 5 hour ferry journey suddenly lost its appeal.
Despite the wind I used a gap in the rain showers to have my usual layover bird around the cemetery in Bodø during my wait for the helicopter. Four Chiffchaff in the first sheltered bushes I checked had me hoping for some wing bars but if there were any there they stayed well hidden.
I am on Værøy until Sunday and the weather forecast is good as far as being out and about in the field but the weather systems look anything but good in terms of flocks of eastern vagrants turning up. There must be something good out there though and I promise another reunion post if I see a Bluetail.
My carriage awaits. We are only 7 waiting for the flight so it may be a fairly comfortable journey. I remember one full flight when I was the last on board and it took a while to find out where the empty seat was - it was between two rather large men…
Jack Snipe migrate through the Oslo area from the end of September and can hang around until snow and ice comes with then a few managing to eek out an existence (or at least try to) through the winter on the few streams that refuse to free over.
I made my first attempt of the autumn to find Jack on Friday and succeeded in finding three of the little buggers alongside three of their larger commoner cousins. As is usual the Common Snipe flew up from the wet grassland (but landed again not too far away) before I had even found them in the thermal whereas all three Jack stayed put and allowed me to find them in the thermal. Without the thermal I would have seen none unless one flew up just before I stood on it but even with the thermal you still have to work very methodically to see them.
With two of the birds I set up the camera on the tripod and moved out of view hoping the birds would start feeding and bobbing but they just stayed put although did relax a little bit. How much they relaxed is easiest to see when you see them crouching and freezing when I went to collect the camera. It is of course possible that the presence of the camera and tripod causes them to be wary but I checked in on one bird half an hour after having previously watched it and it was in exactly the same place. All this suggests the birds are at their day time roost. Tracking of wintering birds in England shows they have daytime roosts and can fly a few kilometres every night to separate feeding sites.
The superzoom pictures are not too bad but the video took a bit of tricksing too make. For some reason I am not able to take video when I remotely control the superzoom via my phone although this was possible with the now defunct bazooka. The video was therefore taking using the screen recording function on my phone, so I was recording what my phone was seeing on the app rather than the camera recording.
We can start with photos of all three birds taken with my phone so they are of the Where's Jack variety. After each picture is a zoomed in shot showing the bird and hopefully making it easier to locate in the wider angle shot.
Jack #1 and superzoom
this is what you are looking for
Jack #2 should be easy to find
but here he is if a clue is needed
Jack #3. This one is very difficult
and even in this zoomed in shot is not that easy to find
here I appear to the apple of Jack's eye
and in this shot the flash fired and is also caught in the reflection
even from behind the large eyes that stick ot mean that the bird can see 360 degrees without having to move its head
Jack #1
incredible detail in the feathers
Jack #2 - there are subtle differences in the pattering of the pale feathers above the eye compared to #1
#1 revisited when he had moved slightly so that he was less in the open with his back end pressed against the bank. I have noted this before and serves I think two purposed. One is has aligned its stripes more with the grass so that they serve better as camouflage and two I think it is better poised to explode into flight if it feels the need to flee the scene
a Goosander (laksand) and a couple of Gooses of the Pink-footed (kortnebbgås) variety on Maridalsvannet
