There were a few times today when I thought things weren’t
working out as planned but in the end I have to be happy with the day. What
annoyed me was my inability to find any Dotterel and no birds moving on the
sea. The worst thing with the Dotterel is that I now see that a pair was seen
at a sight which I visited twice including just 20 minutes before they were
reported so I must just have not had my Dotterel glasses on today.
It carried on raining today and there was a general increase
in birds especially waders. The title of this post refers to my finding of not
one but two different Great Snipes – dobbeltbekkasin
in Norwegian – both of which “sang” for me. The first bird was in a damp field
by Kurefjorden at 10am and the second in Maridalen at 1.30pm. Of course the
Maridalen bird was most satisfying and I managed pictures this time. The bird
flew up from the same damp patch that has held both Common and Jack Snipe in
April so this tiny area can now really be called Snipe Marsh II (I already had
another area I called Snipe Marsh but that area has not lived up to its name so far this
year so will maybe bcome known as the Marsh that formerly held snipe...). As usual I didn’t see the bird until it flew up silently and at quite
close range. It gave a fly-by when I was able to take a couple of pictures
before dropping down by a ditch. I walked over to the area and played the sound
of displaying Great Snipes and bingo it replied!
The bird at Kurefjorden announced its presence by singing on
it owns accord as I got out of my car. One has to wonder how many more Great
Snipe are out there just now if I can just bump into two so easily.
The day started at 0610 staring out to sea at Brentetangen,
but yet again there was no passage of note and after an hour I moved on to
Kurefjorden. Here there were finally waders with over 60 Greenshank, 20
Redshank, 4 Spotted Redshank, Bar-tailed Godwit, Ringed Plover and Whimbrel
although it is still too early for calidris
waders. There were also a few duck with a pair of Garganey and three Pintail
the undoubted highlights. This spring is exceptionally good for Garganey so
maybe one will even turn up in Maridalen... My first Whitethroat of the year
sang in bushes behind the watchpoint at Kurefjorden. The best bird in Kurefjorden gave the worst views but a
summer plumaged Red-necked Grebe materialised in the middle of the fjord at x
50 magnification.
I reported the Great Snipe at Kurefjorden on the Bird Alarm
system and soon had a phone call asking where it was and also informing me of a
probable Lesser Grey Shrike seen from a car earlier in the day. I checked out
the area where this was seen to no avail.
On good days like this I feel drawn to Maridalen and made my
way back to Oslo already at noon. Maridalen had more birds than yesterday with,
in addition to the Great Snipe, 6 Greenshank, 3 Wood Sandpipers, a flyover
Redshank, 3 Ring Ouzels and Wrynecks singing at two locations. I also had my
first Pied Flycatcher of the year.
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