The rare Mountain Marsh Runner is a bird that I have
struggled to see on its breeding grounds in Norway but whist guiding Rob Tizard
from USA c/o Myanmar over the last two days I finally got to see why its name
is so appropriate. If you are struggling to know which species I am talking
about then I have taken the literal (or at least my literal) translation of the
Norwegian name: fjellmyrløper. In English it goes normally under the name
Broad-billed Sandpiper which seems odd as I can’t say that I have ever noticed
it having a particularly broad bill. I normally find Norwegian names to make
little sense but in this case I will definitely say the Norwegians have chosen
a completely appropriate name. This bird spent its time running half hidden
running through a mountain marsh and remained invisible to us most of the time
even though it was in 12cm high grass only a few metres from us. On migration I
have considered it to be the size of a small Dunlin (myrsnipe) but here it
appeared smaller than a stint although there were no other waders to compare it
to as its choice of habitat (marshes of sodden black peat with short grass)
seems to be one shunned by other birds. On our way out to the marsh we had a
chorus of angry Whimbrel (småspove), Redshank (rødstilk) and Greenshank (gluttsnipe)
wishing us good riddance but the Mountain Marsh Runner did anything but makes
it presence known. We walked around the suitable habitat for over half an hour
before I flushed up one from nearly under my which then landed less than 10
metres away and promptly disappeared to be only seen on a couple of more
occasions as it scurried through the grass and on three occasions it called. It
was frustrating but also very exhilarating to see this bird in its very special
breeding habitat.
This guiding trip was mostly based in the county of Oppland
with a diversion into Hedmark. The reason for this was that Rob wanted to see
Dotterel (boltit) and Great Snipe (dobbeltbekkasin). Nearly every bird on this
trip required a bit of work to find it and our first target, Dotterel, was no
exception. It was cold up on the mountain, with drizzle and much snow still on
the ground but eventually we found three birds and had exceptional views with
Rob taking some first rate photos although mine are nothing to write home
about. Strangely we had little else although three singing Shorelarks
(fjellerke) were a year tick for me and a Snow Bunting (snøspurv) was perhaps
surprisingly the first one I have seen despite many visits.
After a good dinner and a beer we headed up to a Great Snipe
lek which I discovered a few years ago and have visited every year since. The
birds took a while to get going and I feared the lek was smaller than in
previous years but my midnight we had a dozen males displaying with their
strange “song”, running around, jumping and fighting. As Rob said, this has to
be one of nature’s greatest spectacles. Even at midnight it was still light
enough to see the birds and although still photography is difficult, video (on
Robs camera at least) can produce great results.
We were in bed just after 1am with the hotel receptionist
giving us a very strange look as we returned to the hotel with cameras and
binoculars in the middle of the night!
Day 2 begun at 7am and ended at 1am! Ring Ouzel (ringtrost) was
our first target but again we had to work a but before finding a pair feeding a
fledgling. Whilst searching we found Bluethroats (blåstrupe) and Redstarts
(rødstjert) amongst others. Siberian Jays (lavskrike) also took a while but we
had Golden Eagle (kongeørn), Wood Sandpiper (grønnstilk) with young and Crested
Tit (toppmeis) as we searched. In typical fashion when the jays did turn up
they gave fantastic close views and Rob revealed that he is half jay by being
able to imitate their call and having them fly at him.
A good drive took us into the mountains and the marsh Mountain
Marsh Runners. We drove through lots of suitable Hawkie habitat but rather
surprisingly failed to see one. There was one owl I felt confident of finding
though hence the detour to Hedmark. We arrived at the Great Grey sight at 9pm
and although there was dampness in the air and rather more wind than I would have
liked I expected to open the car doors and hear the young begging for food.
This wasn’t to be though and we searched the area for 15 minutes with sight or
sound of an owl. After the display less than two weeks ago I was very surprised
especially when I did find a youngster high up in a tree. It appeared healthy
and was stretching and standing and looking well-fed but over the course of an
hour and a half it did not make a single noise nor did we see a parent. This
for me was baffling given the frequency of food deliveries previously and the
constant begging from the youngsters. We only found the one youngster though so
maybe the parents were with the other that had managed to move further away but
then surely the bird we had found would have been screaming even louder for
food? Perhaps the bird is now of an age that it recognises humans as a threat
and it therefore quiet but the bird was still far from fledging with down still
on it underparts and far from full grown wings although the pattern of the
adults wing feathers was starting to show.
Day 1 was 12 hours birding and Day 2 18 hours before I got
home – tiring but some absolutely great birding!
I’ll start with pictures of the Mountain Marsh Runner first.
I was shocked to see that one picture was actually quite OK. The rest though
were either blurd, I couldn’t find the bird or after much searching I found the
tail. I’ve included some of these.
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I think this picture was OK - especially when you see all the others |
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great camo |
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here I managed a bit of tail and wing |
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bird in habitat |
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a bit more wing |
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the bird stood like this for about 30 seconds just a shame there was all the grass in the way |
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Add caption |
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male Bluethroat - one of Norway's finest birds but sadly in decline |
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female Bluethroat with food for young. This is a colourful and therefore old female |
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Dotterel, snow and happy photographer |
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there were not many species to see on the mountain but here two different plovers briefly posed together |
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my best Dotterel shot which ain't too bad |
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Great Snipe at 2330 ISO 12800 1/15 sec |
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Great Snipe 00:30 ISO 12800 1/3 sec - not quite light enough! |
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the young Great Grey Owl slowly losing its down |
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Siberian Jay |
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Whimbrel. We also saw Redshank, Greenshank and Wood Sandpiper standing on top of trees - suddenly "shorebirds" seemed like the wrong name for these birds |
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Wood Sandpiper and tree |
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male Yellow Wagtail of the scandinavian race thunbergii. It has green and yellow in the grey on the head and if I had seen this in Israel this spring then I may have thought hybrid |
A video as well and I stand by the title but choose to show
it anyway. I had lent Rob my tripod so was handholding at midnight so I think
it is amazing you can see anything!
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