Tomorrow or bust

It is dire at the moment and if things don’t change tomorrow when the weather forecast looks very good then I think I may just hang up my binoculars for the spring.

The weather the last two days has been really good to be out birding but there just hasn’t been anything on the move. It has not helped that water levels in Nordre Øyeren have risen really fast such that there are no mud banks left and therefore hardly any waders or dabbling ducks remain. Maridalen is also equally quiet although four Whimbrel feeding on a field today was a welcome sight.

In Maridalen employees of the water company were on their annual boat trip to remove eggs from geese eggs. This is a practice that is supposed to help reduce organic pollution of the drinking water but is a completely futile exercise. Today whilst it looked like they removed eggs from a handful of Greylag and Canada Geese nests there was a flock of 170 Pink-feet resting on the lake and a similar number of gulls many of whom have probably come from the recycling plant and are now washing themselves in the drinking water. Most worrying for me though was that I think they have taken the eggs from the swan nest. The swans were definitely not on the lake and I later found a (the) pair of Whoopers feeding on a field away from the lake. Edit: at 1915 the Whoopers were back on the nest..

Highlights have come in the form of Blue-headed Wagtail(s) and really good views of a stoat at Årnestangen.

a classic male Blue-headed (yellow) Wagtail ssp flava (sørlig gulerle) at Årnestangen. This was in exactly the same spot as last years bird and is, I assume, the same

same bird

a second bird. This one has a much more reduced sub ocular patch but I believe still ticks the boxes for a (near) pure flava although in southern Norway there are probably more intergrades with thunbergi than pure flava

the first bird with his mate

the dark necklace suggests this is a thunbergi. She seems to lack any yellow in her plumage which is odd for any race though

the curious stoat (røyskatt). It is a long time since I have seen one so this was a real pleasure

the dark tip to the tail which seperates it from weasel is very obvious from behind

a male I believe

a Green-veined White (rapssommerfugl)

keeping the drinking water clean (apparantly) by removing geese eggs

at the same time 170 resting Pink-feet are undoubtedly lightening the load

two of four Whimbrel (småspove) on the deck in the Dale

and here is a video of the male Three-toed Woodpecker from 30 April when he was on his own (before my last sighting on 2 May)