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
As I write this it is just +1C and snowing outside the window.
This is in stark contrast to England where Jr and I spent a loooong weekend
looking at flowering daffodils, bluebells, wood anemones, Firecrests and Red
Kites. Firecrests have now become ten a penny in my childhood birding haunts
where I definitely did not see a single one (40 years ago….) when I was a young
birder and Red Kites now cruise over urban areas looking for a snack. In
contrast to these species that have become much commoner I also heard a Lesser
Spotted Woodpecker which would appear to be the first eBird record for West
Sussex this year. It was a rare species when I was a lad but has clearly become
even rarer in the (may) intervening years.
Before we went to England Maridalsvannet was still frozen and
Østensjøvannet still half so. Now Maridalsvannet and, I presume, ØV are ice free
but surprisingly Sognsvann proved to still be covered in ice on a walk with The
Beast today. We are still waiting for the big arrival of thrushes but lots of Chaffinches
have arrived although we are still waiting for the big arrival of Bramblings.
Yesterday was a good day for Pink-footed Geese with 3000 or so passing over Maridalen
in just an hour of observation but there did not seem to be anything else
moving. Maybe I will still get big raptor da
Mute Swan (knoppsvane) pair on Maridalsvannet. I have not seen them getting any grief from the Whooper Swans so may be there will be far less swan drama this year although I still think the lake is a very suboptimal locality for them. Both birds had colour rings although I was unable to read them
Pink-footed Geese (kortnebbgås) heading north over Jr in Maridalen yesterday
a lone Pink-foot with Greylags by a frozen Sognsvann today
a large flock of Pink-feet over Nes in Maridalen
a pair of Smew (lappfiskand) at Østensjøvannet before we went to England. It has now become an expected event that the species will turn up as soon as the ice starts melting there
another species that has appeared in Sussex since I left is Egyptian Goose (niland) which still breeds during the southern summer, i.e our winter
Goshawk (hønsehauk) nest at Sognsvann today. This pair must surely be the most accepting of humans in the whole of Norway
This weekend I was so lucky to spend with Per Christian at
his cabin in Ringebu. This is my third visit after trips in 2022 and last year.
This year’s trip was about 10 days earlier than the previous two and an absence
of many of the early passerine migrants that we had seen on previous visits was
explained by this but otherwise conditions felt similar. There has been little
snow in these mountains this winter and at the sides of the road the depth was
no more than 50cm and areas of rock and lichen were already exposed. Down in
the valleys the snow was completely gone but there was still a lot of ice and
apart from Whooper Swans, geese and some Cranes there were few migrants.
Muen mountain at 1424 m was still covered in snow but even here rocks can be seen sticking out
here we are at around 760m and looking eastwards over Gubrandsdalen. The eastern slopes are fertile farmland and as can be seen spring comes early
Owls of the both the day and night active varieties were completely
absent and raptors were also thin on the ground except for eagles. We started
Saturday off with a young Golden Eagle and an adult White-tailed Eagle flying
over it and then in the afternoon came across a couple of Goldens that appeared
to have been a pair and which flew very close to us for many minutes and called
lots. We were on a road and close to cabins so if we had come across a nest it
would be rather amazing that they had chosen to be so close to human activity.
From what I can make out they also do not normally make themselves so obvious
if disturbed by a nest but I cannot think of another reason for their behaviour.
One of the birds was in its 6th calendar year and only just old enough to breed. Perhaps this pair is newly formed ot even still forming which may expain all the noise?
I have never previously seen Golden Eagle so well and it was an experience I
will never forget. Unforuntely though it was quite challenging documenting them
as the sun was behind but I managed some video and photos I am pleased enough
with.
In this video you can hear them calling very well. Apparantly as a species they call infrequently but this was not the case for us
a video grab of the pair
the other bird was clearly fully adult
I did not manage to get as good photos of the younger bird
I have asked Facebook how old this bird is and have got an answer that it is in its 5th plumage meaning it is a 6cy. It is (just) old enough to breed even if its plumage is not fully adult.
the Golden Eagle seen earlier in the day which is I believe still in juvenile plumage and therefore a 2cy
the upper tail of the same bird as it goes into land
the adult White-tailed Eagle (havørn) that was above it
At the cabin the Siberian Jays did not show at all on
Saturday and even though I was worried PC was still guaranteeing we would see
them and whilst enjoying coffee on Sunday morning up to six birds provided a yet
again unforgettable experience as they fed within spitting distance of us.
Siberian Jay (lavskrike)
Another, for me, new experience came on the drive home when we discovered around 30 Black Grouse in a roadside stubble field. I have never come across them like this before and cannot recall seeing a picture in Norway of similar behaviour. They were equally split male and females and although one male was displaying I do not think it was a lekking congregation but rather feeding birds. When we first saw them at speed from the car I had no idea what they were and even if they were living creatures so after stopping the car and walking back to them it was a real shock to discover their identity.
two male Black Grouse (orrfugl)
and here a number of females
Otherwise, it was geese and swans that were the entertainment on the drives up and down. On the way up a stop at Starene revealed Tundra Beans and White-fronts amongst 2500 Pink feet and on the way back we came across many flocks of swans and geese along a very long stretch of the Glomma in both stubble and flooded muddy fields. We twitched a Bewick’s Swan and found more Tundra Beans and White-fronts.
Tundra Bean Goose (tundrasædgås) with Pink-feet (kortnebbgås)
and three White-fronts (tundragås) with Pink-feet
A visit to the shooting ranges at the fabled BT Banen was a strangely bird less affair apart from a showy Great Grey Shrike.
Great Grey Shrike (varsler)
All in all a weekend that will last long in my memories.
a normal Willow Tit (granmeis)
and a very distinctive bird with a white tail
these four Cormorants (storskarv) heading north over the mountains were a surprise
