The second half of the week has, unsurprisingly, not been able to measure up to the good start but it has offered some good autumn birding. A trip to Nordre Øyeren today in damp conditions revealed a Svellet completely free of waders despite there being lots of attractive (at least to me) mud still showing. There were three Great White Egrets close by though and this is now a characteristic species for the area in the autumns. Despite it now being expected it is still a bit of kick to set your eyes on them and they are still exotic.
Bird of today was a calling Red-throated Pipit (lappiplerke) that flew right over my head when I was looking over Snekkervika but it wouldn't stop unfortunately. Also still there were two Red-backed Shrikes (tornskate) which are getting to be quite late.
Great White Egrets (egretthegre) - the bird on the right is perhaps an adult with what look like plume feathers sticking out
This video shows a dark juvenile Honey Buzzard and an adult Common Buzzard in Maridalen on Wednesday and continue the great run of sightings I have had this autumn
a video grab of the dark juv HB
and a picture of the pale juv HB that isn't in the video
the dark juv HB with a moulting (adult or at least 2cy+) CB
In this video of a Black-throated Diver family on Maridalsvannet from Thursday the youngster can be seen being fed small fish
juvenile Black-throated Diver (storlom)
BtD family
Goosanders (laksand)
a record breaking flock of 32 Cormorants (storskarv) that flew into Maridalsvannet yesterday and immediately set about feeding (or at least searching for fish) as a flock as can be seen in the video
Shoveler (skjeand) including an adult male in eclipse which I don't remember having seen in Norway before and a pair of Gadwall (snadderand) at Merkja today
A Nutcracker (nøttekråke) collecting hazel nuts in the garden on Wednesday. They do not eat them but rather fill up their throats/crops and fly many kilometers into the forest with them where they hide them to be eaten during the winter. In the video you can see it taking nuts and also see the bulges in its throat
This mink in Maridalen did not seem to have seen me and The Beast sitting only meters away but as can be seen could definitely smell us
Wader numbers continue to increase at Svellet but today the water levels also rose by a whole 18cm. If this continues then things will soon change from mighty to morbid. The first calidris, a Dunlin, has now turned up and we can only cross as many fingers and toes as possible and hope we have at least another week of fun.
In other news there seemed to be a small fall of Redstarts, Whinchats and Wheatears today which allowed me to come up with the hilarious line “it’s starting to get chatty”… I’ll get my coat.
Svellet today 5th May
and the scenes yesterday:
At nearby Merkja a pair (one of two present) showed well today
And in Maridalen it was a red letter day with the first Lapwing young noted. Two broods were seen with a minimum of 3 and 1 young and another birds was still on the nest having been saved by the farmer when he ploughed a couple of days ago. There were 10 adults in total with another two females just wandering around on their own so there is still a chance for further, late, breeding.
Cloudless nights mean that there are fewer and fewer birds
every day, or at least that is how it seems.
Encounters with Jack Snipe, Bearded Tit and Siberian tristis
Chiffchaffs have been the highlights of the last few days as a wing bar or two
continues to elude me.
Singe pairs of Bearded Tits are in two reedbeds at Fornebu
but are for the most past very low down and are I believe still feeding on
insects. They call loudly only very occasionally and it seems to be when they
have lost contact with each other. Today I had a pair feeding in reeds just 3-4
metres from me for a good 15 minutes and it was possible to hear very, very
quiet calls which I assume were to make sure they stayed together but they were
incredibly difficult to see until they perched on a reed just over the ground for
a couple of minutes and preened. They were only two metres away but were almost
impossible to see let alone photograph.
I have had upto two Jack Snipe but lack of observations from
day to day suggests to me that these are new birds that are moving through and
just stopping for a day before continuing.
My best views of Beardies were on Wednesday when there was thick fog
a Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) in the open
droppings and bill marks in mud are a good sign that snipe are around
this Jack was much better hidden. Can you see him?
should be easier in this picture
there are a lot of Long-tailed Tits (stjertmeis) around this autumn and flocks move through very quickly
a ringed Siberian tristis Chiffchaff at Fornebu yesterday. A quite classic individual that was also heard calling
it was together with this unblinged bird
the lone 1cy Whooper Swan (sangsvane) is still at Fornebu. It loosely associates with Mute Swans but is often alone
And a trip to Østensjøvannet gave some photographic birds
male Mallard (stokkand)
young Moorhen (sivhøne)
female Pintail (stjertand)
Shoveler (skjeand)
side by side with a Mallard
and a late Adder (hoggorm). This was very small and I believe hatched this year
