When I moved to Norway I had an expectation that
Tengmalm’s Owl were reasonably common in the extensive forests and would be an
easy bird to hear and not too difficult to see. I soon learned this is not the
case as much of the forest is young commercial forest with little life but just
as importantly the voles that the owls feed on have cyclical population
variations and it is only in years with good numbers of rodents that Tengmalm’s
Owls will breed in a specific area. Tengmalm’s do breed in the forests abutting
Oslo but even in good years they are at low densities and in bad years none at
all are heard. Tengmalm’s have been found to be quite mobile as they seek out the
areas where rodents are experiencing cyclical highs and attempts at ringing
them in the autumn often reveal them to be present on the coast and offshore
islands.
In 2020 I decided to use the same methods as the
ringers (playback) to see if there were owls moving through Oslo’s forests and
indeed there were! Along with Per Christian we found Tengmalm’s Owls in 2020
and 2022 as well as Pygmy, Tawny, Long-eared and Hawk Owls which was a real eye
opener. This year I have seen reports from further north of small numbers of
Tengmalm’s being ringed so I thought I would give it a go at my favoured Oslo
sight on Monday when it was forecast to be both cloudless and windless. I was a
bit disconcerted when I could not hear any Pygmy Owls at dusk and feared this
was a sign of there being no rodents but a Tawny Owl called half an hour after
sunset and then 40 minutes later at 19:40 a Tengmalm’s called and I could hear
that it was clearly moving towards me. The thermal imager then came into its
own and allowed me to locate the owl. After this I could use my head torch and
camera and had 10 wonderful minutes with the bird which was clearly a male as
it sung itself a couple of times as well as giving the characteristic and quite
eerie “tsyuck” calls. The Sound Approach is a great resource and explains lots of the different calls of Tengmalm's Owl including the tsyuck call. As can be heard in the video a Tawny Owl called close by
and this caused the Tengmalm’s to be come alert and fly off.
when I had first located it with the thermal but the camera would not focus
manual focus
and the close enough to use autofocus
here it was singing and you can see it throat puffed out
I did not take any images with the thermal imager but here is a video I took on Værøy when there was Storm Petrel (havsvale) ringing;
As it turned out Day 3 was not over when I blogged yesterday evening. I decided to go out with the thermal imager at 2130 and didn’t get back until 0030!!
First I found feeding Common Snipe, Jack Snipe and Golden Plover. Then I noticed the northern lights above me, then I started hearing nocmig (Redwing, Song Thrush, Snow Bunting and Reed Bunting) and then I joined in Storm Petrel ringing. It was a very succesful session with me seeing what I thought was an impressive 13 birds but the session carried on until 5am with 44 caught including 4 with Norwegian rings from before.
I was then buzzing a bit too much and couldn’t sleep until gone 2am and was awake at 7 so am rather tired now. BUT today m, or at least the early morning, has been a good day. When you walk out the door and the first bird that greets you is a clearly newly arrived Yellow-browed then you know the day has potential. New birds were discovered in quick succession with a Little Bunting, an Olive-backed Pipit and then a Red-flanked Bluetail all before breakfast. It felt natural to assume that once we searched more of the island as the day wore on that we would find something big. But in fact there was precious little to see after that. Two Grey-headed Woodpeckers were decent enough but not of the calibre that the morning glory had promised.
Red-flanked Bluetail (blåstjert). As can be seen this bird was caught and ringed (in a mist nest). Not quite as cool as finding one in the field but a great chance to see it up close
Look at that tail!
Olive-backed Pipit (sibirpiplerke)
Little Bunting (dvergspurv)
A glimpse of one of the six Yellow-browed Warblers (gulbrynsanger) I saw today
Arctic Redpoll (polarsisik)
Merlin (dvergfalk)
Waxwing (sidensvans)
Sedge Warbler (sivsanger) breeds on the island but is less than annual for us in September
A tristis Siberian Chiffchaff
The first Grey-headed Woodpecker (gråspett) hid in a rowan tree
Whilst the second was calling from the top of a hill
Although I arrived after dark I have still had some good birding today. The 3 and a half hour ferry trip on flat seas gave me a White-billed Diver, 5 Storm Petrels and a Sooty Shearwater!
Then once I arrived at my base (John Stenersen’s «cabin») I was straight out to look for Jack Snipe! My thermal camera worked wonders in the dark and 5 were found! We also found Common Snipe, Golden Plover and Dunlin. 4 Olive-backed Pipits were found today so my hoped for tommorrow are very high!
Some pictures
White-billed Diver (gulnebblom) taken from inside the ferry
Then the picture quality fell - this is a Sooty Shearwater (grålire)
The “lovely” weather
continues and it is very nice to be outside but the birding remains dire
despite the wind being from the east.
A definite highlight
after dinner last night was joining some of the “crew” for some Storm Petrel
ringing. I saw three birds lured into the net and as always there is something
magical getting close to this tiny, fragile looking bird that lives its life at
sea without ever seeming to be affected by storms. We also witnessed a very
impressive display of northern lights. After getting to bed late I was awoken
at 0630 by a very interesting and loud call from outside my bedroom window. I
was so excited by the call that I pulled on my thermal underwear and ran
outside. I followed the call to the beach to find once again that it was an
otter. I wonder if it is mating season because they are making a lot of noise!
Today’s birding included
a few flocks of migrating Barnacle Geese (genuine wild arctic breeding birds
rather than the feral stuff we see around Oslo), Pomarine Skua, Golden Eagle, Rough-legged
Buzzard, Redstart, Parrot Crossbills and a couple of Yellow-browed Warblers.
Highlight for me though was sitting on the beach in great light and enjoying
the company of 3 Bar-tailed Godwits.
Storm Petrel (havsvale) in the hand
the northern lights hand held with 10 second shutter speed. As usual they look much greener in the picture than they did live
The island of Mosken with the Lofoten island chain in the background
Painted Ladies (tistelsommerfugl) have even made it to Værøy
I got a bit closer to some Parrots today
Redstarts (rødstjert) are always nice and adult males are definitely not to be sniffed at
the Rough-legged Buzzard (fjellvåk) seems to have got the taste for rat
migrating Barnacle Geese (hvitkinngås)
and one that had lost its kin
Bar-tailed Godwit (lappspove). I took many pictures...
I worked hard to get the reflection but this was the best I managed
