I still haven’t finished going through my videos of snipes
but have at least sorted out of the pictures from the last few days. It has
been very wet and grey but every now and again the rain stops and you can
appreciate how autumnal it is with the trees showing some great colours. Bird
wise there has been little to see other than the snipes with Common now
increasing to 21 at Maridalen. Long-tailed Tits seem to be on the move with
suddenly many flocks seeming to move westwards after I had not really noted any
earlier in the autumn.
An incredible sight in Maridalen yesterday was a flock of at
least 10,000 Bramblings that flew west over the lake in a dense flock that
stretched over 2km!!!!
The Stonechat in Maridalen was last seen on Monday and on
Tuesday a bird was seen at Østensjøvannet. The pictures of it are far too
grainy to be sure but it could well be the same bird. I went looking for it
yesterday but it seemed to have moved on again. Østensjøvannet is not
particularly birdy this autumn (except for geese) but Smew and a male Pintail
were nice and a probable hybrid female aythya duck was a headache.
Maridalen pictures from Monday:
Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) and its Common cousin (enkeltbekkasin)
Jacky boy
Long-tailed Tit (stjertmeis)
my last sighting of the Stonechat (svartstrupe)
small numbers of Teal (krikkand) are on Maridalsvannet
Tuesday:
spot the Jack Snipe. Instead of my usual photo taken with a mobile at a couple of metres range this is taken with the 600mm at around 50m range
there he is
Common Snipe
more Common Snipe
Wednesday:
Common Snipe with reflection
The one parent Whooper Swan (sangsvane) family seems to have lost one of the young
a very small part of the Brambling (bjørkefink) flock that was 2km long as it flew over!
Today:
what may well be my last Adder (hogorm) of the year
Brambling
one of Maridalen's House Sparrow (gråspurv) family with its far commoner cousin a Tree Sparrow (pilfink)
Pink-footed Geese (kortnebbgås) that have stopped in Maridalen for a feed
Østensjøvannet:
this male Pintail (stjertand) arrived a while ago when still in eclipse plumage but is now nearly in complete breeding plumage (and far earlier than any of other dabbling ducks there). It lacks a proper long tail though
male Wigeon (brunnakke) in different phases of plumage progression
a Cormorant (storskarv)
and a confiding Grey Heron (hegre)
the Smew (lappfiskand) is still present
As duck hybrids of not most peoples cup of tea I have kept it for last.
It is possibly a pure Tufted Duck (toppand) but I reacted initially to its head shape and reddish plumage. The eye colour also looks too red for a pure Tufted. I thought initially there might be Ferruginous Duck (hvitøyeand) in it but it lacks the obvious white arse of that species. I will do some more research but will be pleased to here if anyone has any thoughts.
this and the next picture from Wednesday
and this and the next from today
here it does have some white under the tail even though it is not visible on the swimming bird
and a Tufted Duck with its very yellow eye and this bird also shows a Ferruginous like white arse which is not that uncommon for the species so should definitely be present on a hybrid between the two
I have been walking around the last few days waiting and
expecting to hear a Yellow-browed Warbler and I can hear the call every time I
close my eyes but it is all in my mind as one has not revealed itself to me in
the living flesh….. yet. I would really like this to be my 200th
species for #Oslo2024.
Two classic autumn species has turned up though in the form
of my first Jack Snipe of the year although unfortunately not in Oslo and Great
Grey Shrike. There has also been a good influx of Common Snipes and with very damp
fields at the moment there are lots of places for them to hide away.
Bramblings have started flocking in huge numbers on rape
seed oil fields in Maridalen and there could well have been in excess of 5000
birds in one flock. There are also good numbers of geese with 250 Greylag and 150
Pink-footed feeding on oats.
Two surprises have come from the Dales largest and usually most
obvious birds.
First, a family of 4 Common Cranes has appeared on one of
the species favoured fields and I am sure this is the pair that has been
hanging around every summer since 2018 but which have never previously successfully
raised young. They are around in the spring and then normally disappear before
turning up again late summer and I have assumed they have bred further in the
forest but probably not that far from Maridalen.
Secondly, there were three juvenile Whooper Swans on this
species favoured field. They were accompanied by a lone adult and nearby were a
pair. I am quite sure that these are not the same young as I saw on 6
June (but not since) and if they are then they have done an amazing hiding job.
Instead, I think they must come from another breeding site in the forest and
the parents will be one of the pairs that are always chased off by the valley’s
breeding pair who may well also be grandparents to these young. The young
looked to be just accompanied by one parent so may have lost the other and the
pair I saw were, I believe, the valley’s long reigning masters but who may well
have realised that their days are over due to their old age and
uncharacteristically were happy to allow the presence of other birds (although
their typical territorial behaviour is probably more of a spring thing).
Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) found with the use of the thermal imager
and a Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin) that was some what easier to find
there are 6 Common Snipe in this shot
Great Grey Shrike (varsler)
the thin wing bar shows this to be a 1cy bird
Meadow Pipit (heipiplerke)
a Merlin (dvergfalk) eating what may well be a Mipit
a close view of a Brambling (bjørkefink)
capturing the thousand strong flocks though is not so easy
geese flocking on a partially harvested field of oats (havre)
here Pink-footed (kortnebbgås)
a Crane (trane) family in Maridalen which most likely represents the first successfully local breeding
and three juvenile Whooper Swans (sangsvane) which also represent local breeding although I am not sure how local
this female duck was noticeably smaller than the Mallards (stokkand) it was with and I wondered whether it was a hybrid with Teal (krikkand) but can't find anything in the plumage that confirms that
