Autumn Garganey

Birding with Rune again, and today we headed for Østfold. I persuaded Rune that we should give sea-watching at Brentatangen a go as the winds were from the south. The hour we spent there proved to be wasted though as the winds were not strong enough and 2 1st winter Arctic Terns (rødnebbterne) and a Red-throated Diver (smålom) were all we had for our efforts.


Hopefully Kurefjorden would be more productive. We arrived at Rosnesbukta, as planned, just before high tide with just a small patch of mud remaining but where were all the waders?? Not a single Dunlin (myrsnipe) or Ringed Plover (sandlo) which had been so numerous earlier in the month (although interestingly there were a number of both species seen later in the day after it had rained). Instead just a handful of Greenshank (gluttsnipe) , Redshank (rødstilk), Ruff (brushane), Curlew (storspove) and singles of Bar-tailed Godwit (lappspove) and Grey Plover (tundralo). There were 150 Teal (krikkand) though which are far more numerous that earlier and I went through them as I have previously done hoping for something more exciting. Finally, some payback – a Garganey (knekkand). Never a common bird in the autumn probably because they are far less obvious, this was an eclipse male due to the grey forewing it showed whilst preening and also generally richer coloured plumage than a female would show.

No great pictures but for the record:

Garganey (right) withTeal (left)

closer picture of the Garganey

 Amongst the large numbers of Greylag Geese (grågås) was a white individual which had us thinking Snow Goose for a second or two.

A few raptors in the area with seven different Ospreys (fisekørn) including 4 together, 2 Honey Buzzards (vepsevåk), a Marsh Harrier (sivhauk) and a Merlin (dvergfalk).

We decided to give Lysakermoa a try. This site, which is part of the Glomma river system (the same as Nordre Øyeren) has nevr had the pleasure of my company before but definitely will again. We arrived just before the heavens opened and were met by literally thousands of birds. Mostly Greylag Geese but also many waders. Snipe (enkeltbekkasin) were flying around continually and many were feeding out in the open. We estimated 200 but there could have been more. Also Ruff, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Wood Sandpipers (grønnstilk) and 2 Temminck’s Stints. Eight Cranes (trane) were resting among the geese and a couple of Marsh Harriers were also in the area. This truly was a bird rich area and definitely looks like it has the potential to turn up something outstanding.

Boating

young Turnstone

Today I was lucky enough to join Andres Gullberg on his boat to check out some of the islands in the Oslofjord which are not visible from the mainland. Andreas has been out quite often recently and has seen a few good birds so I was looking forward to the trip. The weather was perfect and the tide was very high thus concentrating the birds. At Gåsungene which are 3 rocks that stick up in the middle of the fjord (and have small lighthouses on them) we had 9 Dunlin (myrsnipe), 3 Knot (polarsnipe) and best of all a single Turnstone (steinvender) which was a long overdue year tick. Also here a single Common Seal (steinkobbe). On a nearby island we had a young female Peregrine perched up (she was a very large bird).

young female Peregrine

juvenile Dunlin

3 young Knot

Peregrine again

Waders at Årnestangen

As recently as 10 August there was flooding at Årnestangen and no mud for waders but this weekend there were reports of waders on small areas of exposed mud right at the tip. So I decided to brave the mosquitoes and the rain and walk the couple of km to the tip today. And well worth it it was.

On the walk out there was little to see with a perched Marsh Harrier (sivhauk), a few Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin) flying over and a flushed Great Snipe (dobbeltbekkasin) ,which flew up in its typical manner with no call, a low and direct flight and you could hear its wings flapping, being the highlights and pretty much also the only birds I saw. When I arrived at the tip I could at first only locate 3 adult and a young Knot (polarsnipe) on an offshore sand bank but then I flushed an adult White-tailed Eagle (havørn) which flew behind some trees and as if by magic disappeared. I could at first see no other waders and assumed that the eagle had scared everything away but then as I got closer to the narrow mud bank I saw that there were actually a lot of waders. In total there were 90 Dunlin (myrsnipe), a single Temminck’s Stint,  3 Ruff (brushane), 5 Greenshank (gluttsnipe), 4 Redshank (rødstilk), 1 Spotted Redshank (sotsnipe), 20 Ringed Plover (sandlo) and 3 flyover Curlew (storspove). No rarities but a good selection of waders and impressive numbers of Dunlin. Even though wader migration is at its peak, ducks have not yet arrived in large numbers and there were only 100 Teal (krikkand) and 60 Wigeon (brunnakke) alongside a few Mallard (stokkand) and Goldeneye (kvinand). Passerines were in short supply but there were a few Yellow (gulerle) and White Wagtails (linerle).

It really rained when I was out at the tip and this seemed to cause an arrival of Common Snipe with at least 50 flying over in small flocks.

On the walk back I had 2 Marsh Harriers flying together, 3 Ospreys (fiskeørn), a Sparrowhawk and  a flock of Cormorants (storskarv) that flew in and then dived for fish in a very tight group.

Stopping in at Maridalen the Black-throated Diver (storlom) family were feeding together close to the shore although yet again I failed to get a decent picture.

The only waders that allowed themselves to be photographed today were the Dunlins although the rain and bad light were a bit of a challenge.

Dunlins: moulting adult (left) left and juvenile moulting into 1st winter (right)

This Dunlin moulting out of juvenile plumage was quite beefy with a long bill and hunch-backed jizz

Dunlins coming into land

Adult Dunlin moulting into winter plumage

Dunlins coming into land

Temminck's Stint with Dunlin

Cormorant flock coming into land

Cormotant flock in fishing mode. How many do you think there are? You will be surprised if you count them..

Adult and juvenile Black-throated Diver

Frogs

Summer seems to finally have come to Oslo today with temperatures in the mid-20's. During a ride around Fornebu today there was some signs of migration with a Marsh Warbler (myrsanger), two Whinchats (buskskvett) plus a Red-backed Shrike (tornskate). The plastic Red-breasted Goose was also around and allowed itself to be photographed at close range.
At home we had a pleasant surprise when we discovered that the frogspawn we collected in Maridalen in the spring had turned into frogs. The murky waters of the container where we have had them had at least 10 tiny frogs swimming about in it. We took them up to Maridalen and released them in the same pool where we collected the spawn. Interestingly there were a number of "wild" froglets here. Although they were a bit larger than ours (due probably to a better diet) it seems that they have metomorphosised at exactly the same rate as our "domestic" ones.

Home-grown froglets

Red-breasted Goose

Spotted Crake

I finally added Spotted Crake (myrrikse) to my year list today. A couple of birds have been seen occasionally over the last week along the edge of the reedbed at Presterødkilen in Tønsberg. Given this site is also often good for waders I gave it a go today. Arriving at 11am with a hot sun glaring down the conditions were perhaps not perfect but after first glimpsing a Water Rail (vannrikse) I only had to wait 15 minutes before the Spotted Crake showed. It was 'scope views only as it weaved in and out of the bases of the reeds for about 5 minutes - a typical encounter with this species.
Very few waders here with just 2 Ruff (brushane) and a Dunlin (myrsnipe) of note. A stop at Møringa on the way home produced a few more though with 6 Knot (polarsnipe), 9 Ringed Plovers, 4 Dunlin and 5 Redshank (rødstilk) of note.

Toads

After a few days back in the UK I had a walk in Maridalen today. I was hoping to locate the Whooper Swan family but couldn’t find them either on their breeding lake or the much large Maridalsvannet. Hopefully the youngsters have fledged successfully. Real signs of autumn today with suddenly far fewer Swifts to be seen and Chaffinchs flocking in the fields with a scattering of Tree Pipits amongst them.

One of the most noticeable things today were 1cm long toads hopping everywhere. They must have left the water on mass very recently (perhaps last night) and are seeking out cool damp places to fatten up before having to face their first hibernation. Also found a discarded snake skin although it wasn’t obvious what species it once adorned.

Bathing Starlings. Mostly juveniles which are fast changing moulting to 1st winter plumage

A 1cm long toad taken with a 300m lens

4th day running

To start where I ended my previous entry: I was not seeing things. Today at Maridalsvannet there were 11 adult Black-throated Divers and the juvenile. There were two groups (of six and three) that were fishing actively and very close to each other and resembled very much Cormorants (storskarv), indeed before I put the scope up I assumed they were. I’ve never seen this type of behaviour before and can only assume that there was a shoal of small fish that they were hunting. As to where they all came from then I guess they are local failed breeders from the lakes north of Oslo. The juvenile was initially sitting on its own close to the bank in Nesbukta. I walked around to it where I got some pictures. It then swan further out before diving and resurfacing about 50 metres away. Its parents later joined it and there was much calling when they did so. Also in Nesbukta a noisy family party of Marsh Warblers (myrsanger) which is a surprising proof of breeding. There was a singing male here in June but as it turned up relatively late I assumed it would remain unpaired.

juvenile Black-throated Diver Maridalsvannet

six adult Black-throated Divers feeding together

a picture of Maridalsvannet with the juvenile BTD in the bottomleft and the six adults top right (for the eagle-eyed)

I also visited Kurefjorden (for the fourth day running) and had little in the way of new birds but nonetheless a good morning. Dunlin (myrsnipe), Greenshank (gluttsnipe) and Ringed Plover (sandlo) were present in similar numbers to yesterday and the Little Stint (dvergsnipe) was still present. There were now two Spotted Redshanks (sotsnipe) but only a single Common Redshank (rødstilk).

The water was very calm and the light good enabling me to scrutinise the ducks. 300 Common Eiders (ærfugl), 11 Velvet Scoter (sjøorre), 40 Red-breasted Mergansers (island), 20 Goldeneye (kvinand), a whopping 102 Great Crested Grebes (toppdykker) and 10 Slavonian Grebes (horndykker) were good counts. Also 217 Mute Swans and many hundreds of geese.

Raptors were again numerous with at least six Ospreys (fiskeørn) including juveniles calling to their parents (begging for food I assume), at least 13 Common Buzzards (musvåk), 3 Honey Buzzards (vepsevåk), 2 Goshawks (hønsehauk) and a male Marsh Harrier (sivhauk).

Also a fair selection of passerines with Marsh Tits (løvmeis), Marsh Warblers (myrsanger) and Icterine Warbler (gulsanger) amongst others.

Marsh Tit

Willow Warbler

Kurefjorden

The last two days have also seen me at Kurefjorden and it has been interesting noting the movement of waders. On Tuesday the birds were very similar to those seen on Monday with the two Temminck's Stints (temmincksnipe) and two Grey Plovers (tundralo) still present although the Knot (polarsnipe) had moved on and the only new birds were a single Little Stint (dvergsnipe) and a Spotted Redshank (sotsnipe). Today though there had been a big change. No Grey Plover, Ruff (brushane) or Temminck's Stints and far fewer Ringed Plover (sandlo), Golden Plover (heilo) and Greenshank (gluttsnipe) but an increase in Dunlin (myrsnipe) to 23 of which only 2 were adults, a single adult Curlew Sandpiper (tundrasnipe) , five juvenile Knot and the Little Stint and Spotted Redshank still present.
Marsh Harriers (sivhauk) have been present in good numbers with five different birds yesterday and two today. Honey Buzzard (vepsevåk), Common Buzzard (musvåk), an early Merlin (dvergfalk), Kestrel (tårnfalk), Osprey (fiskeørn), Sparrowhawk (spurvehauk) and Goshawk (hønsehauk) have also shown making it a good couple of days for raptors.
Passerines have also been well represented with a family party of four Red-backed Shrikes (tornskate), a juvenile Thrush Nightingale (nattergal), Marsh (myrsanger) and Reed Warblers (rørsanger), Common (tornsanger) and Lesser Whitethroats (møller) and Pied Flycatchers (svarthvit fluesnapper) amongst others.
Now I just need to find a proper rarity rather than all these local scarce birds.
I dropped into Maridalen both days and yesterday had a distant tern which I saw better today and was able to identify as a juvenile Arctic Tern (rødnebbterne) which is both an early bird and a patch tick. Two adult and a juvenile Black-throated Diver (storlom) had changed into three adults today. Either I've been seeing things or the juvenile was with one of its parents on a part of the lake I couldn't see.

Dunlin and Ringed Plovers

Grey Plovers

Ruff

Returning waders

Finally some real birding. Kurefjorden was the destination and as I drove down to Rosnesbukta the turf fields at Roer had a good selection of resting waders with 120 Golden Plovers (heilo), 10 Ruff (brushane), 22 Curlew (storspove) and a Snipe (enkeltbekkasin). Also here a calling Marsh Warbler (myrsanger) which showed well and an overflying Goshawk (hønsehauk) which put up all the waders.

A typical mystery bird photo. Obscured by plants and an out of focus wire fence you can still just about identify this as a Marsh Warbler

9 Ruff - in a variety of plumages and sizes

 

It was high tide in Kurefjorden and the waders were nicely concentrated in Rosnesbukta. 16 species was a very good showing with 2 Grey Plovers (tundralo), 2 Temminck’s Stints (temminckcnipe) and 2 Knot (polarsnipe) the highlights and 56 Ringed Plover the most numerous. Juvenile waders are starting to move though now with juveniles of Knot, Ruff, Dunlin (myrsnipe) and Golden Plover (heilo). Also a hunting Peregrine (vandrefalk) and 2 young Red-backed Shrikes (tornskate). Many geese with over 600 Greylags (grågås) and 121 Barnacle (hvitkinngås). Amongst 300 odd Eiders (ærfugl) were 4 Slavonian Grebes (horndykker) and 37 Great Crested Grebes (toppdykker).

I drove to Gjølsjøen hoping that I would get to see the Bittern (rørdrum) which I heard back in May but which has been seen in flight recently a few times. I gave it two and a half hours but had no luck although heavy rain probably didn’t help. 3 Marsh Harriers (sivhauk) included two locally bred youngsters, a Hobby (lerkefalk) and 2 Cranes (trane) were highlights here.

By the time I got to Hellesjøvannet it was raining hard. A recently cut field held 18 Golden Plover, 11 Lapwing (vipe) and a Ruff and on the lake there were at least 12 Pochard (taffeland).

Continuing past Bjørkelangen around Haneborg there was a feeding flock of 43 Cranes which included some juveniles and also a few hundred hirundines (mostly Swallows) resting on wires until a Hobby shot through.

I dropped in at Langvannet near Lørenskog on the way back to look for the Iceland Gull (grønlandsmåke) plus the candidate Yellow-legged Gull (gulbeinmåke) that have been seen there recently but there were few gulls when I was there probably as it was getting towards dusk.

Large Gulls

It was raining cats and dogs today but I had a chance for an hour of birding so took it. I hoped that the rain would have brought down some waders but at my first port of call, Maridalsvannet, the water levels were far too high for any waders. A nice surprise was a well grown young Black-throated Diver (storlom) with an adult (the other adult was feeding nearby). The often fluctuating water levels here usually make it difficult for the divers but the wet spring and summer has meant little fluctuation which has been good news for the divers although has meant few waders for me.

At Rolfstangen, Fornebu there were 15 Knot today, an increase of one from two days ago. Also an out of place and probably sick Fulmar sitting on the water. Some good views of the local gulls. A juvenile Lesser Black-blacked Gull (sildemåke) had sat close to an adult Great Black-backed Gull (svartbak) which caused consternation to one of its parents which dive bombed the GBBG for a number of minutes before the youngster decided to fly off to another island.

The young LBBG came far too close to the GBBG for its parent's liking

The local breeders are of the subspecies intermedius and here is a picture of one of the adults. You see that although it is dark on the back that it is still paler than the presumed fuscus I saw in Nordland. It also has a white mirror on P9 and white tips to the outer primaries which were missing on the fuscus.

Adult Lesser Black-backed Gull ssp intermedius

Also a juvenile Herring Gull (gråmåke) and LBBG sat side by side allowing an educational picture to be taken where the subtle differences between these birds can be seen.

Juvenile Herring Gull (left) and juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull (right)

The Herring Gull on the left is slightly larger and pale but the most important difference is on the tertials which in the LBBG are dark with a pale edge whereas in the Herring Gull are a creamy brown with the pale edges jaggedly intruding into the darker centres.

Driving home I had my first Nutcracker of the autumn flying over the road. Soon they will appear in the garden to eat hazel nuts.

Tying myself in a knot

My 2012 year list contains some pretty glaring omissions. Willow and Rock Ptarmign (ly- og fjellrype) are probably lost causes now unless I have another visit to the mountains but the commoner waders that I am missing: Knot (polarsnipe), Sanderling (sandløper) and Turnstone (steinvender) will hopefully give themselves up this autumn.

Mini Oslo Birder celebrated her 4^th birthday today which left me more than busy so I didn’t check bird sightings until 9pm. I then saw that 14 Knot had been seen at Fornebu and judged that it would still be light enough if I set off. Sure enough it was light enough to enjoy 14 summer plumaged adult Knot feeding (or at least attempting to) on a rocky island offshore of Rolfstangen. I had left the camera at home but managed some phone-scoping shots. One more year tick!

(Red) Knot feeding amongst Eiders (ærfugl) and Oystercatchers (tjeld)

Also here some Lesser Black-backed Gulls (sildemåke) that in the fading light had me thinking fuscus. Recently sightings of birds ringed as fuscus nestlings in Nordland from near Oslo suggests that fuscus could in fact regularly pass through the area. Clearly there is more to understand about the different races of LBBG in Norway and their migration routes.

The long drive home

 The long drive (1250km) from Oslo to Bodø offers many birding opportunities but unfortunately I did not give myself time to explore as many areas as I had hoped and consequently didn't have time to search for the Siberian Tits (lappmeis) again or search for waders around Stjørdal and Ørin in Trøndelag. Never-the-less I managed some good birding in Nordland and finally found my first Red-necked Phalarope (svømmesnipe) of the year. This was on Saltfjellet exactly where I looked unsuccessfully 3 weeks ago and where I have seen them previously. The bird was an adult male and flew around agitatedly calling so had young nearby I assume. 

Spot the swimming Red-necked Phalarope. Behind a car on the E6 road and the railway track can be seen between the car and the pool.

Phone digi scope picture of the phalarope

Also here a female Teal (krikkand) with three ducklings and 3 Golden Plovers (heilo) but very little else. About 10 years ago I had lekking Ruff (brushane) here amongst many other birds but these are becoming alarmingly scarce as a breeding bird in Norway and may well have disappeared as a breeding bird here.
The tidal fjord at Klungsett outside of Fauske was very productive for me. Here there were thousands of seaduck although most were frustratingly too far out to allow identification. There were at least hundreds of Velvet Scoter (sjøorre) and Goldeneyes (kvinand) with much smaller numbers of Red-breasted Merganser (siland), Common Scoter (svartand), Tufted Duck (toppand), Eider (ærfugl) and a single Long-tailed Duck (havelle).
Highlights though were 43 Slavonian Grebes (horndykker), 13 Red-necked Grebes (gråstrupedykker) in summer plumage, a few Red (smålom) and Black-throated Divers (storlom), an immature Great Northern Diver (islom) and an eclipse male King Eider (praktærfugl).

The eclispe King Eider. Note the "sails" and orange bill are diagnostic even in this tatty plumage

Also here 3 Shelduck (gravand) and small numbers of Wigeon (brunnakke), Teal and Mallard (stokkand).
The mudflats also had good numbers of returning adult waders with 70 odd Ringed Plover, 7 Dunlin (myrsnipe), a single Temminck's Stint and a few Redshank (rødstilk), Greenshank (gluttsnipe), Whimbrel (småspove) and Curlew (storspove).

I had a few other birds as I drove south with the highlights being Cranes (trane) and breeding Slavonian Grebes with young.

The cabin

The last week has been spent at our cabin close to Bodø. We have electricity but no water and live a life close to nature here. The cabin is at Vågsbotn, a bay on the much larger Skjerstadfjorden. The bay has quite a high tidal range exposing a lot of mud but I have never seen many waders here. On this visit i had to make do with 35 Oystercatchers tjeld), a couple of Common Sandpipers (strandsnipe) and a flyover Spotted Redshank (sotsnipe) although not too far away I also had Golden (heilo) and Ringed Plover (sandlo) and Common Redshank (rødstilk). One of the highlights of the fjord is the frequent feeding sorties made by Red-throated Divers (smålom) who are often very vocal. A female Red-breasted Merganser (siland) had 5 youngsters in tow and gulls were represented by single fuscus and intermedius Lesser Black-backed Gulls (sildemåke) and numerous Common (fiskemåke) and Herring Gulls (gråmåke). White-tailed Eagles (havørn) are normally a common sight here but this time we had just two sightings although a Golden Eagle (kongeørn) was my first record. In the mostly birch woodland there were Pied Flycathchers (svarthvit fluesnapper), Chiffchaff (gransanger) and Willow Tit (gran eis). Nearby farmland had Yellow Wagtail (gulerle) and Whinchat (buskskvett) amongst others and a nearby quarry has breeding Sand Martins (sandsvale). Porpoises were often to be seen cruising the bay with upto four individuals. The area definitely has lots of potential but my visits habe never been long or frequent enough. We have previously had both Long-tailed (fjelljo) and Arctic Skuas (tyvjo), Ruff (brushane) and a july sighting of Waxwing (sidensvans).

Photos from Nordland

Here are a selection of photos from around Bodø and Værøy.

11:55pm looking north from Værøy- the sun shines strongly

midnight. The sun sets (real midnight sun is restricted to a few days at the end of June at this latitude)

First some of the different Lesser Black-backed Gulls (sildemåke). First off, the fuscus from Valnes, notice the dark wings without any real border to the black wing tips.

presumed fuscus Lesser Black-backed Gull

presumed fuscus Lesser Black-backed Gull - notice how the light can change the appearance of the upperparts

Some from Værøy:

A fairly easy graellsii

An obvious graellsii in the middle with a Herring Gull (gråmåke) on the right and a darker LBBG on the left which I take to be an intermedius.

A difficult bird which could be dark graellsii or pale intermedius.

Another difficult bird which was quite small and cute so probably a female. The flight shot shows significant contract between the wing and wing tips so this is a graellsii I reckon. Also the photo was taken at 10pm so the grey back probably looked darker than it would have looked in the middle of the day.

I’ve read that the intermedius types in northern Norway might be the result of hybridisation between fuscus and graellsii. I don’t know about this but I can say that LBBG’s come in the whole range of colours up here. I also saw one dark graellsii type seemingly paired with a Herring Gull which could result in some even more difficult looking offspring.
EDIT: of course I had not considered the possibility of HEUGLINI when I wrote the original entry. I don't believe there are proven records of this sub-species in Norway but it is probably just as likely at this latitude and longitude as Graellssi

Some other pictures:

Killer Whale (spekkhogger)

3 Killer Whales including a youngster

Otter

Common Seal

Also some scenic botanical shots from Værøy

A pale Whimbrel (småspove) – Slender-billed Curlew look alike

A group of five young Pintails (stjertand)

1k Pintails - the green on the wing of the right-hand bird shows it to be a males

The lack of green shows this bird to be a female

Gannet (havsule)

Gannet and Fulmar (havhest)

Juvenile Herring Gull