Black-throated Diver

Last week I found a pair of Black-throated Divers (storlom) that had chosen to nest right by a small mountain road. Here are some pictures, unfortunately taken in the evening when the sun had gone down behind a nearby hillside.

Black-throated Diver (storlom)

and a couple of other birds...

male Lapland Bunting (lappspurv)

Tree Pipit (trepiplerke)

Rustic photo set

I am quite pleased with the images I finally managed to get of the Rustic Buntings and feel it was reward for the time I used finding them.

adult male Rustic Bunting (vierspurv) - an incredibly smart bird

female

pair together

the male when I first saw him silently fly into a tree with a large grub

female......

........in action - look no wings!

 

Three-toed Woodpecker

Here are pictures of the female Three-toed Woodpecker that led me to the Rustic Buntings on Tuesday. I am still working my way through the enormous number of pictures I rattled off of the buntings.

This species can be very confiding and often feeds at the bottom of trees. In the area I saw the bird there were many trees that bore signs of this species with holes in rings around the trees.

Hawkie overdose

A selection of pictures from two of the weeks Hawk Owls in Hedmark.

Bird 1

sleeping was the main activity in the middle of a hot day

but also some stretching

and more stretching

and very careful preening of individual feathers

I hadn't stretched that wing enough

just a bit more

a bit excited but only for a few seconds

need to clean that ear out

the nest site: an old Black Woodpecker hole in a dead tree

The third Hawk Owl I saw in the course of two days and which flew at me in attack mode when I found it and didn't have my camera

here the bird is singing

 

the presumed nest site - this large dead spruce has a large crack running down the trunk which looked large enough for the owls to squeese into

Pleasure

I slept wonderfully beside my chosen rock at 1000m and really didn't want to wake at 4am. I did of course though and had undoubtedly my best TOVE route. Half of the 7.2km were above the tree line and the other half in the tree line amongst marshes. The area seemed perfect for Great Snipes (dobbeltbekkasin) but I flushed none (they would have already stopped displaying by the time I woke). It was relatively easy walking, I had no dense and sterile spruce trees to fight my way through and most of the time. I could see where I was heading for. The whole route was serenaded by Cuckoos (gjøk) with 3 birds singing but one bird dominated and could be heard from nearly every point. A Greenshank (gluttsnipe) engaged in a display flight over large areas and I heard a couple of Willow Grouse (lirype) before finally seeing one.

On the way down the Hawk Owl was still giving warning calls as I passed so after getting to the car I returned with the camera. By 9am the light was already terrible and I can only lament not having the camera yesterday evening when the warm light was perfect. The bird didn't fly at me today but did sing. I didn't see or hear its mate or young but am sure they were breeding in a crack in the trunk of an old dead spruce.

Photos - lots of them - to come. Here's a taster

Hawkies revenge

After my near orgasmic encounter of the Rustic variety yesterday I drove a mountain road. A roadside lake held nesting Black-throated Divers (storlom) and Arctic Terns (rødnebbterne) with the diver nesting very close to the road and giving good photo opps.
After dining on a petrol station hamburger (actually quite good) I settled into Le Hotel VW Touran for a fitful 4 hours sleep. When the alarm went off at 0330 it was raining and I hit the snooze button. 10 minutes later I realised it sounded much worse than it was so forced myself up and out of the car. I had a 2.5km walk to the start of my TOVE route and then immediately a 150m ascent over the course of about 500m - I was not a happy man and to top that the mozzies are now here in force - they were so bad that it was difficult to hear bird song above their buzzing. Today's route was yet another monotonous forest route although this one did have some marshes with breeding Greenshank (gluttsnipe). The undoubted highlight was a close but brief encounter of the Hawkie variety.
After a breakfast of sorts I headed towards Nekmyrene with a roadside stop for some distant Little Gulls (dvergmåke) that were breeding amongst a colony of Black-headed Gulls (hettemåke). Nekmyrene are touted as the best place in Southern Norway for breeding Broad-billed Sandpiper (fjellmyrløper) and my visit last year did give three birds flying over although no display which I really want to experience. It is also one of the last sites for lekking Ruff (brushane) in the south.
Arriving at midday was never going to be the best time for displaying waders and a fresh breeze which mercifully kept the mozzies down was also not good. This probably was the reason I did 't find any broad bills although i did have 7 male and 2 female Ruff although there wasn't a full blown lek, 5 Red-necked Phalaropes (svømmesnipe) unfortunately beyond photo range and 4 Dunlin (myrsnipe) including one displaying where by all rights a Broad bill should have been.
I had only one raptor, a Kestrel during the day suggesting that it isn't a rodent year in these parts although I have heard that further west there a legions of lemmings.

I spent the night sleeping under open skies at 1000m to get a quick start on the next TOVE route rsther than having another 2.5km walk before 4am.

The walk up in the late evening was quite eventful as I stummbled upon nesting Hawk Owls and got dive bombed by dad. Of course I didn't have my camera as I was carrying sleeping bag and camping stove. Tomorrow morning though I'll be back!

Rustic Bunting

I'm up in Hedmark again doing TOVE. On the way up  I looked for Hawk Owl. I could 't see any sign of hawkie when I got to the site but after much scanning I heard what I thought could be one a bit further on. I went out to an exposed mound which I thought would give me a good view of the area but found nothing. Then just as I was about to leave I looked up and found an adult Hawk Owl in the closest tree - oops! It was finding shade by standing close to the trunk as it was a very hot day. In typical Hawk Owl style it did very little except sleep, yawn and occasionally stretch and preen. Life must be easy here. I saw no fledged young and the bird later flew to a tree close to the nest hole so the young may still be inside. Also a male Red-backed Shrike (tornskate), a calling Wryneck (vendehals) and breeding Yellow Wagtails (gulerle).

I tried again for Rustic Buntings (vierspurv) but had to accept that I won't get to enjoy good views of this species this year. Or will I? I wrote the above an hour and a half after getting to the bunting site and as is my wont I decided to transcribe my thoughts onto my mobile phone whilst waiting for some birdy birdy action. I had staked out the area where I had the singing male last week which was also where I had the pair last year. Thinking that this was probably not the best strategy as 6 hours last week had given only two brief encounters I wandered around the area. A bird flying up from a nest got me briefly excited but turned out to be a Spotted Flycatcher (gråfluesnapper) with four eggs. A couple of times I thought I heard the contact call of Rustic Bunting very quietly but ended up convincing myself I was hearing things. Then as I wandered I found a Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett) - surprsing that I had not had one last week as there is lots of evidence of them here. I enjoyed fairly good views of the bird as well as a male Brambling (bjørkefink) that was scolding it when I heard what I was sure was the call of the bunting close by but I found no bird and didn't hear it again so convinced if I had heard a Spotted Fly or a Brambling. As I searched to see if I could find the nest hole of the woodpecker a bird flew silently into a tree close by. Expecting it to be a. Brambling as every other such encounter had turned out to be previously I was, to put it mildy, delighted to see a male Rustic Bunting with a caterpillar in his beak. This obviously suggested the nest was close by and as I moved to try to take a picture of the male the female appeared calling. I was then treated to both birds calling and giving very good views. I was obviously too close so I moved away a safe distance, sat down and enjoyed those good views that I had previously lamented I wouldn't have this year. ABSOLUTELY BLOODY MARVELOUS.

I can't upload pictures to the blog via my phone but have put a piccy on Facebook (simon rix)

Blyth's video

This video of Friday's Blyth's Reed Warbler shows a lot of shaky leaves but does also give glimpses of the bird and snatches of song. Towards the end you can also hear a Fieldfare.

Blyth's Reed Warbler

I was guiding Neil from London today and we managed to catch up with a good selection of Oslo’s more special breeding birds. Starting at Fornebu a male Red-backed Shrike (tornskate) was hunting from wires whilst his mate is presumably on eggs. Marsh Warblers (myrsanger) were very obvious with three singing males, one of which was paired and three singing Reed Warblers (rørsanger) provided a good comparison of songs. A pair of Little Ringed Plovers (dverglo) that transformed into a pair of Ringed Plovers (sandlo) provided me with a bit of a headache until we saw there were pairs of both species in the same place! Icterine (gulsanger) and Garden Warblers (hagesanger) also sang here.

Moving up to Sørkedalen the male Red-breasted Flycatcher (dvergfluesnapper) showed briefly although is less vocal than he was when first found. Three male Common Rosefinches (rosenfink) were singing to each other in a small area and the two we managed to see were both red males and two Hawfinches (kjernebiter) flew over.

In Maridalen we had good views of a pair of Icterine Warblers, Lapwing (vipe) with young, Black-throated Divers (storlom) and also glimpsed a Goshawk (hønsehauk).

After dropping Neil off at the airport I had time to check out a site in Nittedal (the valley to the east of Maridalen) where a Blyth’s Reed Warbler (busksanger) has been singing. I didn’t expect to find it after last night’s failure (that bird has been reported in the early hours of this morning) but was pleased to hear it and then see it right by the road although it was not “it” but “them” as there was a clear pair that were chasing each other around (or most likely the male chasing and the female playing hard to get). They are in gardens and scrub/weeds in agricultural land along a ditch and must give the people living there a fantastic nocturnal concert especially as there is also a singing Marsh Warbler nearby and others have had a singing Quail (vaktel) here. Blyth’s Reed Warblers are increasing in Norway although still occur at low densities. It is therefore impressive that they find a mate. Hybridising with Marsh Warblers is known to occur but both birds today and a pair I saw last year were all Blyth’s Reed.

Blyth's Reed Warbler (busksanger) sticking its head out of a favoured bush

in sunlight it looks quite pale and rather a lot of contrast on the tertials

Add caption

in shade it looks far greyer and less contrasting

dancing on a fence

for 5 seconds the Rd Fly popped onto these wires but I didn't have the camera ready and just managed one picture at far too high ISO

male Common Rosefinch

Rain

It has rained heavily all day today meaning no TOVE survey for me. I saw that in Østfold and Buskerud that the rain has caused the arrival of a few waders. Some for example Little Stint (dvergsnipe), Curlew Sandpiper (tundrasnipe) and Broad-billed Sandpiper (fjellmyrløper) are still on their way north but a Spotted Redshank (sotsnipe) may well have already been heading south. I therefore thought that a trip to Maridalen would be worthwhile and sure enough there was one bird that had been forced down by the rain: a female Common Scoter (svartand) which is a classic bird to arrive in such weather conditions.

One of the two late nesting Lapwings showed herself with three small youngsters which was nice to see and gives continued hope for the small and fragile nesting population in the valley although we’ll have to hope that they stay clear of the many cats that wander the fields at night.

I had a quick trip to Maridalen last night but had no nocturnal singers to show for it even though two Marsh Warblers (myrsanger) had been reported the night before, I did hear Tawny Owls (kattugle) at two locations though.

A tempting trip tonight will be to a location about half an hours drive away where in a very small area there are 2 Grasshopper Warblers (gresshoppesanger), 1 River Warbler (elvesanger), 1 Blyth’s Reed Warbler (busksanger) and 1 Marsh Warbler singing.

I wrote the above earlier and forgot to post. I went out to listen for the warblers. I arrived at 21:20 expecting that with so many birds in such a small area that they would already be singing there hearts out. Well a Marsh Warbler sang half-heartedly until about 22:00 and at 22:00 the River Warbler sang for 3 seconds. It wasn't until 22:20 that the River Warbler began to sing at full blast. A Grasshopper Warbler began at 22:30 and the second at 22:40 but by the time I left at 23:00 the Blyth's Reed hadn't started and the Marsh didn't sing again. The birds were unfortunately a bit distant and there was some wind so I wasn't able to make any recordings of the song. The two Grasshopper Warbler sang very differently and the possibility that one of them could be something rarer has crossed my mind. Andreas Gullberg took a recording last night though and believes it not to be something rarer....

More Hedmark photos

I have a day at home to catch up on things before heading up again tonight for another TOVE route.

In between the survey work I also guided in Maridalen last Thursday which was booked as surprise birthday present by the girlfriend of a French reader (living in Oslo) of this blog – very enjoyable :-)

 

I’ve had a bit of a chance to take a longer look at some of the pictures I’ve taken over the last week so can present a few here.

Two young Ural Owls (slagugle)

The Great Grey

Three young Great Grey Owls - one is just visible to the right still in the nest. A week after I took this picture I revisited the site and found no trace of the owls within 50m of the nest

Great Grey @ dusk

Ortolan Bunting

Ural Owl (slagugle)

young Ural Owl

Capercaille (storfugl) nest - the eggs shown in inset are at the base of the xmas tree in the middle of the picture

Slavonian Grebe (horndykker) on nest

Golden Eagle (kongørn) - an adult I presume

an immature Golden Eagle

the same immature

I wasn't quite sure what I would find when I saw this tail sticking out of a nest box

it turned out to be a female Kestrel (tårnfalk) and I could hear young inside. Around Trysil in Hedmark 100's if not 1000'2 of owl and Kestrel nest boxes have been put up and I frequently saw them as I drove along small forest roads

male Honey Buzzard (vepsevåk)

a different male

female