5 Water Rails

The first snow of the autumn fell in the mountains this weekend causing chaos for people driving back to Oslo after a half term holiday spent in the mountains. Overnight temperatures in Oslo are now going down towards zero and we had a lot of rain on Sunday but today was dry and crisp.

A morning at Fornebu was on the cards. I could not relocate the Med Gull although it had been seen at the weekend although not by everyone who went looking for it. I did have 5 Water Rails calling (squeeling) in a small reedbed and actually saw 2 of them - 1 in flight and 1 glimsped through the reed stems. The young female Scaup was also still present and gave good views with 3 Tufted Ducks. 2 Chiffchaffs were the only warblers (although there were still Blackcap in the garden this morning). My hopes of finding a Yellow-browed Warbler must be minimal now but I will keep trying!
Waxwings are definitely arriving with a minimum of 15 in the area and a few hundred thrushes mostly Fieldfares and Redwings. I had very good views of a Black Woodpecker although only managed this lousy photo:

Black Woodpecker

Numbers of Meadow Pipit (3) and Skylark (2) were significantly lower than last week and for the first time there were no Wheatears. In fact except for the high number of Water Rails and arriving Waxwings there were few obvious new birds but clearly reduced numbers of many others.
On the fjord there are still a few Guillemots, drakes Eiders are coming back into their fine breeding plumage and 3 Common Scoter and a late Black-throated Diver were new.

Here is a picture of the juvenile/1st winter Scaup with 3 Tufted Ducks. This isn't the most obvious of birds but I reckon there are enough features visible here to be sure it is a pure Scaup and not some sort of hybrid.

A crisp autumn day

A morning at Fornebu in fantastic crisp autumn weather gave a good selection of birds although I was unable to relocate either the Med Gull or Richard's Pipit. There was a small but constant passage of thrushes, finches and Meadow Pipits and good numbers of Bramblings were later to be seen feeding in Birch trees alongside a couple of Lesser Redpolls. Highlight was when within a minute whilst standing in the same place i saw or heard Waxwing (the first of the autumn in the Oslo area), Water Rail, Chiffchaff, Lesser Redpoll, Brambling plus various thrushes and tits. There were so many birds calling at the same time it was difficult to identify all the calls.
Otherwise a male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was as always a nice sight, a female Merlin, a Scaup with some Tufted Duck and 3 Blackcaps.

A red bird day

After a few days holiday in Denmark with a visit to Legoland the highlight I was keen to get in a bit of birding today. On the ferry journey back last night there was some very choppy seas so I thought there may have been some birds blown up the Oslo fjord although when we docked this morning the sea was very calm around Oslo so the chances were slim.
I went to Fornebu and drove to the Sjøflyhavn where the views are not the best but you can view from the car. Scanning the sea there was virtually nothing to be seen over the sea. A couple of distant Black-headed Gulls were feeding over the water and then what on first glance looked like a 1st winter Common Gull flew past and then away from me. Wasn't the bill too dark though and the mantle too pale? This bird needed a close look! Unfortunately it kept flying away but then at about 400m range it turned and slowly started coming back towards me along the shore line. As it came closer I saw that indeed it was a MEDITERRANEAN GULL - a norwegian tick for me and also my first self found national rarity since I have been living here (although I do have a White's Thrush and Little Egret to my name from my time as a love tourist - whereas I am now a love resident).
I frantically got the camera out of the car and snapped off a couple of record shots before calling Per Gylseth who happened to be only 10 minutes walk away and then sending out a message onto the national bird alert system. I have only been a part of this system for a couple of weeks so this was my first indeed a red letter day (or perhaps more correctly a red bird day as national rarities always show up in red font).

Mediterranean Gull

Although the bird came close I didn't manage to get any mega photos although I suspect that it would come very close if offered bread.

Garden Blackcap

A Blackcap is still in the garden feeding on elderflower berries. This is starting to be a late bird although if the warm weather continues then it may hang around for a while as there are plenty of berried on the tree.

Richard's Pipit on the list

A very interesting report came in of 2 possible White-backed Woodpeckers in woodland on Bygdøy in Oslo yesterday and this morning another observor reported a definite individual there at dawn so I made a trip there at lunch. White-backed Woodpecker has one of its european strongholds in Norway but the birds are to be found mostly on the west coast and they are very rare in the east with the local breeding population having become extinct over 20 years ago.

When I got to the site there were immediately calling woodpeckers to be heard. In fact I have never encountered quite so many in such a small area. I had at least 12 individuals including on one occasion 5 birds calling within a 100m radius. Unfortunately all were Great Spotted though. One interesting bird was a juvenile still with the red head (a feature of White-backed). This appeared to be ill and was mucky on the underside giving the appearance of barring. It will be interesting to see if there are any more confirmed reports of the White-backed. Otherwise a Hawfinch and a couple of Bullfinches including this bird against a backdrop of autumn leaves.

I had time for a 15 minute thrash of Fornebu and this time I got lucky with the RICHARD'S PIPIT which was a norwegian tick to boot. I first flushed a Skylark from an area of rough grass and then another bird which did not call but was clearly a pipit. When it joined the Skylark in flight its large size became apparent and it then began to call - a distinctive sparrow like cherping. That was pretty much all I had to go on but was enough to make the call. I did manage this photo though although I don't think it can count as even a record shot ;)

The right place at the wrong time

On Sunday an unidentified "large pipit" was seen at Fornebu so I thought i would take a trip there on Monday to find it and put a name to it. I wasn't able to go early enough though because a message came though on the Bird Messaging System that a Richard's Pipit was at Fornebu. I went down anyway at lunchtime but in 3 hours of searching couldn't find it. Otherwise just ever dwindling numbers of the commoner migrants. The only real excitement came when I was scanning the fjord for interesting seabirds when i picked up a large, dark bird flying powerfully over the waves. Skua was my immediate reaction but it turned out to be a juvenile Peregrine that proceeded to attack, unsucessfully, a Swallow. Peregrines normally go for larger prey than this so i think it was probably just honing its hunting skills.

All quiet on the birding front

No real birding for me and thankfully nothing else of any interest in the Oslo area so doesn't look I've missed to much.

Whilst in the garden today I heard what sounded like a Marsh Tit calling but could not see the bird in question. This would have been a garden tick. Whilst trying to locate the bird my eldest asked me what I was doing to which I replied "trying to find a bird". Her reply of "there it is" and pointing skywards revealed a large raptor going high over the house being mobbed by a crow. Couldn't ID the raptor without bins although may have been a Honey Buzzard.

Pink-feets heading south

Warm, sunny weather was conducive to some pleasant birding and i chose to check out Maridalen. With the high water levels there was vety little to see on the lake although i did pick out 2 Black-throated Divers and 6 Goosanders. A flock of 120 Greylag Geese were feeding on unharvested wheat and were very skittish - frequently flying out on to the lake and when returning to the field they flew a couple of circuits before alighting. This behaviour is very unlike the local breeders so perhaps these birds are from northern Norway?
A flock of 50 Pink- footed Geese flew going south towards their wintering grounds in Denmark. It is only 4 months since birds were flying north on their way to breed in Svalbard!
With the warm, sunny weather i felt certain there would be a raptor or two to see and made a decision to not leave until I saw one. Almost immediately i picked up a distant bird heading purposely south but then lost it as i tried to watch it in the scope. I found it again after a minute and it was clearly a harrier and the white rump showed it to be a ringtail. It was distant but there was nothing to suggest it was nothing other than a Hen Harrier although there have been a number of Pallid Harriers seen in Norway this autumn. Unfortunately the only other raptor i found was a Sparrowhawk.

Out and about

I was able to drop into Fornebu for an hour at lunch and have a look around the Nansenpark area. Little to be seen unfortunately although the Kestrel is still around and a handful of Wheatears, Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs. At the weekend there was a ringing session at Fornebu which turned up Barred Warbler, Garden Warbler alongside many Blackcaps and other common migrants. Hardly any of these birds were seen in the field so it just goes to show what can go unoticed.
I drive around Maridalen revealed a Black-throated Diver still on the lake and a Great Grey Shrike being mobbed by a pair of Goldfinches. This is my first of the autumn here and will hopefully hang around as it is always a nice bird to see.
Back in the garden a Hawfinch in our willow tree was my first record actually in the garden although they regularly fly over. Also 2 Blackcaps still eating elder berries and a female Sparrowhawk over.

Cabin

This weekend we stayed again at the cabin in Hulvik about 45 minutes drive south of Oslo. Unfortunately the weather was far too good for there to be anything happening on the sea although a Kittiwake and a Common Tern were not too bad. Far more exciting though were a seal and a porpoise.

Around the cabin there were quite a few passerines with Crested, Willow, Marsh, Coal, Great and Blue Tits and both Great and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker along with Goldcrest, Nuthatch and Chiffchaff. A Grass Snake was in exactly the same place as the Smooth Snake we saw in July meaning I have seen all three species of Norwegian snake this year.

A Buzzard this afternoon flew north and then crossed the fjord which is exactly the opposite of what I would expect it to be doing at this time of the year - they should be heading south east for the winter.

I had hoped to spend some time on the island of Værøy around now and it is a shame I wasn't able to. A group of birders has just arrived there and have already found Citrine Wagtail, Olive-backed Pipit and 10 Yellow-browed Warblers.

Fornebu again...

A probable female Black-eared Wheatear was seen at Fornebu yesterday evening so that was a good enough reason for me to get down there today. Unfortunately all the Wheatears I saw were bog standard Northern/Common but a pleasant time was had. Blue skies and almost no wind were not the best weather for finding something interesting and a female Redstart was the highlight on the passerine front. It took a while before I saw the tail on this bird as it skulked low down in a bush and I was thinking far rarer alternatives for a while. Alongside the Redstart was a Crested Tit in completely atypical habitat - sallow bushes in the middle of wasteland.
The nice weather did at least encourage the local raptors to show off with singles of Kestrel, Merlin, Sparrowhawk and Goshawk. The Kestrel was particularly showy and was mobbed by both the Merlin and Sparrowhawk in addition to local Crows and Jackdaws.
Lingering summer visitors were Yellow Wagtail, Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Swallow plus Dunnock.
I decided to pay attention to the Cormorants today as both subspecies (Carbo and Sinensis) have been reported and sure enough I found both to be present. The following photo has a Carbo (the northern cliff nesting subspecies) on the left and 2 Sinensis (the southern tree nesting subspecies) on the right.

How do you tell them apart? Well the differences are rather subtle. If you click on the picture you will see a large higher resolution version which will help. On the bird on the left notice how the angle of the gape (the innermost area of the yellow around the bill) is rather actute whereas on the righthand bird it is squared off. Additionally notice that the right hand bird has far more yellow around the bill (this is called the gular area) and less white surrounding the yellow than the left hand bird.

Definitely subtle differences but there are enough behaviourally differences for them to be classified as subspecies although here they seem to be quite happy hanging out together.

Fornebu

Kestrel

I was able to fit in a trip to Fornebu after lunch today in lovely autumn weather with clear blue skies and a light SW wind. The first birds on getting out of the car were a Kestrel being mobbed by a crow and I later had good views of the Kestrel hunting over waster ground.
After all the bad weather we have had I had hoped that there would be a lot of activity from whatever birds were present and also some raptor migration. Most of all though I hoped for a Yellow-browed Warbler as very large numbers are currently being seen in northern norway (for example 14 on one island with hardly any supporting cast of commoner species) and they will presumeably filter south. Well no YB Warbler and very few passerines but I did have a Hobby and an Osprey which went over very high in a northerly direction (not quite sure what it was up to). 3 species of warbler was a fair show for mid september around Oslo with a single Willow Warbler, 6 Chiffchaffs and 2 Blackcaps. 5 Wheatears, 3 Skylarks and a handful of White Wagtails and Meadow Pipits were hanging around the grassy areas and a sign of the times was my first Great Grey Shrike of the autumn which flew over with either a worm or large caterpillar in its beak.
3 Nutcrackers were unusual out here and one had me searching for a woodpecker for a couple of minutes as it hacked away at a hazel nut and sounded very much like a woodpecker pecking at a tree.
A check of the fjord revealed a few Guillemots but nothing else of interest.

Eilat trip report uploaded

I've uploaded an old trip report and a few pictures from a holiday to Eilat in January 2009.

Garden tick

An unexpected garden tick was a group of 3 GUILLEMOTS flying over at a height of only about 30 metres. There are quite high numbers in the Oslo fjord at the moment and disorientated birds have been turning up in the town on roundabouts and wet roads but to see a group of 3 in flight was definitely a surprise.
A trip to Maridalsvannet also revealed one on the water there but little else except for perhaps 500 Chaffinch in a number of flocks in the stubble fields.