Hybrid adult male Pallid x Hen Harrier

The omens didn't seem good at the start of the day - there were few birds in the air and no new concentrations of thrushes on the fields - but two birds in particular contrived to make today very exciting.
Maridalen was quiet with an ice mist over the still frozen lake but a pair of calling Cranes on the ice added to the atmosphere. The first exciting bird of the day was a species I had a hoping for but when I found it I was a bit shocked. Lapland Bunting is very scarce in Oslo although I have seen it three times previously in Maridalen and the first half of month April is the time to find one. The expectation is to find one feeding in a stubble field not singing from the top of a tree!! It was fortune that I looked at the bird - there was a lot of noise from singing Redwings but the closest bird from which song seemed to be coming was a lot smaller. I wasn't sure what I was expecting but immediately had a good feeling and got closer and yes a male Lapland Bunting. The song though was nothing like what I hear from breeding birds in the mountains and must be a subsong. It is just about audible in this video.

 

phone scoped

After this excitement in Maridalen I headed for Nordre Øyeren. Yesterday there was reported a considerable increase in bird numbers in Svellet including 4 Garganey. I was expecting even more birds today but was surprised to find considerably fewer and the Garganey had unfortunately gone.

Moving on to Årnestangen I had the days second surprise. I picked up a male harrier being harassed by a Crow and immediately thought Pallid due to long slender wings, small size and a pale grey plumage. As it flew closer towards me I saw it had too much black in the primaries for a Pallid but it didn't feel right for a Hen either. I concentrated on taking pictures (seriously missed the 500mm lens here) but could not see a black trailing edge to the secondaries and the extensive black on the primaries extended down to the base of the middle primaries. Studying my photos I see no other option than this being an adult male hybrid Pallid x Hen Harrier. Quite a few 1cy birds have been reported in Norway but this is the first adult although a couple of older males are reported from Sweden.
In the (poor) pictures can one also see that the hand comprises a short P10 (shorter than Hen?), long P9,8 & 7 and a P6 that is long enough to be called a finger but is not as long as one would expect on a Hen.

The annoying thing about this exciting bird is that I don't get a year tick out of it ;-(

at range it was looking like a Pallid Harrier (steppehauk)

the hand looks to only have 4 fingers and the black on the middle primaries extends to their base but there is too much black

very small

there is a thin dark grey band at the back of the secondaries but not as dark or broad as you would expect on a Hen Harrier

here we can see that the base of p10 on the upperwing is grey (black on Hen)

here we can see the "fingers". P10 (the outermost one) is probably too short for a Hen Harrier, P9,8,7 are OK for Hen Harrier but P6 is too short (although too long for a Pallid)

the absence of a broad dark trailing edge to the secondaries is again apparent

with a Herring Gull

Other birds were the 5 Gadwall still present plus my first Osprey of the year. I had 4 Great Grey Shrikes during the day and a return visit to Maridalen revealed 7 low flyover Cranes (had probably just flown up from a field) which judging by missing feathers are not the same birds I saw on Monday – this year is without a doubt a record for Cranes in Maridalen.

Pair of Cranes (trane) on the frozen, misty Maridalsvannet in the morning

The 7 Cranes in the afternoon

conditions must be quite dire for the Lapswings and these 3 were looking for food on the ice where a stream runs in

first Osprey (fiskeørn) of the year

these two 2cy Whooper Swans in Maridalen may well have been born in the valley last year

10 Goosander (laksand) were showing at close range

evidence of roosting Long-eared Owls at Årnestangen, Droppings and a wet pellet stuck up the tree

the view at Svellet - water levels are already rising

 

The Return of the Gloom

And things changed again today with a return to the gloomy misty weather of the weekend, or at least that was the case in Maridalen. There were clearly a lot of thrushes, especially Mistle, around but other than that there was little sign of any new migrants and there were generally fewer birds than yesterday. At this time of the year there is always something new though and the first Green Sandpipier of the year flew over and then landed briefly on the edge of the lake.

I think the local Lapwings summed up the bleak conditions as they were just stood on the ice with no interest in protecting territories or chasing off Crows.

the gloom in Maridalen at 70mm

and with the iPhone which is quite a wide angle

there were lots Mistle Thrushes (duetrost) today

three Chiffchaffs (gransanger) included this confiding individual

There were four species of duck on the lake. 8 Goosander (laksand), 60 Mallard (stokkand) which are picture above plus 7 Teal (krikkand) and 13 Goldeneye (kvinand)



Great Grey Shrike (varsler) is still present. How much longer will he stay?



Long-tailed Tits are present at a few different sites in the valley

Addendum:

during the afternoon the cloud cover lifted and an evening trip revealed a flock each of Pink-footed and Greylag Geese heading north east (normally they head north) and a male Kestrel.

male Kestrel (tårnfalk)

April has officially arrived

Well things do change so quickly which is what makes it probably my favourite birding month. After the least three days being very quiet and disappointing on the migrant front there was suddenly a whole load more birds today. No big falls, but more variety and birds in the air nearly all the time. We are now in the start of the period (which will last the next 7 weeks) when you feel that anything can turn up.

I started off by playing a visit to Snekkervika and Svellet in Nordre Øyeren where there were suddenly a lot more birds. Svellet now held 23 Curlew and Lapwings besides Friday’s Oystercatchers and there were also some dabbling ducks now with 35 Teal and 3 Wigeon. These numbers should increase every day over the next two weeks. The pool at Merkja is now ice free (covered in ice on Friday) but will need a bit more time before it is also full of birds.

There were a number of ducks at Snekkervika/Fautoya with 250 Teal and 5 Gadwall which is a scarce species in these parts. There were quite a few finches flying over (6 species) and my first Green Sandpiper of the year. I was sure that a very distant perched bird was a White-tailed Eagle but couldn’t ascertain any plumage characters however when I crow landed next to it then its huge size and identity were confirmed.

Maridalen was a complete revelation compared to the last two days. MY first Wheatear was on the fields at Kirkeby where there were also additional Skylarks. 7 Cranes flew low over, 49 Greylags had stopped off on the lake, and there were Mistle Thrushes all over the place. A Peregrine flew over the car, 2 Goshawks were hunting and a small patch of snow on a field held an amazing 45 White Wagtails and 3 Twite. These birds were presumably looking for small insects that occur on snow. On the lake Mallards (and possibly Crows) also seem to be finding insects to eat on the ice. I also had my first Snipe of the year in the valley.

The Great Grey Shrike was also still present.

I am still limited to the old 70-300mm lens but must admit that I enjoyed its small size and found flight shots easier to take – I really didn’t miss the old bazooka ;-)

 

I had a pleasant shock when I saw these four Cranes (trane) flying right towards me at low level

they then banked off to the left like synchronised swimmers

they stalled but I'm not sure if this was due to uncertainty as to where they should go or if they were thinking of landing

took far too many pictures and can't decide which I like best.............



25 minutes before I had the group of 4 I had this group of 3. Looking for feather damage in the primaries present on 2 birds within the group of 4 I am quite sure that this group of 3 did not join up with another bird to make the group of 4...

there is still very little open water (just where stream flow in) but Goosanders (laksand) have increased to 7

this adult Goshawk (hønsehauk) had I assume just eaten

my first Wheatear (steinskvett) of the year was a very early Oslo bird



a White Wagtila (linerle) sitting on the model of the church (before it became a ruin) in Maridalen

adult Whooper Swan (sangsvane) Maridalen

and 2cy

female Yellowhammer (gulspurv)

5 phone scoped Gadwall (snadderand)

and some of the45  distant White Wagtails feeding on a remaining patch of snow

and this believe it or not is a White-tailed Eagle and a Crow at a distance of ca.2km

 

 

Too much promise

This weekend has been very disappointing on the bird front. Low cloud and precipitations have had Per Christian and me out both yesterday and today on pre-breakfast trips. Yesterday to Maridalen and today first at Fornebu (after a wall of fog initially met us in Maridalen) and then briefly in Maridalen at the end of our outing.

The problem really though is that regardless of the weather it is still just a bit too early in the season and I fall into this trap every year.  Come next weekend though and there will probably be lots of new birds regardless of the weather.

We had very little in the way of migration although a couple of Chiffchaffs were in Maridalen yesterday morning despite rain and temperatures only just over zero.

I also made a quick trip to Maridalen yesterday afternoon after having had a flock of Pink-footed Geese over the house. I expected that with the low cloud and rain that they might stop in Maridalen and sure enough there was a large flock of 450 resting on the ice. These birds were later recorded heading south so had obviously given up on the idea of migrating north for the day and were looking for a roost site. I also had a couple of Cranes in Maridalen later in the day.

I am currently limited to my old 70-300mm lens but it is not so bad.

450 or so Pink-footed Geese (kortnebbgås) and a handful of Greylags resting on the ice at Maridalsvannet

a pair of Cranes (trane) are being seen regularly in Maridalen and are probably birds which will breed close by in Nordmarka (a very recent occurrence)

 

 

f.22

I had an early start today and hoped to have a great day. Unfortunately I soon realised that the weather had not done me any favours. As I headed north east from Oslo it became clear that the snow that had fallen in Maridalen yesterday afternoon had also fallen here and with a heavy overnight frost everything was white and the roads very icy – winter was paying us a return visit. The skies were blue though and it felt like spring in the air.

I went looking (listening) for the Woodlarks but heard nothing from them at three different sites close to Gardermoen airport. Hopefully it was just the weather causing no activity rather than no birds being present. I did have two male Black Grouse displaying from tree tops right by the road though which was a great and unexpected sight. The photo opportunity was there for the taking but unfortunately I managed one photo through the car window with engine still running (and vibrating) before my camera experienced a serious defect. It was only once I got home that I discovered the problem – the lens has locked itself at f.22 meaning that taking photos is nearly impossible and when I did manage to take any all the muck on my lens (internal I believe) shows up on the pictures. You will see the results lower down.

The Bean Geese were surprisingly all on the river and many were feeding on the river bank rather than on the fields. This I believe was as a result of the overnight snow/frost. I counted a minimum of 152 (possibly some I couldn't see around the bend of the river) which is exactly the same as I counted on 18 March on my last visit. This seems like a confirmation that this is the size of the flock although it may not be that simple as some Bean Geese have already turned up in Hedmark at a site where “our” birds are known to stop for a few days on their way to Sweden. So it could be that after 18 March that more birds arrived and some have already moved on or it could be that the birds currently in Hedmark come from a different population. There is some evidence that this might the case as not too far away in Hedmark there is a ring collared bird that comes from a different Swedish population. Interesting that these different populations (which some DNA evidence suggests are quite genetically different) use sites close to each other (including wintering grounds) without perhaps properly mixing.

Quite a few Teal were resting on the river bank but otherwise little else.

Moving on to Aurskog-Høland there were very good amounts of flood water around Bjørkelangen but the overnight frost had caused most of it to freeze. There were still lots of birds though and things are looking very promising for the coming weeks. There were over 300 Whooper Swans, 29 Cranes, 40 Teal and a massive 109 Lapwing.

Hellesjøvannet was surprisingly ice free (other, larger lakes were still frozen) but had few birds (e.g only 2 Teal) so presumably had only been ice free a couple of days but 10 Great Crested Grebes were back and displaying. Grebes must migrate at night as they are never reported at migration sites so it would be interesting to understand their movements and what they do if they discover a lake is frozen.

Svellet was all exposed mud but had also been frozen in the morning. Never the less 11 Oystercatchers and many Black-headed Gull were there but surprisingly no Curlew yet.

Raptors were scarce today with only 4 Buzzards and a single Kestrel (this species has not yet arrived back in any numbers)

winter in April. The roads were icy!

the only picture I managed of a roadside Black Grouse (orrfugl) before my lens malfunctioned

and this is what pictures look like with a lens stuck at f.22 and a significant amount of crap within the lens

wasted opp with a Buzzard (musvåk)

wasted opp with Cranes (trane)

a low definition view of Kjellw with Lapwings (vipe) and Whooper Swans (sangsvane)

these Moose could have been good (lots of Moose and Roe Deer today on fields with food in the forests being hard to come by at this time of the year)

phone scoping at great range. Here are the Bean Geese and you can just about make out that some are feeding on the bank

a rather poor picture of the flooding at Kjelle

An April fool? A supersonic bird? Or a technological problem? One of the tagged Bean Geese apparently flew from Norway to California (closest town April) and then to Ukraine (closest town apparently named Fool) - if you believe Carl from the WWT ;-).