Marsh Harriers

It's difficult to know whether birds are yet to come or whether they've already been and gone without stopping in my neck of the woods. With the warm sunny weather many birds are surely just migrating right over the Oslo area without stopping. Tomorrow offers a change in the weather conditions with overcast skies and some chance of rain forecast but otherwise it is just sun, sun, sun that is forecast. Let’s hope tomorrow delivers the bacon then.

I set out into Aurskog-Høland again but didn't see the hoped for build-up of ducks, and especially Teal, that I was hoping for. I did find a single male Garganey at Kjelle amongst 150 Teal and it looks like this year will be mine for this species. In 2013 I scanned Teal flocks looking for Garganey and instead found three separate Green-winged Teal. This year I am looking for Green-wings but keep find Garganey instead!

Svellet is looking very good now and Teal numbers are at least building up here with 740 today. Little else amongst them with only 4 Pintail and 5 Wigeon. I counted 140 Curlew before a helicopter scattered them.

At Hellesjøvannet there were yet again remarkably few birds but Marsh Harriers were back. Two males were being very industrious and nest building at different ends of the lake. There was no sign of any females being present and I believe the males were building nests to show off to a prospective mate when one, hopefully, turns up in the next few days.

I also stopped at the Nittelva river near Lillestrøm where a whopping 8 Little Ringed Plovers were seen yesterday. I only had 4 today but what a great locality! I have never been here before but remember that the area has had singing Spotted Crakes before and I could imagine why (had to imagine the water levels higher and now brown sedge vegetation turning green).

I had time for a quick stop in Maridalen where I was hoping to find a Ring Ouzel (which is a completely essential part of my spring birding experience) but three male Lapland Bunting were a very pleasant if distant sight as they flew low over and looked to go down in a stubble field but were not to be refound although I did have 7 Twite.

I have a good feeling about tomorrow.....

male Marsh Harrier (sivhauk) with nesting material

the two different male. Male 1 (same as above) on left. Male 2 was also much lighter on the upperside of the tail and the upperside of the secondaries which can be seen in the video

male 2

male 2

and a video showing both the birds collecting nesting material.

male Garganey (knekkand)  with pair of Teal (krikkand)

Crane (trane)

Curlew (storspove)

first Little Ringed Plover (dverglo) of the year

the habitat where the LRPs were and which has held singing Spotted Crakes later in the year

Svellet - looking good and bird numbers building up

male White Wagtail (linerle)

Twite in the sun

The weather today was gorgeous and I was down to a t-shirt before noon. But days with blue skies are generally speaking poor for birds and today was no exception. I stuck to Maridalen where I hoped some raptor migration might save the day but the only I raptors I had (Sparrowhawk, Goshawk and Buzzard) were local birds.

Of course if you use long enough time then you do see something. I had two patch year ticks in the form of Linnet and a very rare Collared Dove (only my second record on the patch). A flock of 150 Pink-footed Geese headed north and a Crane had joined a flock of 15 Greylags also heading north.

There were still two pairs if Black-throated Divers on the lake and they even sang a bit. Another bird flew over calling.

The good light did bring out the best in the new camera and close brick licking Common Crossbills and a Twite resulted in some pictures and (hand-held) video that I am happy with. I also witnessed a pair of Long-tailed Tits collecting feathers from the remains of a dead (presumably at the talons of a Goshawk) Wood Pigeon which they then flew off with to their nest (which I didn’t manage to locate as the birds flew surprisingly far).

Twite (bergirisk)

there was also a male Linnet (tornirisk) which is a scarce visitor to Maridalen each year in April

one of a pair of Long-tailed Tits (stjertmeis) that were collecting feathers from the remains of a Wood Pigeon

only my second ever Collared Dove (tyrkerdue) in Maridalen

looking over Nesbukta in Maridalen which is still frozen except for a small open area where the river runs in

Two male Crossbills (grankorsnebb). I will have a separate post with video of them brick licking

Stick to the patch

I remember now why I prefer finding my own birds rather than twitching: if you bird your patch and find nothing then at least you feel that you’ve tried and the fact there was nothing interesting has some significance in terms of understanding what weather conditions etc cause arrivals of migrants. If you twitch and see nothing then you just feel like you wasted your time. My twitch today was to try to see the Steller’s Eider again and in much better light hopefully get some better pictures. I was also interested in seeing what it was up to as it has been reported to be consorting with a male Common Eider and trying to imitate the Common Eiders song. Well I didn’t see the Steller’s and things were made worse when I got a message that it had suddenly appeared half an hour after I left.

Nearby I did have a singing and drumming male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

I did find a few birds after this though which made me feel a bit better with myself. At Svellet, water levels look to have gone down a bit and everything is looking good. Teal had increased to 454 although there were only 60 odd Curlew (after over 100 having been seen yesterday). It is now things start getting very exciting here.

Over on the other side of Øyeren I stopped in at Snekkervika. Here I had a pair of Garganey. I heard them first and started looking up for a Mistle Thrush. I didn’t make my own recording of the song but here is a link to the call I heard (for some reason I'm not able to embed the file as I would like). They were not easy to see but I did get a picture of the male.

In Maridalen the Black-throated Divers have now increased to four birds but under a warm sun there were very few passerines on the fields (e.g Meadow Pipits down to 2 birds from 120 on Saturday).

male Garganey (knekkand)

Great Grey Shrike (varsler) Årnestangen

male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Moorhen - not a bird I see often in Akershus

Small Tortoiseshell (neslesommerfugl) in Maridalen

looking over Nordre Øyeren towards Årnestangen - lots of mudflats

 Here is a video of the male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. I my inimitable style it is shaky and handheld but with the new camera much less shaky than normal. I filmed some of it at 60 fps and have tried slowing down the video to show slow motion drumming - definitely work in progress.

 

Divers back in Oslo

I seem to have lots to write about at the moment J and the really interesting posts about hybrid harriers and Steller’s Eiders are quickly pushed down the page by run of the mill reports from Maridalen and camera reviews.

I was out again early this morning in Maridalen and met up with Halvard H who is equally hooked on the Dale as I am (and has one distinct advantage in that he can view the lake with his ‘scope from his living room).

Little and high cloud meant that there were few birds to be seen today although I did have two new species for Oslo this year. A Red-throated Diver flew a circuit of the lake and didn’t find the ice to its liking and headed back off to the south and the fjord whereas a Black-throated Diver found that there was just enough open water where the river enters at Hammeren. This is a slightly early first arrival date but in most years they come before the middle of April.

A pair of Cranes were feeding on a field and after I had five feeding together yesterday it suddenly seems that one expects to find Cranes on the deck in Maridalen (this is a sudden change in affairs as last year was the first time I saw one on the deck here).

In better light I also got to test the camera more and had a very good challenge in the form of a close and fast moving Long-tailed Tit which I managed some perfectly acceptable pictures of.

 

I also had my first Wren of the year in Maridalen which is a sign that this species suffered this winter.

the first Black-throated Diver (storlom) of the year in Maridalen. This picture was taken in very difficult light conditions at some range but I think the result is better than I would have managed with the bazooka



Chiffchaff (gransanger) in a sallow

these 5 Cranes (trane) were on the deck yesterday

and I had this pair today

Crossbills (grankorsnebb) are still licking bricks

a juvenile Common Crossbill (grankorsnebb) - this species breeds in the middle of the winter if there are enough cones

I was quite happy with this picture I managed of Long-tailed Tit (stjertmeis). I think that the camera has promise

in the bright sunlight this bird got burnt out and I wasn't able to react quickly enough to adjust before the bird moved. One of the advantages of this camera is that the Electronic View Finder shows you the actual exposure making it easier to know when it needs adjusting

a few Twite (bergirisk) have arrived

a tree top singing Wren (gjerdesmett) which surprisingly was my first record in Maridalen his year

male Yellowhammer (gulspurv)

 

Purchases and kit change

I posted not so long ago about what camera equipment I use but as you will have seen from my last two posts things have already changed.

My Sigma 150-500 has got stuck at its minimum aperture which isn't particularly useful. I took it in to find out whether it could be repaired half expecting to hear that it would cost more than the lens is worth but was surprised to discover that even though I bought it in Aug 2012 it was still under warranty so providing they find no evidence that the camera had been damaged externally (wouldn't be difficult with a camera used nearly every day in that period) then I will get it repaired free of charge.

I had however already made my mind up to buy a bridge camera/compact super zoom. After a week now of carrying around the much smaller and lighter 70-300mm I find it difficult to contemplate going back to the bazooka for everyday use. But equally importantly I have heard and read reports from other people and not least seen the photographic evidence that these new superzoom compact camera can take really good pictures and with optical zooms up to the equivalent of 2000mm they offer record shot possibilities that I have not had before.

I have chosen to stick with Canon and have bought a Powershot SX60 which has a 65 x optical zoom (1365mm equiv). I considered a Nikon Coolpix P900 which has an 83x zoom (2000mm) but this costs a lot more without getting much better reviews - except of course regarding the considerably larger zoom but I reckon 65x should be enough.

The cost of the SX60 in Norway is 4000kr ($485). If I had updated my DLSR and lens then I would have bought a Canon 100D and a Sigma 150-600mm at a combined cost of 14,500kr ($1760) which would have been a cheap alternative.
Time will tell how happy I am with my choice but for a quarter of price I have nearly tripled my zoom and now have a camera I can take anywhere.
I will post a review at a later stage when I've given it a good run for its money.
I can give one piece of advice now though for my Norwegian readers: don't buy from Scandinavian Photo - incredibly poor service and no right to return the product. Buy from one of the large electronic stores and have a 30 day no questions asked return option.

A new camera was not my only outlay. My Leica 8x42 are in need of a serious service and repair (the left prism no longer focuses as far as the horizon). The cost of the repairs would seem to exceed the value of the 14 year old bins so I decided a while ago that I would buy a new pair. Initially I was set on Swarovski (they have almost cornered the market such that you could think a birder isn't serious if he doesn't use their brand) but after talking to people who were not as happy with their bins as they were expecting (given the huge price) I decided to look at other makes (it must also be said that I gave up on Swarovski after their sales manager in Norway ignored my attempts to make contact).
So what have I chosen? Opticron Countryman 8x42 for under a third of the price of 'Ovskis. My initial tests reveal a binocular a better and lighter product than my Leicas and so far I am very happy with this purchase.

Here are some shots from Maridalen today showing what the camera can do in slightly better light than yesterday.



Maridalsvannet in wide angle 21mm



5 Mallard taken at 84x optical zoom (1365mm). They are where the arrow is pointing above

a Pink-footed Goose (kortnebbgås)

5 Curlew (storspove)

And here is another video. The video is what has impressed me most so far.

Steller's Eider

Not often that I write two posts on the same day but after finishing my earlier post I come over all weird and had a strange twitchy feeling that I can’t remember having had for decades. I willed Mrs OsloBirder to get home from work and at 1745 I was in the car. Leaving a bit later meant I missed the worst of the afternoon traffic but I still felt that everyone else was driving far too quickly. But I still managed to get there quicker than the GPS predicted ;-)

Three others including Messrs Gullberg and Zakariassen were already staking out the bird but it wasn’t a difficult one to pick out. It was with a handful of Common Eider less than 100m offshore and it looked like they wanted to come close into shore presumably to feed on mussels so I would imagine that there are some very good photo opportunities waiting to be had if the bird hangs around and the weather brightens up. But what a bird. OK, I’ve seen them before in Varanger in large flocks, in great light and in amazing landscapes but an adult male a stones throw from Oslo Centre was not something I was expecting.

It gave me another opportunity to put the new camera through its paces but that jury is still out....

taken with 65x optical zoom uncropped



65x optical zoom and cropped slightly

uncropped using digital zoom (not sure what is was but over 100x)

65x optical zoom uncropped

 

The still pictures might need some perfecting but the video seems to be very good

Tour de Aurkog-Høland

It was a Tour de Aurskog-Høland today with new bins and camera (will have a separate post on this). The bins certainly met my expectations but the jury is out on the camera. I need time to understand how to get the best out of it. It was pretty murky today which I knew would not bring out the best in the kit but that said I was able to get acceptable record shots at greater ranges than with the bazooka. It is also incredibly nice having such a small and light camera!
There is a lot of flooding in the river valleys and although I found a few good birds today I have very high expectations for what the next two weeks will bring. All the rain that has caused the flooding has also caused the water to rise rather too much in Svellet and I fear that the spring migration will be ruined.

So what did I see? Teal numbers are starting to build up but not in huge numbers yet and 128 at Svellet was the largest. Scarcer ducks were 5 Gadwall (3 + 2), 3 Pintail and best of all a pair of Garganey. Cranes have also arrived in larger numbers and the largest group I had was of 70 birds. Whooper Swans have mostly moved and there were not too many geese although I did have a flock of 180 Pink-feet and a single White-fronted Goose.

Raptors were very scarce today with just 3 Buzzards and a single Kestrel. I had five species of wader with a single group of 16 Green Sandpipers. Passerines were also in low numbers. Finches and Meadow Pipits were just in small groups of single figures and there were no large flocks of thrushes although I did see my first Ring Ouzel of the year.

As I write this (16:30) news has just come through of a male Steller’s Eider close to Oslo which is an extreme rarity in Southern Norway - I’m now trying to work out how I can get to see it this evening…

my first Garganey (knekkand) of the year. These were resting presumably as a result f having only just arrived from southern climes whilst the Teal (krikkand) were actively feeding

and my first Ring Ouzel (ringtrost) of the year

a White-fronted Goose (tundragås) with Greylags

one of many Cranes (trane) today

some of the 58 Curlew (storspove) feeding on the remaining mudflats at Svellet

the flooding at Svellet - it should last a few weeks and make this a very exciting locality

these gull are just about visible in the above photo and this shot shows the possibilities with my new camera

I had a few Red-throated Divers (smålom) today and also a single Black-throated

an absolutely terrible picture of my first Akershus Wheatear (steinskvett) of the year but at a range of 250m it's surprisingly good

male Kestrel (tårnfalk) in Maridalen

 

Dire

Today we were back to drizzle and mist and it was bleak in Maridalen. There were more Redwings and Fieldfares than yesterday but Mistle Thrushes have already moved on (next week I expect Ring Ouzels to turn up). I heard Cranes calling in the mist and found a pair feeding on the fields at Nes and I saw 2 Great Grey Shrikes at the same time. The birds were surprisingly close to each other (less than 400 metres apart)

Maridalsvannet this morning

the locations of the 2 Great Grey Shrikes (varsler)

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