Easter

I’ve just returned from 5 days skiing in Trysil with the family. There were remarkably few birds to be seen or heard in the forests through which the pistes ran but I did hear a single Pine Grosbeak. The view from the top of the mountain was fantastic and revealed the true extent of the forests in the area which support Rustic Buntings, Great Grey and Ural Owls, wolves and bears and it is not hard to believe that the populations of the birds are much higher than ornithologists know of given the vastness and inaccessibility of the area.

On the drive up I had a roadside Hawk Owl and on the drive back a roadside Pygmy Owl but no raptors.

On our last night there was a fall of around 30cm of snow which must have proven a challenge for the earliest migrants. A stop at a petrol station revealed two Robins searching for food around the cars which was a real sign of how desperate they were.

On the drive home I persuaded the girls that a stop at Starene would be worthwhile and whilst they played on ipads I viewed this great area. There were hundreds of Pink-footed Geese and amongst them 6 geese with orange legs. Two were White-fronted Geese, 3 were Tundra/rossicus Bean Geese and the last a Taiga/fabalis Bean Goose.  I didn’t have my scope with me and only the superzoom but at one stage had a Taiga and Tundra in the same field of view. The Tundra’s were pretty straightforward to ID but as is usual with a lone bird the Taiga took a bit of time before I felt happy but its large size, long thin neck, relatively small head and long thin bill eventually made me happy with the(sub)specific ID.

There were lots of Teal feeding amongst flooded areas of long grass but they never showed well and I didn’t see the Green-winged Teal that had been seen amongst them a few days previously.

My first Hen Harrier of the year also showed briefly from the car.

Hawk Owl at 80km/h (I was in the passenger seat...)

Pygmy Owl (spurveugle) at 50km/h (also from the passenger seat)

Petrol station Robins (rødstrupe) 

Pink-footed (kortnebgås) and a Barnacle Goose (hvitkinngås) at Starene 

Pink-foot EC3. Ringed 30.4.16 in Trøndelag in the middle of Norway. Spent the winter in Denmark and seen at Starene since 03.04

BA8. Ringed 30.4.16 in Trøndelag. Also spent the winter in DK and seen at Starene since 03.04

Pink-footed Geese 

The Taiga/fabalis Bean Goose (sædgås) 

Tundra/ rossicus Bean Goose #1

#2

#3

a very poor photo. But top right is the Taiga and in the middle is Tundra #3 

Two sleeping White-fronted Geese

This morning I was up early and in Maridalen before breakfast. In the course of six days the ice on the lake has frozen and the farmer has started ploughing the stubble fields. Clear skies and an overnight frost meant there were not too many birds though. Eight Curlew were the (expected) highlight. Passage of this species is very concentrated to the middle of April and it is always a thrill to see and hear this species. Five Green Sands were also a welcome sight and with Snipe and Lapwing I had four species of wader.

Five Black-throated Divers were on the lake and two flew north. There were few thrushes or finches and only a single Mipit but Robins and Dunnocks were very noticeable. I heard a singing Black Grouse and amazingly found it sitting on the top of a spruce on a hillside over 2km away!

singing Black Grouse (orrfugl) at at least 2km range

5 Black-throated Divers (storlom) were on the lake and two headed north 

These two Curlew (storspove) were resting on frost covered fields first thing

and then flew up to join six that came in from the south. After making a few circuits they landed on an island in the lake

Jay (nøtteskrike) 

male Tufted Duck (toppand) with forsty vegetation

Twite (bergirisk) one of a flock of six

Oslo Kingfisher

Today dawned with thick fog again as a result, I believe, of no wind, warm sunny afternoons and cold nights with a lot of moisture in the soil.

From tomorrow though there is quite a bit of wind forecast so hopefully fog will no longer be a problem.

I had little time for birding today but squeezed in a trip to Maridalen after breakfast where the fog made viewing conditions nearly impossible. Redwings and Chaffinches were singing everywhere though and I had my first singing Dunnock of the year plus second singing Chiffchaff.

Things got a bit more exciting in the afternoon though when I checked my emails whilst making dinner. I had received an email from a stranger who had just seen a Kingfisher along Akerselva (the stream running through Oslo) and only a five-minute cycle from my house. I alerted Per Christian who lives even closer and we met after dinner at the river. Quite amazingly we found the bird in the same area as it had been seen earlier although saw it only briefly before it took off upstream. The river here could conceivably house a breeding pair as there are slow moving sections and small fish but I could not see any suitable mud/sand banks for a safe nest hole. The bird I saw was a female and there was nothing in its behaviour to suggest it was in breeding modus but it was best to be cautious with such a popular species (nearly as popular as a Great Grey Owl).

I searched again for the bird on 5.4 without finding it although was lucky enough to have a male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

Kingfisher (isfugl) in urban Oslo on Akerselva. The extensive red on the bill shows it to be a female

Grey Wagtail (vintererle) pair

a male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (dvergspett) was a nice compensation for not refinding the Kingfisher 

A real surprise

I had a very early start in some deep forests hoping to see something large and pale charcoal coloured but didn’t succeed on that score. I did hear the sound of many lekking Black Grouse, had a singing Parrot Crossbill plus Black Woodpeckers, Mistle Thrushes and could hear displaying Cranes. So a nice way to spend breakfast!

Later in the day I visited Kjelle where there were still no Green-winged Teal or Garganey amongst the Teal and only a single Tundra/rossicus Bean Goose amongst the geese.

Svellet was the site of the day. Curlew numbers have now risen to 86 and 66 Teal were feeding in the shallow waters (water is at a premium as it is mostly mud). So this was a huge increase from 2 days ago when there were 26 Curlew and no Teal. Highlight and a real surprise though was a raptor. On Tuesday I had an adult Peregrine perched on a log out in the middle, so when I saw a distant perched raptor I initially assumed it was the same Peregrine. However, something was not right and I cranked up the magnification on the scope. This bird was pale and grey, it was lacking a moustache stripe and instead had dark cheeks and its tail clearly projected beyond the wing tips – a GYR FALCON. This was my first record in Akershus and as has been the case with all my records of Gyr Falcon was a distant bird that allowed itself to barely be photographed – when will I see a close photogenic bird? The ID through the scope was not in doubt though. The plumage was not of a juv/2cy bird which would be expected but instead of an older bird. Adults should be firmly established on breeding sites now so unless this was a wandering unpaired non-breeding bird I assume it was a 3cy.

Crappy photos indeed. But through the 'scope I could see this was a Gyr Falcon (jaktfalk) 

Tundra (rossicus) Bean Goose with Pink-footed, and Canada Geese. When asleep its darker back allowed it to be separated from the Pink-foots which (generally) have a greyer back

some of the Curlews (storspove) feeding in Svellet

Pied Wag

Yesterday I covered a lot of ground.

I started at just after 7am at Årnestangen but it was a bit too cold and windy for a successful birding trip and I saw little. A pair of adult White-tailed Eagles sat distantly on a mudbank was the highlight. They appeared to be eating something and at one stage may also have mated but I can’t be sure as I was looking through the camera at the time (and didn’t take any pictures at the right time…) There was a pair here last year but they were still hanging around in May so clearly didn’t breed. Maybe they will breed this year although established pairs are already on eggs so it may well be that they won’t breed this year either.

In Svellet Curlew numbers have grown to 25 and there was also Lapwing and Oystercatcher there so the wader bonanza is starting.

I had intended just to visit Nordre Øyeren but with few birds and lots of time I headed out east. At Hemnessjøen I had Red and Black-throated Divers and Osprey which are all early. Best birds though came when I stopped to view some gulls feeding in a sheep field. Nothing exciting amongst them but there were some wagtails and I immediately noticed a Pied amongst the Whites. It was a female type and then just a couple of metres away was a fantastic male. I then concentrated on the male and forgot about the female until the birds had moved too far away although luckily did get a couple of record shots of her too. Pied Wagtails (the UK race of White Wagtail) are very scarce in these parts but this is the time of the year to find them.

I crossed over into Østfold to see a pair of Garganey found yesterday and also had my first Green Sandpiper of the year and then continued up the east side of Hemnessjøen. Here I had a couple of Ring Ouzels.

Hellesjøvannet didn’t have too much but the fields to the north had lots of thrushes and starlings (all through the day there were lots of thrushes to see) and also 5 Golden Plovers.

Kjelle delivered the goods as usual. Just before I got there I received a text from Stig Helge that there were 7 Bean Geese there. When I got there I could only find 5 together with some Whooper Swans. I struggled a bit at first but eventually satisfied myself that they were Taiga/fabalis. I changed viewing position and then found the other two about 150 metres away with 4 Pink-feets and these two were clear Tundra/rossicus. Very frustratingly they would not join up and to be honest the subtle differences between them could be difficult to see especially if you just focused on the bill. But the clearest different was in size. The Taigas are big geese around Greylag in size and had long necks. The Tundras were no bigger than the Pink-feet they were together with and had short thick necks.

There is also a nice amount of flood water at Kjelle which held 106 Teal and 2 Wigeon and which will hold a lot more in the coming weeks unless it dries up.

I finished the day in Maridalen, where else? Here I had a new bird for the valley in the form of a hybrid Greylag x Canada Goose as well as a fly over Lapland Bunting.

A very good day and just how it should be in early April!

The Pied Wagtail I first noted - a female 

and then I noted this male!

both birds

montage of male 

both birds. The male is jet black on the back whilst the female sees the black on the crown gradually becoming lighter on the mantle but still much darker than on a White Wag. Note also the dark flanks

5 Taiga/fabalis Bean Geese 

the birds left Kjelle at 1345 but 10 minutes later I saw them in flight to the north

Two Tundra/rossicus Bean Geese with a Pink-footed Goose (left) and Canada and Greylag 

the size difference was also very noticeable. The Taigas are the size of Greylags whilst the Tundras are the size of Pink-feets

Cranes (trane) - I had way over 100 today

Garganey (knekkand)

Golden Plovers (heilo)

Great Grey Shrike (varsler) one of three I saw

the flood waters at Kjelle 

Lapland Bunting (lappspurv) in Maridalen. With a lot of good will you can even see it is a male.........

aerobatics from a displaying male Lapwing (vipe)

Mistle Thrush (duetrost)

Ring Ouzel (ringtrost) 

Teal (krikkand) at Kjelle

Not enough birds

Sunday dawned with thick fog again and I really should have just stayed in bed but the lure of Maridalen was too strong. There were two occurrences of note in an otherwise bird lite two hours.

Firstly, it was nice to note the first Bramblings amongst the growing flocks of Chaffinches. The Chaffinch flocks now contain females whereas less than a week ago were entirely made up of males. My first Chiffchaff of the year was of course also a sighting of note J

In the afternoon I had a walk with Mrs OB in warm sunshine and we saw two Lizards and an Adder although increase or change in the generally low number of birds.  

adder (hoggorm) 

2 male Bramblings (bjørkefink)

any ideas what this beautiful fungus is? 

Common Lizard (nordfirfisle)

A goose and some thrushes and some fog

I posted a picture of a flock of 144 Pink-footed Geese on the ice in Maridalen yesterday. I went through the flock twice with the telescope with the aim of finding something else amongst them. It was therefore a bit annoying to see that someone with more patience than me got to see them feeding on a field at close range and voila there was a Tundra (rossicus) Bean Goose amongst them and the picture was rather good!

Overnight there was rain and when I awoke at 8am thick fog so chances were good that the geese would still be there. I wasn’t able to go up until 10am though which was probably just as well as the fog was finally lifting. I met Halvard H who had already been there for a couple of hours and notched up Oslo’s first Ring Ouzel of the year plus a Chiffchaff. He was peering at the flock of geese through the mist and thought he had seen the Bean but it was incredibly difficult distinguishing colours. I too thought I could see the Bean but then just couldn’t find it again. Eventually though there was good enough light for us to be sure it was there and later the fog lifted enough for pictures. This is a rare species in Maridalen and is only the second or third record. It is always lost individuals of the rossicus (sub) species that turns ups with Pink-footed Geese on migration and there are enough records around Norway that there must be a good possibility that the two species are hybridising on Svalbard (where the Pink-foots breed) although I am not aware of any proven records.

I didn’t have much more time in Maridalen but in the mist heard Ring Ouzel and Mistle Thrush and saw the four commoner thrush species – getting all six in a day is not a frequent occurrence although Maridalen in April is as good a place as anywhere to experience it.

My photos of the geese today were pants but I’ll include some anyway…

Geese in the Mist 

even though the bill and leg colour is difficult to discern the darker plumage of the Bean Goose can be see and the distinctive bill shape

later on the light improved although finding a Tundra Bean amongst Pink-feet can still be difficult

I reckon you can make out the irange bill here

the Bean Goose is top right and the darker back compared to the Pink-feet is just about discernible

Here are a few videos I have taken recently. They are of the usual varying quality but are still short enough that you won’t get dizzy watching them..