Camping

I've had no chance to work on the Finnmark trip report or videos yet as I have been away with my youngest daughters kindergarten on a camping trip . They have been doing a bird project this spring so this camping trip to Øyungen lake north of Maridalen was supposed to give everyone some close encounters with birds and me as the tour guide. We did see a few with very tame Chaffinches (bokfink) looking for food around the tents, moulting male Mallards (stokkand) loafing by the lake and two Canada Goose ( kanadagås) families each consisting of only two young. There were two very small Goldeneye (kvinand) youngsters on the lake which were calling a lot. Although there were three different female Goldeneyes that I saw none of them was interested in the youngsters who took to following the (very uninterested male Mallards). Every winter there are Goldeneyes who hang out on Akerselva with Mallards and act as though they think they are Mallards. I assume that these are birds that have lost their mother and latched onto the only other ducks they could find: Mallards.
There was also a single Black-throated Diver (storlom) on the lake and three Whooper Swans (sangsvane) departed at dawn. I had expected to hear Black Grouse (orrfugl) but heard none, however a close-by calling (not singing) owl just before 4am woke me from light sleep (9 kids aged 2-6 do not give one the chance of a deep sleep...) and  I glimpsed it briefly in flight and its size corresponded with Tengmalm's (perleugle) as did the call.

Driving back through Maridalen the male Red-backed Shrike was perched up on wires at his usual place. I will have to spend some time with him to get that ultimate picture when he has a big juicy big in his bill.

Finnmark - a taster

Writing the full trip report and editing the videos is going to take some time so here are a few pictures to give a taste of the great birding I have just had in Finnmark.

Arctic Warbler (lappsanger)

Little Bunting (dvergspurv)

Bluethroat (blåstrupe)

Glaucous Gull (polarmåke)

Long-tailed Skua (fjelljo)

Red-throated Pipit (lappiplerke)

Red-necked Phalarope (svømmesnipe)

Arctic Skua (tyvjo)

Finnmark 2013 days 3 and 4

Mobile coverage in Pasvik is a precious commodity and when you do get some often or not it is a Russian provider. Hence no update before now. Pasvik has been hard on the mind, body and car. Apart from some sleep between 4 and 7 am we have been hard at it. We were active at night hoping for displaying waders but they were quiet - in fact most things were quiet and we could well have slept from 10pm until 4am.

Best bird has been Little Bunting (dvergspurv) and we habe found 8 singing males which is a very good total. One site had at least four with three audible simultaneously.

We worked hard to see Siberian Jay (lavskrike) and Siberian Tit (lappmeis) but ended up with a couple of sightings of both.

We really tried hard for displaying Broad-billed Sandpipers (fjellmyrløper) and Jack Snipes (kvartbekkasin) but drew a blank on the former and had just 15 seconds of the later.

The hide at Skrøytnes has been very productive with many ducks and waders. 31 Smew (lappfiskand) and 14 Shoveler were both very high counts in a Norwegian perspective. 

Best wader wasn't as rare as it appeared to be for the first 15 minutes before it flew and revealed black armpits - a 1st summer Grey Plover at long range had us thinking other possibilities entirely.

A random stop turned up a pair of Hazel Grouse which would have made a great photo if my lens was not steamed up again :-(

We now have a couple of hours left in Pasvik before needing to leave for the airport in Kirkenes. Plenty of time to find something rare

Finnmark 2013 day 2

This update comes a bit as we have been without mobile coverage since yesterday evening. That didn't help too much when we awoke to a flat battery in our auotomatic hybrid hire car. A brisk walk to find coverage, a call to Avis, some coffee on the camping stove and two hours later we were mobile again.

Birding wise we have yet to find the big rarity but good birding have we had none the less. An inland marsh area where we slept gave us many many birds. The undoubted highlight being displaying Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) which sound like galloping horses - a very strange sound from such a small bird. Also here Little Gulls (dvergmåke), Ruff (brushane), Bar-tailed Godwits (lappspove) and taiga (rossicus) Bean Geese (sædgås) amongst many others.

Earlier in the day we had checked the whole coast line from Vadsø to Hamningberg but had little to show for it. Best birds being a single White-billed Diver (gullnebbøom) and King Eider (praktærfugl). There were many gulls in Vadsø and we had 4 1cy Glaucous (polarmåke). Also a few comour ringed gulls at least one of which bore a British ring.

We are off to try our luck at some seawatching from Nesseby in good conditions. Maybe a fluffy plumaged shearwater will fly by?

Finnmark 2013 day 1

I'm writing this as I lie in my sleeping bag in the car by the Varsngerfjord in Skallev. Even though it is close to 1am the sun is shining on the mountains on the southern side of the fjord and Arctic Terns (rødnebbtern)e) are flying around calling.

We have been birding continually since landing at 11am in Kirkenes. The undoubted highlight was finding the first Arctic Warbler (lappsanger) of the year in Norway and a lifer for me. It sang and eventually showed well by Neiden Church - a classic locality.

Other birds have included many Long-tailed (fjelljo) and Arctic Skuas (tyvjo) and Red-necked Phalarope (svømmesnipe) down to a couple of metres. White-tailed Eagles (havørn) have been common but the only other raptor has been a single Short-eared Owl (jordugle).
We have high expectations for tomorrow when we will be around Vardø.

Finnmark calling

No birding to report today but the nest four days promise some great birding as I am off to Finnmark with Bjørn Olav Tveit tomorrow morning. For me the hoped for highlights will be to find singing Arctic Warblers (lappsanger), Little Buntings (dvergspurv) and hopefully Red-flanked Bluetails (blåstrupe) alongside all the commoner specialities. Bjørn Olav is hoping for some real rarities and we should find something good up there especially following the very hot period in May which could have brought in some eastern birds.

I'll do my best to post daily updates and then update in more detail with pictures when I am back early next week.

All a blur

A little bit of birding today. I started with an attempt to get better views and hopefully get to enjoy the song of Blyth’s Reed Warbler (busksanger). The site where we had a pair nest building last week is really not so nice during the day as it is right by an industrial estate, busy road and also a rest site for lorries. I therefore only stayed here a couple of minutes although was nearly fooled by an Icterine Warbler (gulsanger) singing from the same area of trees. I find that the song of Icterine can at times resemble Blyth’s Reed so this is yet another potential trap for the unwary.

However another singing Blyth’s Reed has been found only 2km away at Tuentangen and this is in quieter surroundings. This bird though proved also very difficult to locate and I wonder if there is also breeding occurring here. It sang only twice between 0915 and 1000 and both times just for a few seconds and not at full blast. This is in contrast to the unpaired bird at Årnestangen last year which towards the end of its stay sang loudly at all hours and often right out in the open. I first picked it up as it flew from one bush to another and saw it briefly although even with a brief view the face is quite characteristic with the long supercilium, flat forehead and “harder” look than a Marsh Warbler (myrsanger). I saw it a couple more times only briefly in addition to hearing it singing. It seemed very active finding food and although I didn’t see another bird I find its behaviour more conducive to a breeding bird than an unpaired male.

A visit to Maridalen revealed three singing Common Rosefinches (rosenfink) audible at the same time including one red male. The male Red-backed Shrike (tornskate) also showed again and seemed to have a routine as though he was returning to feed the female on the nest.

A pair of Greylag Geese (grågås) on the lake had three newly fledged youngsters and quite a few Black-headed (hettemåke) and Common Gulls (fiskemåke) were feeding on flying insects but no Little Gull (dvergmåke) amongst them unfortunately.

My photographic efforts today were all a bit of a blur:

Blyth's Reed Warbler (busksanger) - honestly

this Pied Flycatcher (svarthvir fluesnapper) has been singing less than 100m from the house but today was checking out the nest box in the garden from which the Great Tits have just fledged. Picture taken through a windown

adult male Common Rosefinch (rosenfink) - one of three I could hear from the same spot in Maridalen

 

No memory from Maridalen

Mr and Mrs Oslo Birder senior were subjected to a birding tour of Maridalen this morning. We had some great close experiences with a red singing male Rosefinch (rosenfink) and singing Wryneck (vendehals) which would both have resulted in great pictures but I was thwarted by having left my memory card in the computer.
We went up to Dausjøen and the Whooper Swan (sangsvane) nest was emtpy with no sign of the birds. The birds disappeared last year (presumably up the stream that feeds into the lake) before turning up later so I hope that the young have fledged succesfully and have also chosen to feed along the river this year.
A single adult Whooper Swan remains on the lake and wil hopefully next year find a mate and also breed in the area.
After quite a bit of searching I located the male Red-backed Shrike (tornskate). The area they have chosen to breed in this year is much more difficult to get a view over than last year when they were often easy to find and view well.

With no camera my only picture today is a shot with the mobile of a White Wagtail (linerle) nest that we discovered on the roadside which was very difficult to find even after we had seen the adults going in with food.

a well hidden nest of White Wagtails (linerle), at head height above a large rock

Also my last video from Oppland and Hedmark - a highlights video.

Great Snipe video

With not much real live birding on my part at the moment I have time to edit my Oppland and Hedmark videos. This time a video of lekking Great Snipes (dobbeltbekkasin). This species has a real stronghold in Norway and occurs around the treeline where there are marshy areas for feeding and dryer areas with low scrub for lek sites. The sound the males make is a unique sound and it is quite magical to be on a mountainside hearing these birds in the middle of a spring night. There is also a lot of running around like rodents, jumping and flying from place to place.
All in all, an experience I would recommend all birders to have at least once.

Ruffs

Here is another video installment from the Oppland and Hedmark trip, this time lekking Ruff from Nekmyrene. Ruff have declined dramatically in Norway over the past two decades and this lek is probably the largest and quite possibly the only (?) in Southern Norway of a species that was once a common breeder. We saw 5 males and 2 females lekking together and at least two additional males elsewhere around the lake.
I remember having seen lekking Ruff at Fokstumyra around 2003 and on Saltfjellet in Nordland around 2000 but there are no longer birds here and even in Finnmark the population has declined by around 90%.

Enjoy these fabulous birds whilst you can.

Aggrivating Acros

On our recent tour Rune and I initially reported that we had heard a Blyth's Reed Warbler (busksanger) from a location where one is singing in Hedmark. However it transpired we were 2km from where that bird was and as we heard it at 0230 after 22 hours on the road, were dead tired (close to hallucinating) and didn't record the song we decided to delete the record rather than claim a new undocumented bird. I therefore know full well how aggrivating acros can be.

I therefore had good reason to go searching for the Blyth's Reed Warbler that has been reported near Lillestrøm for a week or so. It has been reported by quite a few observers but seemingly in different locations and there are also some observers who report no Marsh Warblers and others who report one or two. Some observers have also been there for a couple of hours in the middle of the night (usually optimal time) recently and only heard Marsh Warbler. Clearly a confusing situation......

I visited first between 16:00 - 1740 yesterday which is not optimal. Never-the-less I was able to locate acros. Acrocephalus warblers (acros for short) are the group that includes Reed (rørsanger), Marsh (myrsanger) and Blyth’s Reed Warbler. They all look very similar but have developed slightly different habitat preferences and different songs. They can be a nightmare to separate in the field on migration but by seeing singing birds one gets the chance to appreciate the subtle differences in plumage and jizz.

The birds were singing quietly and also reacted to playback. I had two definite singing Marsh Warblers, one of which was possibly paired and then a third singing bird. If flew in when I played Blyth's Reed and started singing quietly. Its song was not Blyth's however but neither was it a classic Marsh as it sang slowly (Marsh Warbler normally has a very excited song). At one point it sang from the same bush as another Marsh without the two seeming to compete. Perhaps a hybrid or just one of these slow singing Marsh Warblers that are put there to confuse us? In the pictures I took there is nothing to separate it from a Marsh Warbler so I guess it is just a slow and relaxed singer.

Marsh Warbler and this sang fast. Note the olive ting to the plumage, pale legs, white edges to the outer tail feathers, long primary projection and supercilium that ends at the eye

presumed same bird as above. Note "kind" and rounded face

The slow singing Marsh Warbler. Note the same features as above

A couple of recordings of the Blyth's have been put out on the net. One recording by Sindre Molværsmyr can be heard here:

 

 I went back in the evening with Fernando who needed Blyth's as a lifer and I had promised to take him although I didn't feel confident we would find it. We arrived at 9pm and had a Marsh Warbler singing quietly where I had heard one before. We then searched a larger area than I had done earlier in the day and played Sindres in what was classic Blyths habitat and where the bird was initially found although not where a number of the subsequent sightings are from.  Quite soon we had a very short and quiet response from an area of mature trees bordering long grass and herbage which is the classic habitat for Blyth's. And then we saw the bird or should I say birds as there was a pair! They kept together nearly all the time and were seen carrying nesting material. At one stage they called excitedly and then both flew out of a bush - maybe they had been getting to know each other better?
The fact they are breeding and there are no other Blyth's Reed in the area probably explains why they didn't sing and others haven't heard them during the night (we had the same situation with the breeding pair of Rustic Buntings). We saw the birds for about 10 minutes until 2140 during which time they were very active but then they did not show or make noise until we left at 2300 which was a bit annoying for the other 5 birders who turned up....Lucky I got some pictures!
The pictures are not excellent but you can see enough and compare to the Marsh Warbler pictures. The ground colour is darker than the Marsh, the eye stripe extends further beyond the eye and most importantly the primary projection is shorter than on Marsh. Although not captured in any of my pictures the birds often adopted the "banana" posture with raised tail and head which is a classic field characteristic and also the origin of its alternate name of Banana Warbler. They also gave the impression of being smaller than the Marsh Warblers.

Blyth's Reed Warbler - note the longer supercilium that extends beyonf the eye, darker, greyer plumage and a less "kind" face

this picture shows themuch shorter primary projection than Marsh, lack of white outer tail feathers and the darker upperparts

the short primary projection is visible here

here the bird is doing "the banana" whereby it raises its tail which is a characteristic pose

Some of the records of the Blyth's from the last few days seem to have been a singing bird from the area 300 metres away by the barrier (bom) where the slow singing Marsh Warbler is and I am sure that there have been a lot of misidentifications (but I would know all about that wouldn’t I?).

We also heard a brief Grasshopper Warbler here. A search for a couple of River Warblers only turned up more Marsh.

I couldn't resist a trip into Maridalen. The Nightingale and a couple of Marsh Warblers sang but nothing more exciting. We heard a young owl begging for food. This was the bird reported as a Long-eared Owl and a much awaited Oslo tick but would appear to actually be a Tawny Owl although is not a call I am really familiar with. Here is a video where you can here the call.

After a few hours sleep I was up this morning to guide Jari from Finland around Oslo. We had a successful time with Nuthatch surprisingly for me being a real highlight as this is a very rare species in Finland. We had a good number of other species including good views of the Red-breasted Flycatcher (dvergfluesnapper) and Serin (gulirisik).

male Serin (gulirisk)

male Red-breasted Flycatcher (dvergfluesnapper)

the bird was bathed in sun and got rather burnt out in the picture

Great Crested Grebes at Østensjøvannet are always a treat for the eyes

Great Grey Owl

I think I'm suffering from birding overload and with a new trip to Finnmark coming in a weeks time I need to recharge my batteries. Therefore there haven't been any nocturnal wanderings from me. I therefore haven't caught up with the Blyth's Reed (busksanger), River (elvesanger) and Grasshopper Warblers (gresshoppersanger) that are all singing close to Lillestrøm (only 20 minutes drive away) nor have I heard a Nightjar (nattravn) this year. What worries me most though is what I am failing to find in Maridalen - Per Buertange sent me a message last night to tell me of nesting Long-eared Owls, which would be a Maridalen and Oslo tick for me.

In the mean time I have started editing my videos and here is the majestic Great Grey Owl (lappugle).

Hybrid Black Redstart x Common Redstart

One of the most interesting, if not perhaps exciting, birds of the trip was the (presumed) hybrid Black Redstart (svartrødstjert) x Common Redstart (rødstjert) at Næroset in Hedmark. This bird is frequenting a timber cutting plant by a lake surrounded by forest. There are a number of buildings here and the bird was to be found singing from roof tops and the tops of piles of timber. We saw it also feeding on the ground on the edge of the plant searching for insects amongst wood cuttings and on rough ground.

The bird was initially reported as a Black Redstart but pictures showed it to be abnormal. It had reddish underparts and lacked the jet black colours of Black Redstart. The song however was reported as being identical to Black Redstart so many people reported it as a Black Redstart. The question was raised as to whether it could be an eastern race of Black Redstart which show red underparts but these birds have much brighter underparts and also still have the jet black colours of Black Redstart. I was one of a few people who expressed a view that it was a hybrid with Redstart. This hybrid appears to be reasonably regular further south in Europe where both species are common breeders but is not a hybrid form that existed in the Norwegian reporting system indicating that it has not been reported in Norway before. This is not surprising as Black Redstart is such a rare breeder in Norway but I did see a male Black Redstart and female Common Redstart together on the roof tops of Oslo in May 2011.

There seemed to be little agreement from those who had seen the bird in the flesh that it was a hybrid and I was “challenged” on Facebook to go and see the bird live to sort out its identity. Luckily our route on Sunday took us past the site and we ducked under a barrier and made our way into the timber plant.

It seems likely that this bird was actually born on this site. In 2011 twoBlack Redstarts birds were reported as being here throughout the summer and a third bird was found dead there in May. Successful breeding was not reported but birds were present from May until July including a singing male. It is not easy to age this bird. The brown fringes to the flight feathers, lacking the white wing panel of an adult male Black Redstart and a generally subdued plumage suggest 2 cy but given that it is a hybrid I cannot be sure how the influence of either species will play out in the plumage (male Black Redstarts normally do not acquire full plumage until their 3^rd cy and are much more female like but male Common Redstarts in their 2^nd cy only look only slightly less bright than an adult male). The throat and bib look very black but closer pictures show there to be brown fringes to the feathers which is also a sure sign of 2 cy. No birds were recorded in 2012 but it is possible that female returned in 2012 and went unnoticed due to not singing. There are Common Redstarts in the area (we heard a male singing) so she could have paired with a Redstart and they could have produced young

Another interesting aspect was that we momentarily saw it interact with another Redstart sp. amongst a woodpile. We never saw the other bird properly but appeared to be in female plumage. Maybe it is paired to a female (Common?) Redstart?

Plumage wise it is, to my eyes, closer to Common Redstart. It differs from Common Redstart by having less orange underparts, lacking a clear white forehead (although it does have a white feather on the right hand side) and the black throat extends further down the chest. Generally though the greyness of the plumage on the mantle and nape matches Common Redstart.

Black Redstart would have grey underparts (not the pale orange of this bird) and wouldn’t have such a clear border between the black throat and the paler belly. Adult males of the eastern subspecies would have the black extending further down the belly and then a clearer border to a deeper orange belly. Given that Eastern Black Redstarts are a real rarity in Western Europe and can resemble hybrids there has been some research into how to separate them. The surest way is on wing formula as Black and Common Redstarts have different spacing between the primaries and this can be seen on good pictures. Unfortunately I was not able to take a good enough picture of the wing but I believe that the plumage alone allows an Eastern Black Redstart to be ruled out.

You can judge for yourself in the pictures. The pictures were taken in different lighting conditions and at some distance so note how the plumage colours can vary. I have therefore included a number of pictures with different backgrounds to allow all the subtleties to be seen.

Hybird Black Redstart x Common Redstart. This picture shows the white feather in the crown, the pale orange underparts, grey mantle and a black throat and bib that stretches too far down the chest for a Common Redstart

Here the bird gives a very Common Redstart impression although note that the forehead is burnt out so looks paler than it actually is

Again quite Common Redstart like with the underparts being far too pale for Black Redstart

The extensive black throat and bib are too extensive for Common Redstart

Here it is possible to see paler edges to some of the throat feathers suggesting 2 cy

The white feather in the crown is again visible here

The pale grey as opposed to dark grey/black upperparts give more of a Common than Black Redstart feel

In this picture though it does look very black on the throat and bib but the pale belly is just not right for Black Redstart

The song of the bird can be heard in this video. It does sound very like Black Redstart especially because it contains the scratchy/crackling static element that is not in the song of common Redstart but isn’t the song of Black Redstart also quite similar to Common Redstart except for the scratchy bit? I don’t  know how the song of a hybrid usually is. Will it be influenced (learnt from?) by its father or is it all genetic? In the video you can hear the scratchy bit of the song well when the bird is closest. In the sequence when it is further away you don’t actually hear the scratchy sequence although can see that the bird is singing (this is the same as in the field when the scratchy bit is only audible close up).

Comments as to the ID of this bird would be welcome.