Photos and video from Oppland & Hedmark Guiding

Day 4 of my guiding of Lotti and Detlef on Thursday was in Maridalen. The Three-toed Woodpeckers showed impeccably well but we then had a great disappointment when I discovered that the Red-breasted Flycatcher nest had fallen down. Whether it was a predator (squirrel or Great Spotted Woodpecker) or the wind is unknown but there was no trace of any remains of eggs or young to be found and no adult birds made their presence known to us.

Today a quick visit to the nest area revealed the male whose behaviour suggested that the female may well have been sitting on a new clutch somewhere nearby but only time will tell if they have made a new breeding attempt.

Here are my pictures and video from this week. There are some pretty good birds in the video although the weather and hand holding (including of the bazooka after the battery went flat on the superzoom) have left their mark.

Siberian Jay (lavskrike)

Bluethroat (blåstrupe) 

male Brambling (bjørkefink)

female Dotterel (boltit)

 

Great Grey Owl (lappugle)

Great Snipe (dobbeltbekkasin)

Two Hawk Owls

Ortolan Bunting

Reindeer crossing Valdresflye

 

female Yellow Wagtail

Stormy guiding

Today's weather made yesterday's look positively cosy. We had snow, temperatures down to 3C, storm force winds (more than 25m/s), saw a mini tornado sucking up water over a lake but also had amazing blue skies and rainbows.

Despite this I was able to find birds and we had great views of Siberian Jay, Bluethroat, Lapland Bunting, Yellow Wagtail, Merlin, Kestrel, Black-throated Diver, male Bramblings, Willow Tit and Crested Tit amongst others.

The Siberian Jay was especially pleasing as this is never an easy bird to find and as usual after the hard work of finding it was done then it showed really well.

One worrying thing from this visit and also last weeks is the very low numbers of waders. Just one sighting of Redshank and two of Golden Plover is a crisis for these species which I would normally expect to see in many locations.

Tomorrow we are taking the long way home via Hedmark :-)

Oppland Guiding- Great Snipe & Dotterel

On Friday and Saturday I was on another marathon guiding session taking in the Oslo area and Oppland. Lekking Great Snipe and Dotterel were the main targets for the delightful Trent and Meta from Austin, Texas but we found a lot of other good birds on the way. Sleep was again a precious commodity with the Great Snipes being a nocturnal bird and us then finding out that the road over the mountain would be closed at 1030 due to a marathon so we had to have had an early start to ensure we could get the Dotterel and then get out of the area again!

So what did we see? Of course we succeeded with the two main targets although rain and fog did their best to make it difficult. We also had Greenish Warbler, Thrush Nightingale, Goshawk, Rough-legged Buzzard, Tawny Owl, Icterine Warbler, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Wryneck, Woodcock, Willow Grouse, Common Rosefinch, nesting Cranes and Whooper Swans just metres from each other, Lesser Redpoll, Shore Lark and Long-tailed Skua! Pretty good, I would say :-)

. We had 4 Dotterel including a bird very close, a distant Long-tailed Skua, singing Shore Larks.

As usual when guiding my camera rarely came out but I did put get a few shots and some video:

Dotterel (boltit). We had 4 Dotterel including this very close bird. There was also a distant Long-tailed Skua, singing Shore Larks, Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Golden Plover plus good numbers of Wheatear on the mountain plateau

Great Snipe (dobbeltbekkasin). The Great Snipe lek was only just getting going when we left at 11pm after the rain and fog got the better of us but three males were displaying and fighting and there  were at least a couple more silent birds on the lek

Greenish Warbler (østsanger). We had tried unsuccesfully for this bird at the beginning of the trip on Friday but in the end bagged it as the least bird on Saturday

Valdresflya with relatively little snow this year

looking east over Vinstre lake taken at 0746

and again at 0909 - stunning scenery

Whooper Swans (sangsvane) and Cranes surprisingly nesting side by side. A chick had just hatched in the Crane nest and the adult were pecking at the other egg as though trying to help things on their way

Struggling with Hedmark

It can be a bad idea leaving Oslo but two days in Hedmark was going to deliver me some great results (the plan).

First stop yesterday was to refind the Gyr Falcon (jaktfalk) from my last visit. I had worked out how to get up to where I saw it and it looked to be a walk that wouldn't risk my still dodgy knee too much. I came to the top and found the stone where I had pictured the bird. There was some droppings and pellets but not much so this stone clearly was not used that much. I stayed for 2 hours but had no sight nor sound of the bird nor could I see any possible nest site so it looks like the bird I saw was just resting there and once at the top I realised that there were plenty of other suitable looking escarpments in the area. Well that was a real shame but my knee survived and I had good views of a male Ring Ouzel which also sang a bit. When I got to the top I took my camera out of my backpack and turned it on to get the settings just right for flight photography but nothing happened. I put a new battery in still nothing. Was the camera broken? No but the SD card cover was not closed properly but hang on there was no card. Not again!!! How idiotic can I be? Luckily this time I did have a spare card with me but it was full and I had to spend time deleting loads of pictures.

Could anything worse happen? Oh yes most definitely. My plan for the end of the day was to sleep at Nekmyrene where I would awake to lekking Ruff, displaying Broad-billed Sandpipers and Red-necked Phalaropes. After a looong drive there I discovered the road was still not open. A call to phone number at the barrier revealed it was to be opened at 4pm TOMORROW. This spring really is late.

What to do? I had been driving all day was tired and had hardly seen a bird. I decided to head to a mountain road over the border in Oppland county which I knew would be open and where 5 years ago I had seen Red-necked Phalaropes (svømmesnipe). And at 2125 my day was saved. Feast your eyes on these pictures taken in the evening sun.

female (the more colourful sex) Red-necked Phalarope (svømmesnipe)

the male - slightly less colourful

male again

and the female again

After 5 hours sleep in the car I awoke to a cloudy sky and the phalaropes on the water outside my bedroom window.  A couple of hours in the area revealed 7 or maybe even 9 phalaropes which is a good sized colony for a species that seems to be getting harder to find. They are an incredibly confiding species and again allowed themselves to be photographed at very close range – I took so many acceptable photos and video that they will warrant their own post later. Singing Lapland Bunting and Bluethroat were a joy to behold and Whimbrel, Wood Sandpiper, Golden Plover and Common Scoter were also in the area. A single Kestrel was the only raptor I saw although there was a very pale hungry fox being mobbed by Redshanks and a Whimbrel chased away a Crow and a Crow chased sway a Raven. So predators are around and in a year with little or no lemmings it is baby birds that will be eaten.

After all this excitement I went looking for Siberian Tits (lappmeis). This species has a very small population in Mid/Southern Norway and there is very little information or published records of these birds. This was my fifth attempt over the years and was doomed to end like all the others. I did have Willow, Great and Crested Tits but nothing from Siberia. I wonder if climate change is affecting this relic outlying population and they are perhaps losing out to the other tits who may be increasing in numbers.

I drove a lot these two days but fantastic scenery and the Red-necked Phalaropes made it all worthwhile.

male Bluethroat (blåsturpe)

male Lapland Bunting (lappspurv)

House Martin prospecting a nest site at 1011m

Merlin (dvergfalk)

male Ring Ouzel (ringtrost)

the mountains of Rondane

still ice on the lakes at 1050m

Whimbrel (småspove) by he hotel

angry Whimbrel

Willow Tits (granmeis) were common where I had hoped to find Siberian Tit

A selfie of the Oslobirder leaning against the stone where the Gyr Falcon was sat a couple of weeks ago

Mountain Marsh Runner and more great Norwegian birds

The rare Mountain Marsh Runner is a bird that I have struggled to see on its breeding grounds in Norway but whist guiding Rob Tizard from USA c/o Myanmar over the last two days I finally got to see why its name is so appropriate. If you are struggling to know which species I am talking about then I have taken the literal (or at least my literal) translation of the Norwegian name: fjellmyrløper. In English it goes normally under the name Broad-billed Sandpiper which seems odd as I can’t say that I have ever noticed it having a particularly broad bill. I normally find Norwegian names to make little sense but in this case I will definitely say the Norwegians have chosen a completely appropriate name. This bird spent its time running half hidden running through a mountain marsh and remained invisible to us most of the time even though it was in 12cm high grass only a few metres from us. On migration I have considered it to be the size of a small Dunlin (myrsnipe) but here it appeared smaller than a stint although there were no other waders to compare it to as its choice of habitat (marshes of sodden black peat with short grass) seems to be one shunned by other birds. On our way out to the marsh we had a chorus of angry Whimbrel (småspove), Redshank (rødstilk) and Greenshank (gluttsnipe) wishing us good riddance but the Mountain Marsh Runner did anything but makes it presence known. We walked around the suitable habitat for over half an hour before I flushed up one from nearly under my which then landed less than 10 metres away and promptly disappeared to be only seen on a couple of more occasions as it scurried through the grass and on three occasions it called. It was frustrating but also very exhilarating to see this bird in its very special breeding habitat.

This guiding trip was mostly based in the county of Oppland with a diversion into Hedmark. The reason for this was that Rob wanted to see Dotterel (boltit) and Great Snipe (dobbeltbekkasin). Nearly every bird on this trip required a bit of work to find it and our first target, Dotterel, was no exception. It was cold up on the mountain, with drizzle and much snow still on the ground but eventually we found three birds and had exceptional views with Rob taking some first rate photos although mine are nothing to write home about. Strangely we had little else although three singing Shorelarks (fjellerke) were a year tick for me and a Snow Bunting (snøspurv) was perhaps surprisingly the first one I have seen despite many visits.

After a good dinner and a beer we headed up to a Great Snipe lek which I discovered a few years ago and have visited every year since. The birds took a while to get going and I feared the lek was smaller than in previous years but my midnight we had a dozen males displaying with their strange “song”, running around, jumping and fighting. As Rob said, this has to be one of nature’s greatest spectacles. Even at midnight it was still light enough to see the birds and although still photography is difficult, video (on Robs camera at least) can produce great results.

We were in bed just after 1am with the hotel receptionist giving us a very strange look as we returned to the hotel with cameras and binoculars in the middle of the night!

Day 2 begun at 7am and ended at 1am! Ring Ouzel (ringtrost) was our first target but again we had to work a but before finding a pair feeding a fledgling. Whilst searching we found Bluethroats (blåstrupe) and Redstarts (rødstjert) amongst others. Siberian Jays (lavskrike) also took a while but we had Golden Eagle (kongeørn), Wood Sandpiper (grønnstilk) with young and Crested Tit (toppmeis) as we searched. In typical fashion when the jays did turn up they gave fantastic close views and Rob revealed that he is half jay by being able to imitate their call and having them fly at him.

A good drive took us into the mountains and the marsh Mountain Marsh Runners. We drove through lots of suitable Hawkie habitat but rather surprisingly failed to see one. There was one owl I felt confident of finding though hence the detour to Hedmark. We arrived at the Great Grey sight at 9pm and although there was dampness in the air and rather more wind than I would have liked I expected to open the car doors and hear the young begging for food. This wasn’t to be though and we searched the area for 15 minutes with sight or sound of an owl. After the display less than two weeks ago I was very surprised especially when I did find a youngster high up in a tree. It appeared healthy and was stretching and standing and looking well-fed but over the course of an hour and a half it did not make a single noise nor did we see a parent. This for me was baffling given the frequency of food deliveries previously and the constant begging from the youngsters. We only found the one youngster though so maybe the parents were with the other that had managed to move further away but then surely the bird we had found would have been screaming even louder for food? Perhaps the bird is now of an age that it recognises humans as a threat and it therefore quiet but the bird was still far from fledging with down still on it underparts and far from full grown wings although the pattern of the adults wing feathers was starting to show.

Day 1 was 12 hours birding and Day 2 18 hours before I got home – tiring but some absolutely great birding!

I’ll start with pictures of the Mountain Marsh Runner first. I was shocked to see that one picture was actually quite OK. The rest though were either blurd, I couldn’t find the bird or after much searching I found the tail. I’ve included some of these.

I think this picture was OK - especially when you see all the others

great camo

here I managed a bit of tail and wing

bird in habitat

a bit more wing

 

the bird stood like this for about 30 seconds just a shame there was all the grass in the way

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male Bluethroat - one of Norway's finest birds but sadly in decline

female Bluethroat with food for young. This is a colourful and therefore old female

Dotterel, snow and happy photographer

there were not many species to see on the mountain but here two different plovers briefly posed together

my best Dotterel shot which ain't too bad

Great Snipe at 2330 ISO 12800 1/15 sec

Great Snipe 00:30 ISO 12800 1/3 sec - not quite light enough!

the young Great Grey Owl slowly losing its down

Siberian Jay

Whimbrel. We also saw Redshank, Greenshank and Wood Sandpiper standing on top of trees - suddenly "shorebirds" seemed like the wrong name for these birds

Wood Sandpiper and tree

male Yellow Wagtail of the scandinavian race thunbergii. It has green and yellow in the grey on the head and if I had seen this in Israel this spring then I may have thought hybrid

A video as well and I stand by the title but choose to show it anyway. I had lent Rob my tripod so was handholding at midnight so I think it is amazing you can see anything!