Lista 2025

 So, what are my thoughts and observations after a long weekend in Lista for the annual bird race and festival?

First I have remembered why I did not visit again sooner after my one and only previous visit in 2017 - it is a bloody long drive from Oslo! What on paper will take just over 5 hours ended up taking closer to eight due to Friday afternoon rush traffic and roadworks.

Secondly, even though Lista might be Norway’s premier birding location when the weekend list of 126 species didn’t include either Redwing or Fieldfare then it is clear Maridalen ain’t that bad either.

Third, I haven’t quite lost the edge yet and again bagged the title of Norway’s second best birder😉 in the evening quiz.

Birds of the weekend were Pallid Harrier, Red Kite, Great White Egret and a Barred Warbler (in the hand) and a 50 minute drive gave me a Norwegian tick in the form of a long staying and blinged up Ring-billed Gull.

We had three mornings of migration watching around the lighthouse and each was different. On the first two days there were lots of tits wanting to migrate with Coal the most numerous and also good numbers of Willow. There were also Nutcrackers on the move and a flock of 19 flew high out to sea towards Blighty. Siskins, Chaffinches, Swallow and Meadow Pipits were perhaps the most numerous birds but there were also good numbers of raptors with Sparrowhawks and Kestrels particularly numerous. On our last morning the easterly wind was quite strong and there was less viz mig but there were suddenly Wheatears everywhere.

Lista Lighthouse at 0607 on Saturday

The Bird Race results. We (myself, Anders Braut Simonsen and Hans Petter Rømme) were Team Tringa and were very happy with our second place, especially as we lack local knowledge and because we were also way behind at the half way mark

Great White Egret (egretthegre)

Barred Warbler (hauksanger) that had been caught in the observatories nets and was ringed

A selfie with my 326th Norwegian species

This Ring-billed Gull (ringnebbmåke) turned up in Norway in March 2023 and received its bling shortly thereafter. It has been seen regularly (at different times of the year at 2 sites 200km apart although also goes missing for months on end and has only been reported at one other location

It looks like it has a black rubber band on its bill

Barred Warbler and Northern Lights

It really did rain a lot yesterday but just before 11pm the cloud cover broke and seeing that there was a very strong forecast for Northern Lights we headed into Maridalen. We arrived just in the nick of time and got to see the most amazing display of colours (although no real “dancing” lights) that I have ever seen. Unfortunately this really intense display was over just a few minutes after we arrived and after that we had to be content with a lot of green in the sky. Earlier in the day my social media feeds had a number of posts about how to best photograph the northern lights so I knew what I needed to do. I had changed the bazooka lens for an 18-55mm and had the tripod with me for long exposures. My initial attempts to capture the display just resulted in black shots and it took an embarrassingly long time for me to realise I had not taken the lens cap off and this cost me capturing the best shots with my camera although I did get some with the phone and on review the iphone 11 shots are far better than from my Canon.

I am generally not happy with the pictures I am taking at the moment and it all follows a very wet outing a couple of weeks ago. In addition to my lens fogging up internally the touch screen stopped working on the camera. I was unable to fix it and after a few days decided to try a factory reset of the camera. Amazingly enough this worked but it also meant that all the other changes I have made to the camera were lost and I don’t think I have quite manged to set them all again yet.

That said though I think I did get some good shots of the night sky and the wonders of a solar storm.

 

Today in Maridalen yesterday’s rain had resulted in an increase in the water level and all the mid that the various snipe had been using is now under water so that may be the end of that fun. There was also ice on some puddles so we may soon be getting movements of birds pushed off now frozen lakes further north. With blues skies it was very quiet in Maridalen and I gave up quickly and headed for Fornebu. This is not in Oslo so any bird that I see here doesn’t count for #Oslo2024 but good birds are good birds no matter where you see them. Yellow-browed Warbler is still foremost in my thoughts but three Chiffchaffs were the only phylloscs I found and none of them were from east of the Urals (tristis). Three squealing Water Rails and a couple of Little Grebes were the highlights and I didn’t think there would be much more to find but decided to put the scope back in the car and have a walk around the area. I saw a Red Admiral which may well end up being my last butterfly of the year and there were still a few dragonflies on the wing. There are a number of apple and berry trees and remembering that a Barred Warbler was ringed in the area on Saturday I paused to see if there were any birds eating the berries. Initially there was nothing to see but then I saw a movement in a rowan tree, raised my bins and saw a grey bird with a ring on its leg – six days after being ringed and with no sightings since the Barred Warbler was still present! It was very difficult to see and even more difficult to photograph but eventually I did get a couple of photos. I also heard it calling and some very subdued subsong was also I think from it although there were also four Blackcap in the area.

Barred Warbler is a real rarity in these parts with no Oslo records but this is my second at Fornebu after I found one in 2012.

Barred Warbler (hauksanger) with ring

this video records its call

for a long time this was the only photo I had

but then got this which at least counts as a record shot and also shows the baring on the undertail coverts well

it would have been nice if it had showed as this male Blackcap (munk) which was one of four feeding in the same tree

and a female

And Northern Light photos, first with the phone

this shot was taken at home and is the first time we have seen it at home where there is a lot of light pollution

And photos with the camera

and videos from earlier in the week

Jack and Common Snipe Director's Cut

Common Snipe

Teal

Greylag Geese including picking grain off stalks (don't remember seeing this before)

Værøy 2016 Day 4 early update

Another promising start to the day with a number of Y-b Warblers, Blyth’s Reed still around (and probably two birds in same area), a Pied Flycatcher and good numbers of birds in the air.

Last night, after going to be early, I was awoken before midnight to a nice surprise – a trapped Storm Petrel. Regardless of what I may think of ringing it was a privilege to see this pelagic species so close up and boy are they small birds. It is amazing that they live their lives at sea and hardly ever seem to be driven into land by storms unlike their large cousins. Maybe their small size makes them less susceptible to be blown by storms?

Here are a few pictures from the last few days.

Wood Warbler (bøksanger)

Pied Fly (svarthvit fluesnapper)

Storm Petrel (havsvale)

Barred Warbler (hauksanger)

Blyth's Reed Warbler (busksanger)

Turtle Dove

juv Waxwing

Y-b Warbler

Værøy over and out

Well that’s Værøy over for another year (my fourth September trip in a row) and although there was not a single national rarity you’ll have trouble stopping me coming back again. The island and its residents are very welcoming and it deserves the attention of more birders which would undoubtedly result in more being seen as there is a lot of good habitat to cover. This year I stayed in the extremely pleasant and good vale guesthouse at Gamle Prestegården and this makes a great base for birders as well as serving fantastic food in huge quantities. My trip this year was earlier than previously but yet again I still got the feeling that there had been more birds present before I arrived and that numbers were falling awawy during my stay.

So how did the last day go? I slept in until 0730 as I was expecting strong northerly winds and rain but the wind wasn’t too bad and there was in fact sun at times. Although there was not a lot of birds on my pre-breakfast round of Nordland two Willow Warblers and a Woodcock were new arrivals and a Wood Warbler may have been new or just the bird I had earlier. I therefore attacked Sørlandet with high hopes (one has to be optimistic) and after sitting in the living room of my wife’s aunt and seeing a Blackcap feeding on redcurrants I definitely thought there might be hope (I had afterall only seen 3 other Blackcaps so far this trip). When the first bird I saw in the next garden was a Barred Warbler then there could be no doubt something was afoot. A calling Yellow-browed Warbler a few gardens along and there was no limits to the birds I was thinking of finding. But then things sort of fizzled out. I tried to turn a sandy coloured Wheatear that was feeding in a garden into something rare but failed to and then things returned to usual. I pulled out three Yellow-broweds in the plantation and had good views of the Hawk Owl who was intently looking for rodents but seems not to know there are no mice on Værøy just big rats.

A couple of Merlins included a very fine, blue male and a large Sparrowhawk had me scratching my head for a bit. A high flying flock of waders which disappeared into the cloud were Golden Plovers with one smaller species amongst them which I failed to ID but had the feeling may have been a good’n. The Citrine Wags appeared to have moved on and my day fizzled out with me looking at the weather forecast and wishing I could be here a week more!

finally a Barred Warbler (hauksanger) and as usual difficult to photograph

 

Arctic redpoll  a too close encounter with a fluffy snowball

Chiffchaff – another dodgy Chiffchaff on Værøy. In this photo the pale outer-taile feathers, pale underparts and pale bill might have you think hippolais/iduna

Coal Tit (svartmeis) one of 19 I recorded today

Hawkie

this birds large size especially in comparison to a Merlin that was mobbing it had me tconsidering Goshawk but it looks like a large female sprogger

Wader – what the small wader is I really don’t know. The slightly long and thin bill plus strong breast band could lead thoughts to Pec Sand but it doesn’t extend far enough down the chest and the wing bar is too extensive. Maybe just a Dunlin?

Wheatear – this bird which was feeding on a lawn was very sandy coloured but on jizz I took it to be a Common Wheatear. Looking at my pictures I have a slightly worrying feeling that I should have spent a bit more time with it.

. After not having seen a single bird in the rain yesterday White-tailed Eagles were out in force today including a flyby from this immature bird.

another phyllosc with a defect – this one a Willow Warbler (løvsanger) with a hanging wing

Yellow-browed Warbler – a post from Værøy would hardly be complete with out a shot of one of these