A very frustrating day

This post will not make me any friends and possibly some enemies but after sleeping on it and now having, if not ice cold, then luke warm blood in my veins I still want to publish it (although have now toned it down through many iterations...).

 

Yesterday was a day of high temperatures and not just the continued barmy weather.

 

First, I got very wound up and my piss stated to boil by the blingers at Fornebu. On a number of my visits this autumn I have, upon getting out of the car, been greeted by the sounds of a Best of Eastern Vagrants mix tape being played by a net which is a whole 250m away. This goes on for at least three hours whilst the blinger(s) hope they will pull a rarity from the nets and completely disturbs all other life (both bird and human) in the nature reserve. Raising my displeasure about it hasn’t resulted in any change in actions and nor have any rarities been pulled from the nets (far more is recorded here by birders with bins than blingers with bling). Well, the tape (or in these days digital recording) was playing again yesterday and my heart dropped and blood started to boil at the thought of another ruined visit. I found an area though where I could stand which was a bit sheltered from the noise by the lay of the land and actually found some birds. All this time I was able to observe that the net was not being checked (way over half an hour) and when I did eventually spy the blingers they were engaged in an extended selfie photo shoot with a scarce bird they had caught and then proceeded to parade it around. Everything I was observing was against the rules governing ringing in Norway and is why for a lot of us ringing has such a bad reputation – for far too many blingers it is a hunt for rarities and good times hiding behind the excuse of being an important scientific activity (that is the only legal reason that people are allowed to trap birds and put them through the inherent stress and discomfort this causes them).

Just so it is clear I am a big supporter of the serious Constant Effort Scheme ringing that is carried out at two Bird Observatories in Norway plus some other Observatories that take their work monitoring birds very seriously even if they do not have the resources to run CES schemes. I also fully support specific research with a conservation goal and cheer the use of modern technology that means a single tagged bird can answer more questions than 100 years and 10,000 birds worth of old fashioned ringing ever managed. But it's all the ad-hoc "let’s find a rarity" ringing that boils my piss. And further boiling occurs because many blingers don’t see the problem – birds are just objects to be (physically) exploited for their enjoyment. I think the problem is that the ringers get so caught up in the excitement of the catch (it triggers a basic human instinct) that they forget exactly what they are doing and why they are supposed to be doing it - it is the exact same instinct that drives photographers, twitchers and birders in general to chase birds and sometimes cross boundaries but the one important distinction is that only one of these requires a specific dispensation in law to be carried out.

For anyone interested, here is a summary of the laws/rules/guidelines for ringing in Norway (all in Norwegian of course).

There are very few explicit laws that govern ringing but two things that are stated very clearly are that trapped birds shall be ringed and released immediately and traps and nets should be continually watched (“Ved bruk av fangstredskap for å ringmerke fugl og merke flaggermus, skal fangede individer straks merkes og slippes fri. Fangstredskapet skal være under kontinuerlig tilsyn når det står til fangst.”)

These rules are almost impossible for single ringer to follow so the body charged with organising ringing in Norway has in its handbook decided to define continuous as meaning at least every 30 minutes and with ringed birds has allowed for there to be a 5 minute photo shoot after the bird has been processed and ringed.

Make of that what you will and also remember that if you ever witness ringing in action. How long is it really acceptable for a bird to hang in a net on damp morning right beside a loud speaker at full volume and in an area where cats prowl and humans walk with their dogs?

 

I had a long email exchange with the two bodies responsible for ringing in Norway way back in 2014. This was as a result of a young Great Grey Owl being found with a broken leg due to a twig having got stuck between its leg and the ring and the bird would have died a long, painful death had it not been found (although I suspect that it exchanged that for being put down). I contacted the authorities-that-be to hear what the consequences of this would be as clearly the ring had either not been attached properly or perhaps a wrong ring size was used. The reply I got was literally “shit happens” and I also found out that there was no reporting on how many birds that died during the course of ringing but was assured it's not a problem even though they had zero data to back that up. There was a data field for this in the reporting software but it was not active. I expressed my shock at the cowboy like state of affairs but have since then kept my feelings on ringing mostly to myself as I feel there are few birders here who share my concerns.

It was therefore very pleasing to see in the Ringers Handbook (in the link above) published in 2025 (but seemingly written in 2021 and promised in 2017…) that ringers now have to report dead birds in the now activated data field and it actually says that anyone who deliberately neglects to do so will see the removal of their ringing licence (en bevisst neglisjering av dette [dead birds] vil medføre at merkelisensen blir inndratt eller ikke fornyet) so it looks like when I thought I was banging my head against a wall that I may have actually brought about some change for the good. Maybe I will have to recharge my attempt to make Norwegian Ringing Ethical Again.

 

The second annoyance of the day was that a Pallid Swift was found and I didn’t see it. As I arrived to look over the fjord from Fornebu a message came through that a Pallid Swift was at Nesoddtangen. I could see Nesoddtangen from where I was standing and through the scope could see the person who had sent the message at a range of 3.5km. But the persons (there were actually 3 of them) did not look like they were actually watching a swift. It transpired that the bird had been seen for half an hour and the finder had managed to inform local birders who managed to get there and see it but by the time the rest of us were informed that bird had disappeared not to be seen again. Just as well probably because I would then have had to decide whether the views would have been “tickable” or not. I did however have to answer that conundrum today after the bird was refound this morning but my decision will have to wait until my next blog post. 

 

Did I see any birds though? I had three Bearded Tits and three Chiffchaff in the reedbed at Storøykilen and one of the chiffies was a tristis with a ring on. While looking for the Pallid Swift I was informed that the long staying but not often seen King Eider was on the fjord off of Nesoddtangen and sure enough on a mirror flat sea I could make it out at a range of 3.5km and those views were just about tickable.

In Maridalen all the Whooper Swans and the Pink-footed Geese have left and Jack saw a family of 4 Whoopers and a Pink-foot flying over Sørkedalen which were surely from the Dale. A single Pygmy Owl revealed it self to me in the same place as before and has presumably found a good hunting ground although I have yet to see it catch anything.

female Bearded Tit (skjeggmeis)

pair

a ringed tristis Chiffchaff. In addition to looking right it also had the right call

this unringed bird also looks like a tristis (in fact looks pretty much identical to the ringed bird above) but did not give the right call when I was watching it although that doesn't rule it out from being a tristis

Pygmy Owl (spurveugle) - one of at least 3 birds that have been discovered in Maridalen this autumn

where I was stood, where the Pallid Swift was seen and where the King Eider was swimming. Birding as it should be ;-)

Still too nice

Cloudless nights mean that there are fewer and fewer birds every day, or at least that is how it seems.

Encounters with Jack Snipe, Bearded Tit and Siberian tristis Chiffchaffs have been the highlights of the last few days as a wing bar or two continues to elude me.

Singe pairs of Bearded Tits are in two reedbeds at Fornebu but are for the most past very low down and are I believe still feeding on insects. They call loudly only very occasionally and it seems to be when they have lost contact with each other. Today I had a pair feeding in reeds just 3-4 metres from me for a good 15 minutes and it was possible to hear very, very quiet calls which I assume were to make sure they stayed together but they were incredibly difficult to see until they perched on a reed just over the ground for a couple of minutes and preened. They were only two metres away but were almost impossible to see let alone photograph.

I have had upto two Jack Snipe but lack of observations from day to day suggests to me that these are new birds that are moving through and just stopping for a day before continuing.

My best views of Beardies were on Wednesday when there was thick fog

a Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) in the open

droppings and bill marks in mud are a good sign that snipe are around

this Jack was much better hidden. Can you see him?

should be easier in this picture

there are a lot of Long-tailed Tits (stjertmeis) around this autumn and flocks move through very quickly

a ringed Siberian tristis Chiffchaff at Fornebu yesterday. A quite classic individual that was also heard calling

it was together with this unblinged bird

the lone 1cy Whooper Swan (sangsvane) is still at Fornebu. It loosely associates with Mute Swans but is often alone

And a trip to Østensjøvannet gave some photographic birds

male Mallard (stokkand)

young Moorhen (sivhøne)

female Pintail (stjertand)

Shoveler (skjeand)

side by side with a Mallard

and a late Adder (hoggorm). This was very small and I believe hatched this year

Day of Days

Last night the word famous MOGA movement had one of its world famous meetings and there has never been such a crowd ever before in the history of the universe. It has been said by many that this movement is the greatest movement in the birding world and there has never been seen anything like it EVER and of course as its leader I am the most respected and handsome birder in the history of not just birding but the universe.

If we are to be honest (but one should of course never be so) then Making Owling Great Again didn’t have the most successful outing last night with Tengmalm’s again being absent but Pygmy and Tawny did reveal themselves to Jack and I 😉

even if MOGA meetings don't deliver what it says on the tin you cannot deny it is GREAT to be out in the forest at night

 

Today though has been an epic day!

When walking the Beast this morning Redwings were moving and it felt birdy so I decided that Fornebu needed to be grilled to find some wing bars. It was indeed birdy and Chiffchaffs were huetting all over the place but I struggled to find anything unusual until an F35 streaked through the skies high above me and a few seconds after it had passed then I heard it as did some Bearded Tits (should I start calling them Reedlings?) which called from the reedbed by me. This was if anything rarer than a YbW. My last sighting of a Beardie was a year and a half ago whilst of Ybw only a year ago. There turned out to be 4 birds but only one, a female, showed relatively well and she was ringed. It would be interesting to know from whence the lady has cometh.

a ringed female Bearded Tit (skjeggmeis)

They were surprisingly quiet and skulky which suggests they may well have been around a few days as freshly arrived birds are usually very restless and noisy. So, a year tick and a species I have been hoping would turn up and spend the winter at Fornebu. Whether they stay needs to be seen but it will be fun finding out.

The day though had only just begun. After a good walk around Storøya and taking in Koksa as well as Storøykilen I decided to stop at the last remaining area of Nansenparken which seems to have any attraction to passerines – namely the urban vegetable patch. I was thinking of a rare Stonechat or Wheatear but instead a Turtle Dove flew up!!! Only my third ever in Norway and my first self-found one this was a proper rarity and I put the news out pronto. It was a very smart bird and seem settled until for no obvious reason it took off and disappeared but 6 others managed to see it.

My Norwegian list is a very modest 326 species but my self found list is now 287 which is decidedly respectable.

the Turtle Dove (turteldue) when I found it

it soon moved up onto a lamppost allowing this photo to prove where it was

although the plumage looks very adult like the lesser coverts are pale and I think juvenile so I reckon it is a very advanced 1cy

here we can see that the inner primaries are new adult ones and the outer primaries are old juvenile ones

the obligatory selfie

But the day was still not over. A Caspian Gull that was very belatedly reported from Middelalderparken in central Oslo a couple of weeks ago and a message came through that it had been refound at exactly the same time the dove flew off so 15 minutes later I was looking for it. The pictures I had first seen of the bird leave me feeling it is perhaps more cactus than cach but my viewpoint may be conflicted as my only self-found cach was eventually not approved as the records committee saw it as more of a cactus (if this is making no sense to you then cactus comes from the latin name of Caspian which is cachinnans and Herring Gull which is argentatus meaning the bird is a hybrid between these two species). I am also the first to admit that I suck when it comes to gulls and today's pictures do look more convincing. It was a small bird so presumably a female no matter who its mum and dad are.

The gull, if pure, was of course also a year tick so three potential year ticks on the same day in October when not on an island is bloody good going!

Here are my poor pictures and I must also admit that when I took them I did not think it was the bird but can see now that it is......

a gull with a lot of and perhaps 100% Caspian in it

the gulls were being fed by a concerned citizen and as soon as they saw her arriving they flew up to her so she is clearly a regular fixture. Here a tight mass of gulls were tucking into the food that she emptied out.