Tønsberg

Have you ever wondered why the most popular blog post here is of a Black Duck? The reason is that after I published one of the pictures on Surfbirds, the bird in question (which has been in residence in Tønsberg for over a decade) ended up being discussed on the US ID Frontiers forum. I had hoped the picture would be picked up as the bird has long been controversial and I have always been under impressed by its appearance. The pictures on my blog which were quite good (!) have contributed to an overweight of opinion that this bird is a hybrid rather than it being the currently accepted genuine 100% Black Duck. NSKF is currently reviewing all Norwegian Black Duck (rødfotand) records and it is pretty likely that the status of this bird will not remain unchanged.

I renewed my acquaintance with the bird today and whilst it being quite an obvious bird it is easy to see that it most likely has a small percentage of Mallard (stokkand) genes in it although I would imagine it that these have come more than two generation back in time which raises another question as to where you draw the line for what is pure or not (re. That other favourite of mine: gulls).

We were visiting my brother-in-law in Tønsberg for the weekend and I snuck out before breakfast this morning. Snow and freezing temperatures have now, and finally, descended on Southern Norway and it was good to be out in the cold. The duck is normally to be found at Rosanes and here there was also a male Smew – surely the finest duck in Europe. It took me a while to locate the Black(ish) Duck which was with Mallards under boat moorings but it showed pretty well and I got some pictures in the low morning sun.

Otherwise today I had both Marsh and Willow Tits together on a bird feeder although didn’t have the camera for what would have been a very educational picture and also a rare winter record of Dunnock – this also on a feeder.

My posting on the blog this evening  was delayed due to watching a FANTASTIC Norwegian nature program. This is part three of an eight part series and I would highly recommend watching it. I don't know if this link will work for those outside of Norway but I hope so as you will get to see unique footage of nesting Snowy Owls.

male Black(ish) Duck. The pale fringes to the flank feathers are one feature that was highlighted as showing hybird influence

in the warm first sun of the morning the bird looks too brown for the real deal. Also (and despite some people denying its existence) you can, too my eyes, see a green sheen  to the back of the head which is a clear indication of Mallard genes

distant male Smew (lappfiskand) and Goldeneye

Bitter please

Bitter is a word that conjures up different emotional images in my mind. There are the warm, pleasant images based on that special English type of bitter: a warm, yet refreshing London Pride or maybe a Ruddles County although I wouldn’t say that the mental images that Old Thumper conjures up for me are in any way pleasant...

There are also the unpleasant, cold feelings related to the word bitter and today was a BITTER day. The north easterly wind made -5C feel like -50C. I tried a couple of minutes of seawatching and the pained expression on my face was nearly frozen into place.

The wind and snow from the weekend meant that it was hard going today and I found none of the summer visitors that I had hoped to see. Skylarks (sanglerke), Starling (stær) and Lapwing (vipe) that had started to arrive in Vestfold were not to be seen today having had to presumably escape to the south.

Nine Rooks (kornkråke) back at their colony in Horten and a single Great Grey Shrike (varsler) at Borrevannet looked like being the highlights of my day until I arrived at Presterødkilen in Tønsberg. Although still completely frozen here I hoped that the reedbeds might give up the Water Rails (vannrikse) or Bearded Tits (skjeggmeis) that are wintering here. There is a stream flowing into the reedbed which never seems to freeze over (good ole pollution!) and I have previously heard Water Rails here. Today though I was lucky enough to SEE three! I reckon I have seen Water Rail probably only 10 times ever and only on two occasions can I remember that the views were close and prolonged. Today though one bird in particular showed exceptionally well feeding in the open and close – only around 10 metres from me. The cold weather has probably forced them into the open but this stream is also right by a path so the birds have likely become used to people. I am quite happy with the pictures I took which are the best of around 250 that were on the memory card.

Water Rail (vannrikse) - an unusually confiding bird

a super cropped version of the first picture - not too bad

This is the type of view you can normally expect of a Water Rail. Note how slim it is - perfectly adapted for squeezing through dense reed beds

And a very short video

After being very satisfied with this close encounter I went looking for the duck that has a good dose of Black Duck (rødfotand) genes in it. I eventually found it with a handful of Mallards at Husøy although it was a bit distant. A Little Grebe (dvergdykker) was close by.

Black Duck (rødfotand) at 200 metres. At this range it looks the real deal

Little Grebe (dvergdykker)

Driving back to Oslo I had another Great Grey Shrike and a stop at Sandvika was productive. The cold weather has resulted in bays in the fjord freezing over and the open water at Kadettangen has a congregation of 72 very hungry Mute Swans and 200 Mallard (stokkand). Amongst them was the overwintering Pink-footed Goose (kortnebbgås) that had relocated from Oslo, 4 newly returned Greylag Geese (grågås), five Goldeneyes (kvinand) and best of all the overwintering Smew (lappfiskand) which has normally been a distant sight off Fornebu but was now easy to see at close range. The brown lores show this to be a young female and most likely the same bird that first turned up in August last year.

1st winter (2cy) female Smew - in this picture the brown as opposed to black lores (between eye and bill) are easy to see which means it is not an adult bird

At this angle and with a wet head the lores look black

At one stage I though these two were paired but later he associated with a female of his own kind

this female to be precise.

The overwintering Pink-footed Goose (kortnebbgås) showing off where he gets his name from in both languages

These two adult Mute Swans flew in whilst I was there. The youngster behind looks a bit incredulous

male Goldeneye (kvinand) -  a very smart bird and one you get used to in Norway but was always a real treat back home in Sussex

The duck formerly known as Black Duck

Edit 18.06.2014: This much discussed bird has now been reviewed (along with all other records of Black Duck in Norway) and found to be a hybrid. It was the posting of one of the picture on Surfbirds that ignited the final debate about this bird (there have been previous deabtes) and led to the review.

Vestfold with Rune was on the cards today. With some strong southerly winds forecast we had our first stop at Møringa hoping for some seabirds but the winds were nowhere strong enough and we had to be content with 4 little Auks (alkekonge) and 4 late Oystercathchers (tjeld) although I think they can overwinter here in mild winters.
Continuing south to Tønsberg, Presterødkilen was full of birds. 130 Wigeon, 60 Teal and 55 Tufted Ducks were good counts although 7 Scaup were the scarcest duck. The reedbeds didn't give up the Bittern that has been seen here a couple of times recently but 2 Water Rails squealed and after hearing some pinging we had excellent views of a pair of Bearded Tits which never fail to entertain.
At Rosanes the returning (ringed) male Black Duck (rødfotand) which is into its 12th year (at least) showed incredibly well with Mallards on the park lake. I have previously only seen it out in the tidal bay but today there were no problems in taking a portrait photo.

 This bird has always surprised me with a trace of green tones on its head (most visible on the right hand side) plus a suggestion of a faint white neck ring but has been the rounds with American experts and everything is apparently within the variability of pure Black Ducks. In the photos below note on the open wing shot there is no white line above the dark blue speculum which would be present in a Mallard x Black Duck hybrid.

Black Duck (rødfotand) Rosanes near Tønsberg

The lack of any white above the dark blue speculum is a good sign of purity

a trace of green can be seen in the head

a faint suggestion of a neck collar

it seemed to be dominant over the local Mallards

The pure white underwing contrasts with the dark flanks. How many dark feathers are there in the "comma" on the underwing coverts? At least 10 I would say which is also a (pure) Black Duck character

having a scratch (the ring was applied 10.12.2008 when the bird was trapped by ringers at the same site)

having a wash

Black Duck (left), Oslo Birder (right), unimpressed kindergarten (back)

 After enjoying the company of this real rarity we bumped into a Black Woodpecker (svartspett), had a couple of flocks of Whooper swans (sangsvane), a single Great Grey Shrike (varsler) and an inland Long-tailed Duck (havelle).

it is always fun to watch them holding different 

reed stems

Bearded Tit (skjeggmeis)

There was much preening going on in the Whooper Swan herd and when the bird on the left flapped a number of feathers flew off. Notice the feathers stuck to the bill on the bird to the right

West is best

The choice facing me this morning was whether I should look to the west or to the east. I chose west and hoped to be lucky enough to refind the Green-winged Teal that was seen on Sunday at Møringa near Horten. On the drive down I had Lapwings and Skylarks over the road which just show how quickly things go in the spring. Arriving at Møringa the sea was calm and the lighting was perfect as I knew that the teal, if still present, would be distant and difficult to pick out. The first birds I noted were over 20 Oystercatchers with a couple looking like they were already preparing to nest, a couple of Ringed Plovers flying around and an early winter plumaged Black-throated Diver on the sea. There were a few Mallards but at first I didn’t see any Teal but then after 20 minutes I suddenly located a small group of Teal swimming amongst some stones and there it was: a male Green-winged Teal . The vertical white stripe was very obvious although the distance was too great to notice the differences in head pattern. I stayed enjoying the bird for over an hour although it didn’t show any better during that time.

Male Green-winged Teal (left) with male Common Teal

Male Green-winged Teal (right)

There was some signs of passage over the fjord with 3 small groups of grey geese going north (14 birds in total), probably just Greylags although one very distant flock of 8 could have been Bean, a flock of 8 swans flying over land on the Vestfold side (over 5km distance!) appeared to contain birds of two different sizes but the distance was just too great to try to claim Bewick’s Swan (a rarity in these parts) and there were also a few Eiders heading north. A calling Reed Bunting was new for the year.

I headed down the coast towards Tønsberg and at Blixekilen had 4 Ringed Plovers and in the bay by Furustrand Camping (Vallø) I stopped to look at a collection of Gulls and there was an adult Iceland Gull – finally I found my own one this winter. It was a first sat on a stone fairly close to the shore but then flew out 500m and sat with a large flock of Common Gulls. The day was turning out to be quite good!!

Adult Iceland Gull Vallø

I then headed for Presterødkilen in Tønsberg and from the inner view point noted a few Lapwings, Oystercatchers, Shelduck and Black-headed Gulls a few of which were in summer plumage. Stopping at the reed bed I heard a couple of Bearded Tits and a female came very close to me giving my best ever views of the species and some decent pictures.

Female Beared Tit

sliding down the reed stems

 From the outer viewpoint I picked up the long-staying male Black Duck, counted 150 Tufted Ducks which unfortunately didn’t contain anything rarer and had a couple of Reed Buntings in the reed bed.

I stopped at Ilene for a few minutes hoping to pick up some migrating raptors but I didn’t see any in the short period of time I was able to stay.

It does really feel like spring now with the possibility of new birds every day.