Warming up at Svellet

We are now entering that time of the year when my loyalty to the Dale gets truly tested and I split my birding time between the Dale and Nordre Øyeren and especially the mighty Svellet.

A trip there this morning gave a taste of things to come and the extensive mudflats hosted 230 Curlew which were both an impressive sight and sound. A single Bar-tailed Godwit amongst them was a good bird but the only other waders were singles of Lapwing, Oystercatcher and Green Sandpiper. In two to three weeks time things will be very different with hundreds, if not thousands, of Greenshank and Wood Sandpipers and smaller numbers of many other species. 92 Teal were dabbling away and numbers of this species will also increase at least ten fold in the coming weeks.

Currently all the ducks are in Snekkervika where viewing conditions are difficult (not that they are usually much better at Svellet). A visit here produced around 1500 Teal and also Wigeon, Mallard and 4 Pintail but attempts to find anything scarcer came up blank. There were also waders here with 24 Curlew, 9 Lapwing, 6 Oystercatcher and 9 Green Sandpipers. Eight of the sandpipers were feeding together on an open mudflat and when you see them in this unexpected way then it is easy to understand the true identity of the (too) early (and undocumented) reports of Wood and Common Sandpipers that we get every year. We will still have to wat a bit for these other sandpipers to turn up by which time the Green Sandpipers will have mostly moved into the forest marshes where they breed.

Whilst out my phone plinged with a message of a Glaucous Gull at the recycling plant in Oslo. A few years ago I visited this site quite often when I was trying to get interested (and more knowledagble) in gulls but this winter I visited just once. It really isn’t a pleasant place to stand with bins and a camera but I decided to pop in on my way home as it was on the way. Luckily this twitch went exactly to plan and no unnecessary time was spent there after the bird was spotted almost immediately. Result!

The day had started early getting the tyres on the car changed to summer plumage and whilst waiting outside (because of Covid I couldn’t wait inside on the sofa enjoying a cup of coffee) I had first some Redwing and then a Crane fly over so I really thought there would be lots of new birds today but that wasn’t the case unfortunately. What we need now is some rain as all the fields are brown but the weather forecast for the next week is just for sun and northerly winds so there will be no big arrivals of birds. Overnight frosts seem to be a thing of the past though so the ice on Maridalsvannet should start melting fast – it is still 97% frozen but things can change very quickly.

The mighty mudflats at Svellet

Maridalsvannet is still mostly frozen but there is now a growing ice free area at Hammeren

2cy Glaucous Gull (polarmåke) hiding behind a Great Black-back and looking very small in comparison.

looking a bit more brutish here

my first Comma (hvit C) butterfly of the year

an adult male Goshawk (hønsehauk) in Maridalen which was a long way from either of the nests I know of but I have long suspected there maybe another pair in the Dale

Glaucous Gull

Despite enjoying GGO and Piney today I will focus on something else.

Normally, I resort to gulls in times of despair but a 1^st winter Glaucous Gull only 20 minutes from Oslo was tempting enough to drag myself and Anders away from the goodies in Oslo. I discovered that I had again left the battery for the bazooka in the charger at home but the bird was so close that the superzoom coped admirably. The bird was so confiding that it was an extremely present surprise to see that it had not been blinged by the Rare Gull Rapid Response Ringing Force and long may it remain that lucky. The bird was a small individual (for the species) and therefore most likely a female.

A visit to Østensjøvannet yesterday revealed the hybrid Mallard x Wigeon displaying without any females seeming interested but the male Wigeon there (who is not his farther as both are ringed and we know there ages) has definitely pulled a female Mallard so there may be more hybrids to come. I should have videoed the display of the hybrid because it was very different to what you see from Mallards.

1st winter Glaucous Gull (polarmåke) which preferred the company of Mallards to that of some nearby Herring Gulls

male Mallard x Wigeon Hybrid alongside a male Wigeon and some Mallards

here the head was thrown back in display

2019 ticking along

I’ve had a few small birding outings (often with the excuse of walking or socialising the dog) since New Years Day and am slowly adding new species to the 2019 year list although it is a rather quiet year so far and after 5 days I have seen a grand total of only 66 species.

A small flock of Waxwings graced the garden at sunset on the 3^rd and gave the chance for some atmospheric pictures. A trip to Bygdøy yesterday revealed a couple of Purple Sandpipers which turned up right at the end of 2017 and will probably stay until spring now. Today I again tried for better photos of the Water Rail but again failed although the bird (there are two here) has become noticeably more tolerant of its human admirers and seems to appreciate the porridge oats that are put out for it.

Waxwings (sidensvans)

 

 

Purple Sandpipers (fjæreplytt)

Red-throated Diver (smålom) is not a common winter sight in these parts 

the Glaucous Gull (polarmåke) is always to be found defending the same area of the rubbish mound

the female Pintail (stjertand) at Østensjøvannet which evaded us on New Years Day

Water Rail (vannrikse). I am using such low shutter speeds that when it does run into the open that I am unable to get a sharp photo

Wren (gjerdesmett)

Kicking off 2019

The majority of Birders are rather interested in lists and a New Year means a chance to starts lots of new lists. 1 Jan therefore sees lots of birding activity and is the day when the most Magpies or Feral Pigeons are reported during the course of the year as people want to get them on their year list and then forget about them…. I am not normally available for New Years Day birding in Norway either because we are in England or have visitors from England. This year though was different, and I arranged with Andreas Gullberg that we would have a days birding with the aim to record as many species as possible in Oslo and Akershus. I had expected we would record around 60 species but in the end we only saw 45 with too much wind and bad planning on our part being the excuses but despite this we still had the highest total amongst the small number of other birders who were out on the same errand. Due to poor timing and the short day we didn’t manage to visit Maridalen (an unbelievable travesty I know) and in under an hour there today I added 7 species to those we saw yesterday.

Highlights yesterday were The Glaucous Gull and a couple of Water Rails running around on top of the snow flattened reedbed at Pollevannet.

The (now) 3cy Glaucous Gull (polarmåke) in Oslo

Oystercatcher (tjeld) at sunset at Bygdøy. This was our only wader of the day

Water Rail (vannrikse) running past the nature reserve sign at Pollevannet. This sign is in the middle of the reedbed and is only visible when snow has flattened the reeds. I have not noticed signs on the edge of the reedbed where people might actually notice them. This is unfrotunately typical of nature (mis)management in Norway

Surprise of the day was this female Wigeon (brunnakke) 

Beast socialising at Fornebu today revealed a very unseasonal Starling (stær)

Last birding of 2018

After posting about the highlights of 2018 I did find time for a final quick birding session. Attempts to get better pictures of the Water Rail were very frustrating as there was always something between me and the bird but it was also very special as the bird came unusually close to me. The Glaucous Gull was a relatively enjoyable experience as the area was deserted.

2nd winter Glaucous Gull (polarmåke) with Herring Gulls

here giving some abuse

and here receiving some

I know where it is..

Water Rail (vannrikse)

when it once was completely in the open It was always facing away from me..

winter in Maridalen

although having only been frozen for 5 days there was apparently 12cm of ice on the lake

the beast likes Maridalen too 

Glauc - finally!

Since Wednesday I have made three more attempts for the Glauc. I visited the dump, despite my best intentions, on Thursday and of course did not find it and then yesterday I decided to look for it in the late afternoon by the Opera where lots of gulls congregate to bathe. That attempt nearly killed me. I underestimated how cold it was (-11C and with a wind off the sea the windchill must have been quite a few degrees lower) and although I managed to hold out until after 3pm when gulls were heading out into the fjord to roost I again did not find it. It took me over an hour to warm up properly after this and highlighted again how much I dislike gulls and twitching.

Today we were dogging (in the purest sense of the word!) at Fornebu where birding highlight was a Chiffchaff still surviving in the reedbed. Stig Johan sent me a message that the Glauc was at the dump (does he ever not see it?) and it was three hours later when I was able to visit but don’t they say that 9 is a lucky number?? Well for me it seems to be the case as on the 9^th attempt I saw it! You would think that after all the failed attempts that I would spend a lot of time with it but to be honest this had become more about the tick (an Oslo year tick) than anything else. The bird was knee deep in rubbish, was mucky, it was cold and it smelt so I think 10 minutes of “admiration” of this high arctic species was more than enough.

Glaucous Gull (polarmåke) - a difficult bird to find for some. This is a 2nd winter. Although the plumage and bill looks very much like a 1st winter it had a pale eye which is a sign of an older bird

she (?) was trying to be dominant

and was giving this Herring Gull grief

but the Herring turned on the Glauc and the Glauc proved to be a but of a sissy

here you can see muck on its wing presumably as a result of wading around in sh*t all day

here you can see the variety of rubbish in what I had always thought was a recycling plant for cardboard

here is the rubbish pile it was on and it is visible in the picture.

and Leif the leucistic Herring Gull was also present (and can be seen in the habitat shot)

this flock of Waxwings (sidensvans) graced the garden last week