I'm going on a Sibe Acc Hunt

Today was the day for the big Siberian Accentor Hunt. I had delegated all family responsibilities to Mrs.OB, was up at 5am and out of the house for 13 hours. Did I find one? Of course not but I did hear a number of unidentified accentors and when I played Sibe Acc call to a couple of them they responded…….but they turned out to be of the Hedge variety. I heard the first calls when it was still dark (could well have slept 45 minutes more) and I did get myself well and truly excited thinking that I had flocks of Sibes flying over but will never know. I could actually see the site in Sweden where there has been a Sibe Acc the last few days and took a picture at 12km range which I’m sure if I blow up enough will reveal my target ;-)

So I didn’t succeed in my main target but I did find a pretty damn good bird for the parts in the form of a Little Bunting. I was riding quite high off this but felt that some of the air leaked out of the balloon when I got messages that a Desert Wheatear was at Fiskumvannet (where I was yesterday…), then a picture from Kjell M who had found a Tawny Pipit (but then again I have no chance of competing against him due to geography), then another Sibe Acc was pulled out of a net on the west coast (it is pretty embarrassing collectively for us Norwegian birders that we can’t find one in the field) and the last message was of an unidentified swift in Oslo from a birder without bins needing assistance (do any self-respecting birders ever go out without bins, or at least a superzoom in their pocket? I can see the makings of a joke there..).

So the day’s plan was to head to the island of Søndre Asmaløy right in the south east of Norway and an area which has good viz mig and a history of scarce and rare birds. I started at Håbu from 0720 to 0910 but it wasn’t until 0800 that I could see anything. There was lots to hear though from the moment I left the car with a steady, if light, passage of finches, thrushes and tits (including Long-tailed of which I must have had over 100 in the day).  Nothing too scarce here though so I headed for the area around Vikerkilen and Skipstadkilen. Here I worked hard but for a long time three Wheatears were all I had of interest. A Lapland Bunting flew over and finally I felt I had found something worthy of an October day.

Shortly after a migrating flock of Blue Tits was buzzing around in low vegetation and whilst watching them I thought I saw a small warbler fly into a bush (was probably a Goldcrest). As I raised my bins to the bush I saw a bird I immediately realised was a Little Bunting! I panicked a bit as I got my camera out of my bag and then couldn’t the bird again. I searched and searched and then decided to follow the Blue Tit flock as they were the only other birds in the area and maybe it was associating with them. A bunting flew up and away and then turned round and came back and landed in a bush where the tits were. The Blue Tits were flying out and feeding on the ground and thankfully the bunting did the same and I got really rather good views!!! It interestingly did not call once. After it flew into some bushes I retreated to send out the news and then just waited as I didn’t want to risk scaring it. The first birder arrived after about an hour and a few more after that but I left them to look (unfortunately in vain) as I was by now starving. On the way back to the car I put up two Short-eared Owls and had another Lap Bunting. Nice!

It was now 1330 and I felt I had used my luck up so instead of searching other places for Sibe Acc I decided to work my way home via a number of previously reported birds. At the Great Big Dump, Øra I had Brent and  White-fronted Goose. At Lysakermoa I had Bewick’s Swan (becoming very rare in Norway) and more White-fronts. There have been a lot of White-fronts in Norway the last few days and the ones at Lysakermoa were two juveniles. It is interesting that they had already managed to lose their parents as the Taiga Bean Geese seem to keep together as a family group until the next spring. Continuing into Akershus I had a large flock of Greylags at Hemnesjøen. I couldn’t find any Beans here (had them last week) but did find a family party of 5 White-fronts. Then at Hellesjøvannet I had a single juv White-front with Greylags. I first saw this bird in flight and it was tiny such that I got quite excited until I got to see it properly on the water. So White-fronts at four locations is certainly not something I have ever experienced before.

A very good day!

The day's undoubted highlight a momentarily photogenic Little Bunting (dvergspurv)

here in the unlikely company of Blue and Great Tit

Short-eared Owl (jordugle)

Bewick Swans (dvergsvane). The inset show an adult pair with a juvenile. To the right of the picture is the fourth bird which was a 2cy

Brent Geese (ringgås) at Øra

Scaup (bergand) at Øra. Note the left hand bird is a 1cy male (grey feathers on back)

15 White-fronted Geese (tundragås) at Øra

juv White-front with Greylags at Hellesjøvannet

family of 5 White-fronts at Hemnesjøen

2 juv White-fronts at Lysakermoa

The cloest I got (12km or so) to a Siberian Accentor although surely I must have heard one (there must thousands of them out there!)

Some Beans

The winds were from the south although by no means strong enough and an hour and a half early on at Krokstrand delivered no seabird movements with just a handful of auks flying around. Overhead though I had 3 Hawfinches (kjernebiter) and a calling Two-barred Crossbill (båndkorsnebb) which shows there are still birds around after the min invasion earlier in the autumn.

With the rest of the day at my disposal I decided to head for the area around Hemnesjøen hoping for some ducks or geese. At Hærsetersjøen there was a huge congregation of 2000 Greylag (grågås) and amongst them I had two fabalis Bean Geese (sædgås) - possibly these are from the Scottish flock? Over the years there have been regular records of fabalis from this location and it lies directly on the migration route from Denmark to the Glomma staging ground so it could well be that these birds are from the same location although none with neck collars have been reported to prove it.

Two Cranes (trane) here are getting to be a bit late and a Great Grey Shrike (varsler) was the first of three I had today – a sure sign that winter is coming. All the shrikes were at regular wintering locations and one has to wonder if it the same birds returning each year (and therefore how old can they be?) or are the locations just so attractive that it is a case of first come first served?

At Hellesjøvannet the large autumn flock of Pochard (taffeland) was greatly reduced with just 24 present and there were no Scaup (bergand) or Smew (lappfiskand) which usually turn up here in the late autumn although it is still early for these species.

I made a detour on the way home to see if the Bean Geese flock was still by the Glomma - they have yet to turn up in Scotland and people are getting nervous ;-) I didn’t locate any but I only checked one area and they could of course have been using another field although I suspect they are in Denmark or somewhere else on route to Scotland.

The two Taiga Bean Geese amongst many Greylags

Cranes

The day's 3 Great Grey Shrikes gradually came closer and closer..

more of the Greylag flock which nearly covered the whole lake. It was very surprising that the 2 Bean Geese were the only other species I could find amongst them

Nocturnal excursion anno 2012

Last night Rune and I went for a nocturnal wander in Aurskog-Høland with a little diversion in Østfold. We were well rewarded for our time (out from 1930 until 0330) but a weather induced delayed growth of cereal crops meant that there was hardly any cover for species such as Quail (vaktel) and Corncrake (åkerrikse) so we were rewarded with only a single Corncrake for our troubles and I have still to see/hear Quail this year (this time last year there were very good numbers of both species because there was a lot of suitable habitat available for them). For our troubles we had a single (self found) Blyth’s Reed Warbler (busksanger), 1 River Warbler (elvesanger), 2 Grasshopper Warblers (gresshoppesanger) , 7 Marsh Warblers (myrsanger), 1 Sedge Warbler (sivsanger), Reed Warbler (rørsanger), 1 Thrush Nightingale (nattergal), 1 hunting Long-eared Owl (hornugle), 2 churring Nightjars (nattravn), 1 calling Water Rail (vannrikse) and 1 singing Corncrake.

At Ydersbotn at the southern end of Hemnessjøen we had a singing Grasshopper Warbler, 2 singing Marsh Warblers and a distant churring Nightjar as well as barking Roe Deer (rådyr) along with the music from a party in a farmhouse to give a quite unique aural experience. At Kragtorpvika we had a chorus of calling in Red-throated Divers (smålom) and a singing warbler. It took a bit of listening to before the bricks fell into place - a self found Blyth’s Reed Warbler. The song was very different to the bird at Snekkervika and the characteristic whistle was only uttered once but it had the distinctive repetition of 4-5 phrases, which were usually mimics of another bird, which gives Blyth’s the distinctive structure to its song.

Driving alongside Hemnesjøen we had the company of a hunting Long-eared Owl in our headlights for about 30 seconds which was our only record for the night (this time last year I had heard 3 different sets of begging young but this year we heard none). At Hellesjøvannet the hoped for Bittern (rørdrum) or Spotted Crake (myrriske) failed to materialise but we were able to listen to singing Sedge, Reed and Marsh Warbler with a distant churring Nightjar and calling Water Rail adding to the noise.

In the valley north of Bjørkelangen the lack of cover meant we had just a single Corncrake in  a normally productive area but things were made difficult for us for the explosion in Skylark (sanglerke) song from 0210. There was still not a hint of the sun in the sky (although it was by no means dark) and the dawn chorus was starting! The Fieldfares (gråtrost) had started making a noise at 0200 after finally having shut up shortly after 2330 which gives only a short window in which it is only the exciting nocturnal singers that can be heard and not drowned out by the rest of the avian world. The night finished just after 3am with a quick trip into Maridalen where we had the singing River and Grasshopper Warblers but nothing else of note.

Elsewhere in Oslo and Akershus a plastic Red-breasted Goose (rødhalsgås) assorting with Barnacle Geese on an ornamental pond at Fornebu seems to have attracted rather too much interest but a Little Tern at Årnestangen is a real rarity of note and will hopefully hang around and warrant the walk and mosquito menace.

I have recorded some of the noises of the night and will put together a video clip soon. In the mean time here is another bad Marsh Warbler picture to add to the collection.

Marsh Warbler

Here is the video, unfortunately the sound is quite poor so you have to listen closely. The background chorus to the Blyth's Reed is Red-throated Divers I think.

Maridalen

After two days of seawatching and many hours of sitting (although I do have a very comfortable chair for seawatching which Mrs Oslo Birder thoughtfully gave me for xmas!) I needed to move my body today so chose to ride up to to Maridalen which I have neglected for the last two days. I cycled up Akerselva where 5 Goldeneye and a pair of Common Sandpipers are evidence that the river is recovering after the accidental poisoning a year and a half ago. At the southern end of Maridalsvannet a grand total of five singing Wood Warblers was the largest number I have ever had here and also a singing Hawfinch. Not much on the water although a 1^st summer Black-throated Diver was something I don’t remember having seen here before (its plumage looks like winter plumage).

The male Wryneck was  perched outside the nest when I arrived to admire him and he then moved to feed and I also heard him sing a few times. Also here a distant singing Cuckoo which is always a scarce Oslo bird, an overflying Yellow Wagtail, singing Icterine Warbler and feeding Garden Warbler – nearly all the summer migrants have returned now!

Wryneck Maridalen

Also today, the garden Great Tits hatched. Click here for pictures.

Now that I have had some time to go through them properly, here are a few more pictures from yesterday's outing.

3 Dotterel

Female Dotterel (left) & male Dotterel (right). Dotterel are one of only a few species of bird where there is role reversal of the sexes. The female is the more colourful sex, chases the males, has multiple mates and the male does the most of the egg brooding and looking after of young.

Reedbed at Hellesjøvannet. Marsh Harriers breed in this reedbed, Hobbies were hunting over it, the Whooper Swan nest can just be seen in the middle and did a Bittern boom here?

Kragtorpvika, Hemnessjøen. Black-headed Gulls and Great Crested Grebes are nesting colonially in the reeds at the back and a flock of 11 Temminsk's Stints were feeding on the mud to the right.

Hous Martin

(Barn) Swallow