Quite a weekend of birding!

On Saturday I took Angus and Denise to see the Bean Geese down in Østfold. Angus has been following the geese for 20 odd years on their Scottish wintering grounds (see his blog) and finally came over to see them in Norway. 

We saw a minimum of 35 birds with 5 collars read but there were probably more as they were in small groups alternating between the river and field. The area also held lots and lots of other birds with Gadwall, Pintail, 800 Pink-feet, 500 Whoopers, Hen Harrier, Merlin, Goshawk, Kestrel, Buzzard and Snow Bunting amongst others.

Whilst we were in Østfold there was quite a bit going on closer to home and this morning I got to enjoy some of that action plus cause a little twitch myself. I finally saw and as hoped self-found STONECHAT in Norway!! It was a very shy bird that was very skilled in disappearing and it took a long while before I got a photo of it.

But there was lots else to see whilst I tried to get that important photo. A male Black Redstart found yesterday was still present and even singing, a female type Pied Wagtail was amongst White Wags and Snow Bunting, all 6 thrush species including my first Ring Ouzel of the year, Twite, Chiffchaff, Wheatears, flocks of migrating Pink-footed Geese plus lots of other birds all made for one of those fantastic April days that live long in the memory :-)

As regular readers of this blog will remember Stonechat was one of two Norwegian breeding species that I have not seen in Norway, with the other being Leach’s Petrel. Stonechat has been a bit of a bogey bird for me so to find one near Oslo where it is super rare was good!

The bird had a surprisingly large white rump that could lead thoughts towards Siberian Stonechat but I don’t see any other features pointing that way although the important underwing was not seen or photographed properly.

Male Stonechat (svartstrupe) at Fornebu! A self-found Norwegian tick

male Black Redstart (svartrødstjert)

female type Pied Wagtail (svartryggerle). The black rump and very dusky flanks are very good Pied (vs. White) characters but it the back dark enough for a pure bird?

male Hen Harrier (myrhauk)

Spring migration finally explodes into life

I had quite a days birding with Conor Cunnigham today and finally the forces of spring migration could be felt. We headed south to the Glomma River near Mysen in Østfold. One of the tagged Bean Geese has been transmitting from here and after I sent out a request to local birders to visit the area to find out how many geese there were there it became clear that this is where all the action is. A number of stubble fields are snow free and there were thousands of birds here.

We had 97 Taiga Beans, 400+ Pink-feet, 500 Whooper Swans, 70+ Cranes, 300+ Skylarks, 1000+ Wood Pigeons plus smaller numbers of Greylags, Canada Geese and Snow Buntings.

There were also a number of raptors: a male Hen Harrier, at least 2 Merlins, 2 Sparrowhawk, 5 Goshawks including 3 together, 2 Peregrines an adult White-tailed Eagle and 10+ Buzzards.

New species for the year were a flock of 24 Mistle Thrushes and a White Wagtail.

It was not just a feast for the eyes but also a concert for the ears with continuous noise from Cranes, geese, Whoopers and Skylarks. It is days like this that make the winter bearable but unfortunately this period risks passing very quickly if we get a rapid thaw now such that birds can move rapidly north.

Amongst the Beans I saw five collared birds, three of which I had noted earlier at Udenes, but which have most likely subsequently returned to Denmark and then moved north again with other birds and chosen to stop where they could see conditions were favourable. It will now be interesting to see how many birds move on to Udenes or whether they don't bother this year (and should that be the case what will they do in subsequent years?). We are also missing a number of birds (I would expect the flock to be at least 150) so where are these birds now?.

A non-birding trip to Fornebu yesterday gave me my first Linnet and Green Sandpiper of the year. My year list now stands at 133 which is remarkably similar to previous years despite the late spring:

2017 134

2016 131

2015 127

2014 134

2013 110

2012 145

male Hen Harrier (myrhauk) always a delight but it could have come a bit closer

the Harrier with a Merlin (dvergfalk) in a tree

adult White-tailed Eagle (havørn) being chased by a crow

Merlin - I reckon the bluey grey back makes this a male and the striped tale shows its to be a young bird

but this Merlin would look to be a female and probably also a young bird

here the Taiga Beans are in the bac of the field with a mixture of Cranes, Pink-footed,  Canada and Greylag Geese closer to the camera

Yellowhammer (gulspurv)

Starling (stær)

the first Green Sandpiper of the year on a thin strip of mud in the ice at Fornebu

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!)

Nothing but Jack to see

Today was supposed to be dry with southerly winds and Rune and I were going to turn up somethng really good on Hvaler. Well the weather forecast couldn't have been more wrong and the birds were not quite scarce enough but we did have a good day.
Starting with the last bird first: Per Buertange had 16 Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) at lysakermo yesterday. 16 is more than i have seen in my entire life!!! Rune and I set out in rain and bad light with cameras primed hoping to get some good shots. Good shots will have to wait for another occasion but a fantastic experience was had. At least 12 Jack Snipe and 14 Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin) flew up as we walked through the flooded marsh. The Jack Snipe were amazing and if I had had a head mounted video camera I would have been able to capture them as they flew from under my feet. The only noise from them was the whirring of wings and they were almost like a thrush du to their small size and way of flying. Mostly they flew 15 metres or so before landing again but not once could i relocate a bird after flushing it the first time. The small size, short bill and heavily striped back were very evident but perhaps the easiest way to separate from Common Snipe was how they flew up. Common Snipe generally flew up at longer range, called and flew further in a zigzagging flight whilst Jack generally flew up under your feet, did not call and flew straight and low.
Otherwise at Lysakermoa we had just a single Mallard (stokkand) and a single Goldeneye (kvinand). This same site had held thousands of wildfowl less than a month ago but was now virtually birdless!

The day had started at Vikerkilen near Hvaler. Here we had good numbers of passerines and some good viz mig. Highlights were 3 Red-necked Grebes (gråstrupedykker), a single Scaup (bergand), 6 Gannets (havsule) just offshore, 160 Twite (bergirisk) and good numbers of other finches, thrushes and 200 Meadow Pipits (heipiplerke) heading southh. Nearby at Skipstadkilen we had a Shore Lark (fjellerke) which had been firstreported yesterday and 3 Little Grebes (dvergdykker).
Yesterday an Olive-backed Pipit (sibirpiplerke) had been seen at Sorgenfrigroppa near Fredrikstad and surprisingly news came through that it was still there today. This is a major rarity in this neck of the woods. We Searched for it for an hour in rain and with a lot of disturbance from an earth moving machine but could only turn up 3 Chiffchaffs (gransanger) and 6 Scaup (bergand) on the lake. Some Great Crested Grebes (toppdykker) were also here giving us three grebes species in a day which I cannot remember having before in Norway.
The rain prevented any decent pictures today but here is a shot of a Goldcrest (fuglekonge) and a fuzzy bird which I assure you is a Jack Snipe.

Goldcrest

Jack Snipe - honestly

Little Stints and record count of Pochard

Yesterday saw a mini influx of waders at Kurefjorden with 1 Black-tailed (svarthalsspove) and 8 Bar-tailed Godwits (lappspove) (or 8 Black-tailed and 1 Bar-tailed Godwit depending on the observer ) plus Sanderling (sandløper) and the usual stuff.
My visit there today showed that birds are moving through quickly as I only had 3 Bar-tails but I did also have single Curlew Sandpiper (tundrasnipe), Little Stint (dvergsnipe) and Knot and 41 Dunlin (myrsnipe).
Then onto Lysakermoa where today there were 81 Cranes (trane) including 4 juveniles showing that there is movement here aswell (om Wednesday we had a similar number of birds, 84, with but only juv). Also here 3 Little Stints and a juv Peregrine (vandrefalk) plus increasing numbers of ducks.
Into Akershus and a male Merlin (dvergfalk) perched by the road allowing me to snap off a couple of pictures and at Hellesjøvannet the Pochard (taffeland) flock had risen to a whopping 111 birds which must be a record count. 100 were reported from Årnestangen the same day so there has obviously been an influx. As Pochard is a very scarce Norwegian breeder these birds have come from further afield but from the east or the south?
At Kjelle two Ruff (brushane) and surprisingly a Little Stint on a small area of flooded pasture.

male Merlin

Some auks at least.....

Well the winds blew and myself and Rune were postioned at Brentetangen at 7am on the dot. There were at least some birds this time with auks being the predominant species with around 50 individuals observed. All the close ones we saw, which were heading south, were Guillemots (lomvi) whilst the ones heading north at speed due to the tail wind were not possible to identify. We had two skuas, the first a dark juv Arctic (tyvjo) heading south and the second a pale juv chasing a gull at distance but it disappeared (probably sat on the water) before identification could be made. We held out for over two and a half hours which was an admirable effort for turbo-charged Rune!

A few calidris waders moving south mostly too far out to identify but we did ID 3 Knot (polarsnipe) and finally my first Sanderling (sandløper) of the year.

We tried unsuccessfully to locate a Med Gull (svartehavsmakes) that has been frequenting a field in Moss and then headed for Lysakersmoa. This site proved again to be a little gem. There were still many Greylag Geese (grågås) – ca.1000 and this time we located the White-fronted Goose (tundragås) that was first seen a few weeks ago. Fewer waders this time with a Bar-tailed Godwit (lappspove) and 3 Ruff (brushane) the highlights. Ducks were not very numerous but the Mallard (stokkand) and Teal (krikkand) did have a few Wigeon (brunnakke) and best of all 3 Pintail (stjertand) and 2 Shoveler (skjeand) amongst them.

Perhaps the highlight here was 84 Cranes (trane), many of which arrived whilst we were there. Interestingly there was only one juvenile amongst them. 

Part of the large gathering of Cranes at Lysakermoa. The lone juvenile is just to the right of centre

 Raptors were represented by single Marsh Harrier (sivhauk) and Buzzard (musvåk) and 2 Sparrowhawks (spurvehauk). Lysakermoa really deserves more attention as it chronically underwatched but looks like it could really deliver the goods.

Continuing north we stopped at Hærsetersjøen. Most interesting here was a pair of Whooper Swans (sangsvane) and two juvenile Cranes which gave the impression of being a family group. There were no adult Cranes in the vicinity and the youngsters were keeping close to the swans. Maybe they had been “adopted”? It is my understanding the juvenile Cranes stick with their parents for the autumn migration which definitely wasn’t the case here. Maybe they had lost their parents at some stage and just started tagging along with the Whooper Swans?

Adoptive parents? A pair of adult Whooper Swans with 2 juvenile Cranes

Back in Akershus, Hellesjøvannet held 48 Pochard (taffeland) which is a huge count for these parts aswell as a single juvenile Marsh Harrier. The valley north of Bjørkelangen held a Hobby (lerkefalk), Kestrel (tårnfalk),  4 Ruff and 13 fly over Cranes of which the closest group of six contained 2 youngsters (compare with 1 out of 84 at Lysakermoa and 2 out of  2 at Hærsetersjøen).

6 Cranes flying over Haneborg with juvenile birds 1st and 4th from the left

Not a bad day in the end and it was also nice and warm (we are experiencing a late summer).

an obliging White Wagtail (1st winter)