Male Pallid

Very high up on my list of birds to find is an adult male Pallid Harrier. I have seen adult males both in Norway and abroad and have twice found 2cy Pallids in Norway but the self-found adult male, ideally in Maridalen, remains up there.

Yesterday, Jack and I went out to Nordre Øyeren hoping for some good birding and raptors and harriers were definitely on the wish list. It was a bit foggy but definitely birdy with lots of finches, especially Bramblings and hundreds of Greylags and Mallards at our first stop along with a few Pintail.

From the tower at Monsrudvika we were initially a bit disappointed with no egrets, no raptors and few duck to see. After not too long though I picked up a BOP perched in a dead bush at quite a long range. My initial call was male Hen Harrier but the more we looked at (it was preening facing us) the more we wondered how large it was and started thinking it may be an exceptionally pale (its underside looked white) Sparrowhawk. Thankfully it flew though and then its identity as a male harrier was clear and the long, narrow wings with a wedge of black left no doubt it was a male Pallid! In the scope the views were good enough, although the ability to count the number of primaries making up the “hand” is impossible on these, and most field, views and requires good photos. My photos are not good at all but I will suggest can be filed in the record shot category and as such I can skip having to write a description for the locals records committee.

My views (and photos) of self-found Pallid Harriers are following the same trend as for Red Kite and the next one will be so distant as to be unidentifiable which will hopefully mean that the cycle will start afresh and I will have views to die for.

 

Were I to find one, a male Pallid Harrier won’t be a new species for Maridalen as one was photographed there this spring although believed to be a Hen at the time. These sort of records keep my motivation up as does the pluckings of a ringer from his garden in the forest just outside of Oslo. Today he plucked Red-flanked Bluetail and Yellow-browed Warbler from his nets and on Friday a Firecrest so there must be lots of good birds just waiting to be found out there.

On Friday I paid a trip to the islands and a notable increase in numbers of Goldcrests and Chiffchaffs had me hoping for their rare cousins but I had to consent myself with a couple of Shags.

male Pallid Harrier (steppehauk)

here the black wedge can be clearly seen.....

Shag (toppskarv) and Cormorant (storskarv) gracing Fru. Galteskjær with their presence

Pallid Harrier

I finished my last post wondering whether I should go for the Pallid Harrier. Well, I resisted the temptation yesterday evening but couldn’t this morning. When I left there had been no reports that the bird was still present but after a night of heavy rain I thought the chances were high it would still be present. When I arrived after a 30 minute drive there was one birder present who had not seen it but had met someone else who had seen it an hour previously.

All I needed to do then was find a good watch point, keep scanning and be patient. My patience was tested to the limits with a wait of 3 and a half hours before the bird turned up. I saw it distantly and high up for about 10 seconds before it disappeared over a rise. I then rushed to another viewpoint and it was gone. Was this to be it? I have never seen an autumn juvenile very well and got good pictures and feared that I was cursed never to. Luckily though it was found after another half an hour on the ground but not visible from where I was standing. Another frantic repositioning and there it was!!! Quite distant but it showed brilliantly in the scope as it preened. After a while it flew a bit before again landing where it stayed for a long time. It eventually started quartering the fields although was difficul to keep control of. I saw it land distantly and was able to drive and then get close to it and it was eating a rodent and allowed good views before finishing its meal and flying off.

The area was mostly stubble fields and held an enormous number of birds. Over 1500 Bramblings in 2 flocks, 200+ Meadow Pipits, 300 Starlings, 25 Ruff, 40 Skylarks plus Merlin, Hobby, Kestrels and Sparrowhawks.

Time to find one in Maridalen now 😊

with a vole

the dark eye shows this to be a juvenile/1cy female

the area favoured by the harrier

this was from my first sighting (after 3.5 hours wait) and I feared would be all I saw

Pallid Harriers

I am now finally at home after a long and very enjoyable summer holiday in northern Norway. I have lots of things to write about but it will take time to go through all my pictures and videos. By the end of the holiday I had filled up all three camera memory cards I had with me, I had no room left on my mobile phone and the hard drive on the PC was also full. I got to the stage where I was forced in the field to spend time deleting photos just so I could take new ones and this resulted in a number of missed opportunities. At home I have now had to make (lots of) room on the PC before I could download from the camera and have enough free memory such that I am able to edit videos.

That part of the job is now done and I just have all the thousands of pictures to go through. I will start with the very end of my trip when on my drive home (the ladies took the night train home from Bodø) I spent the night near Beitostølen which we hadn’t visited this summer but which I felt the need to visit if only for a day. My specific goal was to see male Pallid Harriers. Amazingly enough at least three males have been noted in June and July along Jotunheimsvegen which is a scenic tourist road running between Valdresflya and Beitostølen. They are clearly taking advantage of good numbers of rodents in the area and there have also been reports of numbers of Hen Harriers, Short-eared Owls, Rough-legged Buzzards and Kestrels also attracted to the area.

When I arrived on Thursday evening there was low cloud and rain and I spent over three hours searching before I finally found a Pallid at 21:20 (I had seen a male and a female Hen Harrier). It was perched on a fence post right by the road but flew just as I tried to take a photo. It did then show well in the scope for about 10 minutes although distance and light didn’t make for good photos before it disappeared behind a hillside. I slept in the car and awoke before 7am expecting even worse weather which had been forecast but it was actually better light, with higher cloud than the previous evening, no rain and even the odd short period of sunlight.

I had to search again although the search was enlivened by Short-eared Owls and a couple of Hen Harriers but then finally at 0845 as I was driving along I saw a suspicious grey lump on a rock and it was a male Pallid!! I was able to watch him well mostly perched but also flying and once being mobbed by a Kestrel. I also managed to get fairly close although the light was still not the best. I enjoyed this bird until 09:25 before it disappeared around a hillside. I returned to the car and went searching for it and at 10:00 when I was around 2km away I saw a male Pallid Harrier. It looked like a different bird but after a while I managed to convince myself it must be the same bird with the perceived differences in wing pattern and moult being down to posture and lighting. I enjoyed this bird until 1020 before it too disappeared around a hillside heading in the direction of my first sighting.

I tried unsuccessfully to relocate the bird before widening my search and driving the 2km to the scene of the first sighting and bang! at 10:40 there was a male Pallid sitting on a rock right by the road. It was on the wrong side of the car meaning I had to drive close before I could get an angle for a photo but this time I did manage a couple of shots before it flew. Watching it in flight I gradually had to accept that there were two birds as this was clearly the same bird as I saw at the same site earlier in the morning but was also clearly not the same bird I had seen 2km away just 20 minutes earlier as the differences in moult and wing tip pattern were consistently different and could not be explained anymore by light or posture. I was able to watch this bird for around 10 minutes before it plunged after some prey and I didn’t see it come up again.

I saw no evidence of breeding although did see a female Hen Harrier in the same area as one of the birds. There was however nothing in behaviour to suggest breeding and at this time of the summer there should be large young in the nest or newly fledged that require food. One male had started its moult but hadn’t come very far whereas the other male had come a long way in its moult which is also suggestive of a non-breeding bird.

That at least three male Pallid Harriers should have spent the summer in the same area is amazing but it is perhaps even more amazing that no adult  female turned up such that there was breeding although there is a single sighting of a 2cy female in the same area.

Enjoy the video and pictures.

Male Pallid Harrier (steppehauk). Bird 1 which I first saw on Thursday evening. Thi bird is clearly missing primaries and the black wedge is very obvious

Bird 2 has a fuller hand although is clearly moulting with only one fully grown black primary

Bird 2 which perched at fairly close range on a couple of occasion

Bird 2

Bird 1 perched - I did have it perched at close range on Thursday evening but failed to get any pics

Bird 1 doing an impression of a petrel. The new and old covert feathers are easy to see

Bird 1 - here it looks like it was gulping up a pellet whilst flying

Habitat shot of Bird 2 perched with a Kestrel on the wire behind. The harrier was not much larger than the Kestrel

another habitat shot of Bird 2. There have been other pictures of presumably the same individual perhed on these poles

A Big Day

Today was one of those days. One of those days when you forget to eat and drink. One of those days when there are so many birds that you get stressed and start wanting to move on so that you can check out more localities when perhaps it would be best to stay put and let the birds come to you.

I decided that a trip out to Årnestangen would be a good bet. With the weather clearing up a bit today (no rain or snow but still overcast) and the rising water levels in Nordre Øyeren I reckoned that finally the mud flats would be so reduced that birds would be identifiable at Årnestangen. I had two species in mind for today: Pallid Harrier (sorry if I sound like a scratched record but I really want to find and get amazing pictures of a Pallid in Norway) and Ortolan which are just returning now and would be a gripping Akershus species.

As always on days like this it is difficult to leave Maridalen but despite how much love I have for the Dale it will never have the rarity potential of Årnestangen.

When I got out of the car at 0850 the first bird I heard, and then saw, was a Lapland Bunting heading low north. This was promising! There were also lots of waders in the air both heading directly north and also clearly moving from one area to the other as rising water levels were changing feeding conditions all the time. There were Greenshank, Redshank, Wood Sandpiper and Golden Plover in the air and as I walked out I heard and then saw a Bar-tailed Godwit and was quite sure I heard a Dotterel amongst an overflying flock of Goldies but couldn’t see anything other than Goldies in the flock.

As I got out to the top (in the company of another birder) I scanned over to Rossholmen and there was a ringtail harrier hunting. It perched (at loooong range) and I then noticed it was next to two adult White-tailed Eagles (the second year this pair has been here without breeding successfully). I used quite a bit of time on the harrier and it flew off again but could only conclude it was a 2cy Hen Harrier. I also had 4 Kestrels heading north so it felt like it could be a raptor day.

At the tip of Årnestangen a Hobby was hunting so confirming those raptor vibes and an Osprey flew over. There were loads of birds and loads of sounds and it was quite stressful trying to know what to look at. Three Garganey included a pair of which the male was frequently calling (very unduck like call), a Black-tailed Godwit was feeding, a male Gadwall, a male Shoveler, 10 Pintail, hundreds of Teal and Wigeon plus a good selection of waders. Passerines included Redstart, another Lapland Bunting heard, Pied Fly, Whinchat and Yellow Wagtail. I also heard what was most likely Red-throated Pipit but haven't quite got my ear in yet (need to hear a few more Tree Pipits first).

And then the excitement started. I heard a wader call that I struggled to place and thought it might be a stint but then picked up two birds coming low towards us and it clicked – Dotterel!! Then they flew low over the mudflat and amazingly three others flew up to join them. After a bit of flying around they then landed. Five Dotterel completely out of habitat. They didn’t look like they were feeding but did display a bit. Half an hour later I heard their calls again and couldn’t locate the birds so they had presumably flown off.

After an hour I decided it was time for the 45 minute walk back so that I could try out other sites including Svellet. I hoped for more raptors on the walk but was disappointed. Back close to the car I scanned with the scope and what would you know – the Hen Harrier was hunting around the platform where I had been stood earlier. I got to see it better now but still at too long range and again was happy more or less that it was a 2cy Hen rather than an adult female Pallid. A 2cy Marsh Harrier also turned up and got a lot of grief from a pair of Curlew that were presumably protecting fledged young.

I pulled myself away and started driving away but after just two minutes stopped to look at Pallid Harrier photos. After a minute or so Erling Høbol who had been driving out to look for the Dotterel knocked on my window. We started chatting and then I noticed a bird just 15metres way flying very fast. It was small and I first thought Kestrel but then immediately realised no Pallid Harrier. It was a 2cy with orangey (almost pale pink) underparts and with a white collar. But it all happened really quickly. I swung up the camera but of course the autofocus didn’t catch it and then it disappeared over a brow. About 30 seconds later it reappeared and we were able to follow it for 10 seconds from behind before it went over another brow and that was it!  The small size strongly suggested the bird was a male and one of blurry pictures shows some grey feathers. Luckily the bird was glimpsed again later and better pictures weretaken. This is my third Pallid and second self-found one in Norway so it is perhaps surprising that I have such a desire to find (another) one. The reason is that I have never seen one well and my pictures are always crap.

Svellet still had some good looking areas of mud and will perhaps last for a couple more days and there were over 600 waders there. Best birds were 4 Spotted Redshank and 2 Barwits but there were no calidris waders at all. Also no interesting gulls or terns.

I finished in Maridalen where a brief look gave me Osprey, Buzzard, Redshank and Yellow Wagtail.

What a day but the pictures suck…..!

the first two Dotterel (boltit) flying in 

and then there were five!

difficult to see on the deck

Pallid Harrier (steppehauk) and you can actually see it is a 2cy male - honestly!!

the orangey undeparts can be made out possibly.....

Black-tailed Godeit (svarthalespove) and a pair of Garganey (knekkand) 

the godwit showing off its black tail

looking bac out towards Årnestangen where all the action is happening about 2km away!

a male Gadwall (snadderand)

all three Garganey

Hobby (lerkefalk)

the White-tailed Eagles (havørn)

a view over Svellet showing a large mudbank still available to the waders and there were 600 birds here!

and some photos from Maridalen

Common Buzzard (musvåk) 

not often I manage a photo of a Swift (tårnseiler)....

Geylag family and Tufted Ducks 

Yellow Wagtail (gulerle) - not sure what to make of that black head and weak supercilium

Harriers

There has been a bit of an influx of Pallid Harriers (steppehauk) to Southern Norway in the last week or so and with Årnestangen having proven popular with Marsh and Hen Harriers I decided yesterday afternoon that I would find one today. Just after making this promise to myself (which incidentally I have done a number of times over the last few years….) I checked Artsobs and saw that I had been beaten to it! Reported by a dude as a “Pallid Harrier?” with couple of dark photos it took just a few seconds to lighten one of them up and voila! (Edit: I see know that Erling Hobøl had first reported the bird on Wednesday but somehow I never noticed that observastion)

So I was in place before sunrise this morning and arrived in just the nick of time. As I walked out and reached the first large open fields there were three ringtail harriers flying together in the gloom. They had clearly just left their roost and for a few minutes were flying close to each other before after less than 10 minutes all three headed off to the north and disappeared behind trees. In the gloom it was difficult seeing any details through the scope and two birds that showed well were clearly Hen Harriers and most likely 1cy birds and with a noticeable size difference clearly a bird of each sex. The third bird was however much more difficult to see but when I finally got it in the scope its unstreaked red underparts and red tinge to the upperwing coverts shone out in the gloom. By then flying away from me and I only briefly glimpsed the head and neck pattern and no pictures were possible. Its jizz was however distinctive with slender pointed wings and its small size compared to the Hen Harriers suggests it to be a male. This can possibly be appreciated in this photo which shows all three birds.

After the birds disappeared at 0647 it was not until 0740 that I saw a Harrier again when I picked up a bird flying over the water towards fields on the west side of the water. It had orangey underparts but when it finally banked it showed itself to be a Hen Harrier. It proceeded to land on a ploughed field where amazingly enough there was another ringtail harrier. It was long range and I had to wait for this bird to fly before seeing it was also a Hen Harrier. A clear 1cy bird it spent a long time making half-hearted attacks on (larger) Crows that did not seem too bothered by it. Eventually I had both birds hunting over cereal fields and they frequently went very close to farm houses whilst I was watching frustratingly from 2 km away. There were also 4 Common Buzzards perched on fence posts here so there was clearly a lot of food.

An hour later I watched one bird flying back to my side of the water and whilst following it saw that what I assume to be the other bird was already back on my side perched on post. I eventually got to see and take photos of one of the birds well.  This bird was a 1cy male (size and pale eye) with quite orangey underparts and in the field I felt little doubt that it was a pure Hen Harrier. Looking at my photos though I see it has some features that match a bird recently reported asa hybrid Pallid x Hen. I’m quite sure though that my bird is well within the variation of Hen Harrier and actually wonder if the other bird has been correctly called. My photos also show how a bird can be made to look different by “improving” the pictures in PS.

Otherwise Årnestangen was very quiet with high water having covered up the previously so productive mud banks. Ducks were also in lower numbers and passerines nearly absent – worrying to be honest.

Three ringtail harriers together. The one in the middle is a 1cy Pallid Harrier (steppehauk) and the other two are Hen Harriers but I'll guess you'll have to trust me on that...

Two Hen Harriers at 2km range

1cy male Hen Harrier (myrhauk). Given that it is a 1cy then the pale eye sexes it as a male

the same bird in all the photos

 

 

the orangey underparts and darker secondaries age this as a 1cy plus it is on very fresh plumage

the underside of the primaries is very striking here

 

 And here is how photos especially after a bit of "treatment" can be very misleading.

look how red the underparts look and no black trailing edge to the wing - no one would complain if I posted this picture as a Pallid Harrier!

very red and unstreaked again

not quite as confusing but shows how a blurred picture can look different

 

My other port of call today was the Bean Geese. I didn’t find them on the fields I checked so headed for the bog. I heard geese as I waked out but it took a while to find them as they were on the other side. I saw perhaps 40 birds sticking their heads up including 6U but it was not until they flew off to feed that I saw the flock has grown and from photos I counted 146 birds which tallies well with my count of 144 I had on 5 & 10 Sept 2013 but is lower than the 163 I had on 4 Sept 2014. Does this mean lower breeding success this year? I am trying to count youngsters in the flock but so far just cannot get close enough to see the subtle plumage differences to accurately age the birds.

On the drive home a roadside Great Grey Shrike was my first of the autumn.

 

some Taiga Bean Geese (sædgås) heads

this lone bird returned to the bog 15 minutes after the flock left and flew around three times calling loudly almost as though he had lost someone

there are 3 birds with neck collars in the middle of the picture but they cannot be read unfortunately

The first Great Grey Shrike (varsler) of the autumn