Spotted Crake with photos!

The photos from my last day on Værøy will have to wait as I went birding today….. I took the Beast for a walk around Fornebu with a hope of finding a Yellow-browed Warbler which whilst having been relatively scarce on Værøy this year has turned up in relatively large numbers in the south of Norway (3 records around Oslo whilst I was away). Chiffchaffs were calling in many places but otherwise there was little sign of migration and it was pretty quiet.

One thing I always do when at Fornebu is check the bases of the reedbeds in the tidal bays with the hope of seeing something exciting. Birds that I have seen include Water Rail, Common Snipe and Bluethroat but I have always wanted to find Jack Snipe or best of all Spotted Crake. Spotted Crake is regularly seen in similar habitat further south at Presterødkilen and also in the last few years at Linnestranda so should definitely be possible at Fornebu (there is one previous autumn record from August 1988). There are however just a handful of autumn records ever in Oslo and Akershus even though the species is heard singing annually in the spring and early summer and must also breed successfully in some years.

The lack of autumn and sight records generally has a lot to do with Spotted Crake (along with all crakes and rails) being a very secretive species and as far as I can see has not been photographed in Akershus before. My photo of a singing bird at Østensjøvannet is also the only photo I can find from Oslo so I clearly have some luck with this species 😊

Spotted Crake (myrrikse). It was quite gloomy today under an overcast sky and the distance was long which the pictures shows but who cares with such a scarce and secretive species?!

I have aged the bird as a 1cy due to it having a paler throat

from the back

and my picture of an adult at ØStensjøvanney from 15 June 2011 which I am still very proud of

Spotted Crake

I finally added Spotted Crake (myrrikse) to my year list today. A couple of birds have been seen occasionally over the last week along the edge of the reedbed at Presterødkilen in Tønsberg. Given this site is also often good for waders I gave it a go today. Arriving at 11am with a hot sun glaring down the conditions were perhaps not perfect but after first glimpsing a Water Rail (vannrikse) I only had to wait 15 minutes before the Spotted Crake showed. It was 'scope views only as it weaved in and out of the bases of the reeds for about 5 minutes - a typical encounter with this species.
Very few waders here with just 2 Ruff (brushane) and a Dunlin (myrsnipe) of note. A stop at Møringa on the way home produced a few more though with 6 Knot (polarsnipe), 9 Ringed Plovers, 4 Dunlin and 5 Redshank (rødstilk) of note.

Back in Oslo

We are back in Oslo after being in Bodø. Thankfully we were away when the act of pure evil devastated this city and the entire peace loving country of Norway. Today I walked around town and was very moved to see the physical damage that has been caused and touched by all the flowers that have been laid around the city and the crowds of people paying their respect. One of the most noticeable things was how quiet it was despite there being many people around -there was no music coming from shops or bars and people were talking in low voices.

Our trip to Bodø was birding-lite but I did have my first Twite of the year. Otherwise I went for a few fishing trips which allowed me to get close to some of the birds out on the fjord (aswell as catch a few cod). There were a few adult Puffins and Razorbills fishing quite a way up the fjord and a long way from their breeding colonies which suggests a poor breeding season and little food at sea. A close look at some terns (only adults and no sign of breeding on an island which held young last year) revealed a couple of Common Terns amongst the more usual Arctic. White-tailed Eagles were not as obvious as they usually are but Grey Herons were seen in good numbers in contrast to the Oslo area where they are currently quite scarce following the consecutive cold winters. A Peregrine was a nice sight (I am still to see Gyr around Bodø although they are said to breed close by). Redpolls seemed to be everywhere and from our cabin adult Red-throated Divers were nearly always to be seen fishing before flying off to their young on fresh water ponds somewhere closeby.

On opening the waiting post I was very pleasantly surprised to see my photo of the Spotted Crake at Østensjøvannet has been published in the local newspaper and I have to admit the picture looked pretty good. Here you can see a photo of the article:

Around Oslo there has been a strong passage of waders at Årnestangen with hundreds of Dunlin and Knot seen along with good numbers of other species such as Curlew Sandpiper and Wood Sandpiper along with smaller numbers of many other species and a single Broad-billed Sandpiper. All have been adults so surely made for quite a colourful sight. I might not be able to get up there until next week but hopefully numbers and variety will keep on increasing.

Crakes

Last night I made a trip up to Maridalen at midnight and managed to hear River Warbler, Marsh Warbler and Corncrake at the same spot. Also a Black Throated Diver calling from the lake added to the atmosphere. The Corncrake has only been present a couple of days and an article I have just read suggests there is a lot of movement among Norwegian birds with this bird very likely having come from western norway where its chosen field has probably recently been harvested. The article also painted a gloomy picture with nearly no proven breeding records over the last few years.

Today I paid a visit to Årnestangen in Nordre Øyeren. Water levels are still very high, so high in fact that there was flooding in the fields. A few waders were present with 3 Ruff, 2 Wood Sandpipers, 4 Curlew and 4 Oystercather alongside more numerous Lapwings. Ducks were in very short supply with a handful of Wigeon and Tufted Duck. Passerines were also not too numerous with a Reed Warbler singing from an area of bushes perhaps because the nearby area of reeds which normally holds a pair was flooded, only a single Yellow Wagtail and 3 Marsh Tits heard. A group of 3 Ospreys that flew around included one bird that was persistently calling and I took the group to be a pair of adults and a newly fledged youngster which has to be very early.
Highlight was a Spotted Crake which I heard calling from a flooded area with sedge grass. I painstakingly walked closer to it and at one stage was convinced it was calling only metres from me before I realised it was actually about 15m away on the other side of a ditch. Spotted Crakes and Corncrakes are both able to project their calls in a way that makes it very difficult to pinpoint where they are and the volume varies depending on which way they are looking.

Spotted Crake

Spotted Crake

After dropping the kids off I was straight off to Østensjøvannet to try for the Spotted Crake. I knew that it had been singing at night in a very small marsh and had been heard at very close range so I was hopeful that it would show in daylight.
When I got there I walked onto the boardwalk over the marsh and a small bird flew up from under the boardwalk and into the sedge grass - surely the crake. A family of Magpies was in willows growing in the marsh and were probably threatening for the crake but soon after they had moved on I saw some movement in the sedge and with a bit of encouragement it began to sing and show very well at just a few metres range.
It proved however very hard to photograph as it rarely sat still in the open long enough and the autofocus really struggled with all the leaf stems. However I did manage a couple of decent photos and also some video. In the video you can see and hear it singing during which it bobs its body up and down. It was really a privilege to see such a skulking bird engaging in its display which surely few people have been lucky enough to see. The marsh is right by a road and a path and in the video you can see the marsh and boardwalk and hear the cars going by - quite incredible that such a bird has chosen to hang around in such a place!

A young House Sparrow gave me some company and I snapped off these 2 pictures: