Scrapping for crumbs

The title of this post was supposed to be a metaphor for searching for autumn waders in Oslo but thinking about it scrapping for crumbs would actually be more exciting.

Yesterday, Jack and I took the ferry and visited the islands. The wind was from the NNE, it was raining and the tide so low that the bay at Gressholmen was just exposed mud. Hordes of waders were as good as guaranteed….

Well of course that was not the case. Two voyeuristic passes of Fru. Galteskjær gave a single Common Sand on the second pass. Fru. Gressholmen’s muddy delights had NO waders but Lindøya gave us a Ringed Plover, 4 Oystercatchers and a Common Sand. There was a highlight but we only realised once I was back home in front of the PC.

When approaching Bleikøya we had seen a wader at very long range and I pointed the camera and shot and prayed. As we got closer we found first one and then two Common Sands in the same area so assumed this was what we had originally seen. Zooming in on the very grainy photos on the PC though shows we had originally «seen» a Turnstone - my third and Jack’s first in Oslo.

 

Maridalen has in fact been possibly even better for waders the last few days. On Friday a Golden Plover flew over, and today there was a Dunlin, 5 Snipe and a Common Sand. The Dunlin is only my second ever here and had found a very thin bit of mud to spankulerer on.

There are close to 600 Greylags in the valley and one carries a neck collar showing it to have been ringed in Mid Norway and to spend the winters in Holland.

With it being so wet there have been few raptors showing themselves although today I had my first Merlin of the autumn.

Greylag Goose G V8 (what font is that?)

and here her history

when I first looked at my photos I wan't sure whether this was even a bird

but these must count as record shots of a Turnstone (steinvender)

there is not much else to find amongst the Greylag Geese in Maridalen except for these 2 hybrids with Canada

and this Pink-footed Goose. A Taiga Bean or (scraping the barrel) a Bar-headed Goose would help me on my #Oslo2024 quest

some mud and a wader in Maridalen!

a 1cy Dunlin

Turnstone voyeurism

Forget the idea of threesomes I can just be a voyeur!

Today was wet and windy and this is the sort of mid summer weather I look forward to. I checked the tide tables and with low tide at 4pm decided to give Fru G some more of my love. She can just be how she likes, I don’t care… 

Low tide at the moment is clearly a lot higher than it was earlier in the month because there was very little mud and surprise, surprise very few waders. One Redshank was the only migrant😂. My twitter feed is full of pictures and videos from the north Norfolk coast in GB showing many thousands of waders currently. Many of these have surely flown over Norway but why don’t they stop in Oslo??

I left Gressholmen feeling very dejected and considering how I could keep this up but then found there are other ways to get your birding rocks off. If a muddy bay doesn’t attract waders then maybe a rock can? Galteskjær is responsible for my only Oslo sightings of Little Stint and Turnstone so is actually more productive in that respect than Gressholmen which is only responsible for one species - Broad-billed Sandpiper.

The other advantage with Galteskjær is that she can (must) be viewed fleetingly from afar and with a lack of physical contact she hopefully offers the chance of a healthier and less dependent relationship.

As the ferry approached I saw a wader but it was nothing more exciting than a Common Sandpiper. As we sped past I saw two more – a Dunlin and a TURNSTONE!! Only my second in Oslo and of course a new species for #oslo2024. Currently my 189th species (before accounting for the redpoll lumping) and this is all all I need to continue going out on the ferry. It is a fools game though - I have now had 7 visits to Gressholmen (and Galteskjær) this July and only 3 new species to #oslo2024 to show for it.

Dunlin (myrsnipe) and Turnstone (steinvender) on Galtesjkjær as the ferry speeds by

and two Common Sandpipers (strandsnipe)

an eveing Beast walking trip in sunshine to Fornebu yesterday gave great views of a Swallowtail

Store Færder pictures

I am now back home after an eventful last day on Store Færder. The number of birds ringed fell from 13 on Friday to 10 and then just 3 on Sunday which I think goes down in the record books as the worst three day streak ever!

I had lots of photos and videos of mostly waders to process and have got my best shots of a number of species. It was novel to be able to get so close to species that I usually see at very long range at wetlands like Nordre Øyeren.

Little Stint, Sanderling, Knot, Dunlin and Turnstone all showed very well and I will publish rather too many photos...

Little Stint (dvergsnipe):

Little Stint (dvergsnipe)

Sanderling (sandløper):

Sanderling (sandløper)

together with Dunlin (myrsnipe)

Turnstone (steinvender):

Turnstone (steinvender)

Knot (polarsnipe):

Knot (polarsnipe) and a Dunlin - the size difference looks huge here but doesn't seem so big in the field

Knot in flight with a couple of Dunlin underneath

Dunlin (myrsnipe):

Dunlin (myrsnipe)

Common Seals (steinkobbe):

Common Seal (steinkobbe)

much variation in colour

Shags (toppskarv) and a couple of larger Cormorants (storskarv)

Shags

a ship passing in the night

Jupiter and 4 of its moon and Saturn which were visible at the same time along with Mars

I was trying to capture the Milky Way but that hasn't come out in the picture but there are a lot of stars out there!

size differences - Little Stint, Knot & Dunlin

there were some passerines - here Lesser Whitethroat (møller) and Willow Warbler (løvsanger)

Peregrine (vandrefalk)

Pied Flycatcher (svarthvit fluesnapper)

and Redstart (rødstjert)