Turtle Dove

It was an easy decision to go to Fornebu again this morning. The Turtle Dove wasn’t seen after 13:05 yesterday but I felt fairly confident that it would be back exactly where I found it yesterday and sure enough it was. There seem to be quite a lot of food (seeds) for it in the area and one can wonder how long it has been there, and how long it will stay. Other birders were clearly hoping it would be refound as a mini twitch quickly developed and everyone seemed happy 😊.

Otherwise there were notably fewer birds today than yesterday and the Beardies seem to have quickly moved on.

Turtle Dove (turteldue)

well camouflaged 

Day of Days

Last night the word famous MOGA movement had one of its world famous meetings and there has never been such a crowd ever before in the history of the universe. It has been said by many that this movement is the greatest movement in the birding world and there has never been seen anything like it EVER and of course as its leader I am the most respected and handsome birder in the history of not just birding but the universe.

If we are to be honest (but one should of course never be so) then Making Owling Great Again didn’t have the most successful outing last night with Tengmalm’s again being absent but Pygmy and Tawny did reveal themselves to Jack and I 😉

even if MOGA meetings don't deliver what it says on the tin you cannot deny it is GREAT to be out in the forest at night

 

Today though has been an epic day!

When walking the Beast this morning Redwings were moving and it felt birdy so I decided that Fornebu needed to be grilled to find some wing bars. It was indeed birdy and Chiffchaffs were huetting all over the place but I struggled to find anything unusual until an F35 streaked through the skies high above me and a few seconds after it had passed then I heard it as did some Bearded Tits (should I start calling them Reedlings?) which called from the reedbed by me. This was if anything rarer than a YbW. My last sighting of a Beardie was a year and a half ago whilst of Ybw only a year ago. There turned out to be 4 birds but only one, a female, showed relatively well and she was ringed. It would be interesting to know from whence the lady has cometh.

a ringed female Bearded Tit (skjeggmeis)

They were surprisingly quiet and skulky which suggests they may well have been around a few days as freshly arrived birds are usually very restless and noisy. So, a year tick and a species I have been hoping would turn up and spend the winter at Fornebu. Whether they stay needs to be seen but it will be fun finding out.

The day though had only just begun. After a good walk around Storøya and taking in Koksa as well as Storøykilen I decided to stop at the last remaining area of Nansenparken which seems to have any attraction to passerines – namely the urban vegetable patch. I was thinking of a rare Stonechat or Wheatear but instead a Turtle Dove flew up!!! Only my third ever in Norway and my first self-found one this was a proper rarity and I put the news out pronto. It was a very smart bird and seem settled until for no obvious reason it took off and disappeared but 6 others managed to see it.

My Norwegian list is a very modest 326 species but my self found list is now 287 which is decidedly respectable.

the Turtle Dove (turteldue) when I found it

it soon moved up onto a lamppost allowing this photo to prove where it was

although the plumage looks very adult like the lesser coverts are pale and I think juvenile so I reckon it is a very advanced 1cy

here we can see that the inner primaries are new adult ones and the outer primaries are old juvenile ones

the obligatory selfie

But the day was still not over. A Caspian Gull that was very belatedly reported from Middelalderparken in central Oslo a couple of weeks ago and a message came through that it had been refound at exactly the same time the dove flew off so 15 minutes later I was looking for it. The pictures I had first seen of the bird leave me feeling it is perhaps more cactus than cach but my viewpoint may be conflicted as my only self-found cach was eventually not approved as the records committee saw it as more of a cactus (if this is making no sense to you then cactus comes from the latin name of Caspian which is cachinnans and Herring Gull which is argentatus meaning the bird is a hybrid between these two species). I am also the first to admit that I suck when it comes to gulls and today's pictures do look more convincing. It was a small bird so presumably a female no matter who its mum and dad are.

The gull, if pure, was of course also a year tick so three potential year ticks on the same day in October when not on an island is bloody good going!

Here are my poor pictures and I must also admit that when I took them I did not think it was the bird but can see now that it is......

a gull with a lot of and perhaps 100% Caspian in it

the gulls were being fed by a concerned citizen and as soon as they saw her arriving they flew up to her so she is clearly a regular fixture. Here a tight mass of gulls were tucking into the food that she emptied out.

Turtle Dove

Today was windless and a heavy fog hung over the Oslo area which only started to lift in the afternoon when blue skies and the sun could be glimpsed and created some very exciting lighting and landscapes in Maridalen.

I started the morning at Fornebu where I hoped that the quiet windless conditions would help me locate birds but the fog seemed to cause the birds to be quiet and there was really very little activity. Four Bearded Tits showed at very close range in the reeds but the lighting was so poor and there was no chance of any better photos than those I managed on Friday which really weren’t so bad anyway J

I tried to look for any interesting seaducks in the fjord but the visibility made it a hopeless task and I started thinking that maybe I could try for Zaks Turtle Dove again (which I dipped on 1 Nov just after he found it). It has only been reported once since although I don’t think that many have tried (despite its rarity). I discounted the idea though as I hate failed twitches and I especially dislike wandering around peering into peoples gardens and having people staring back suspiciously and nervously at me. But then as I drove out of Fornebu I found the car taking me on a twitch…

It wasn’t a long drive and after I parked up I walked the streets trying to look as innocent as possible. The visibility here was quite good and at times the sun even threatened to burn through. I found a couple of Collared Doves and after only 10 minutes I saw another dove distantly on a wire and even before I raised my bins had a good feeling. Indeed, it was the Turtle Dove and perched right outside the garden where Zak had found it. I walked closer and saw a lady walk right under the bird. Before I got particularly close though it flew down into a garden. Here I took some quick photos but quickly felt so uncomfortable that I went back to the car. As I got to the car though I heard the count down siren for an explosion at a nearby building site and thought that this would be bound to cause the bird to fly up. I jumped into the car and drove the short distance back and sure enough the bird was back on the wire with a Collared Dove. I was able to get some rather good photos especially when the fog lifted and the sun shone for a couple of minutes.

With this Akershus County tick in the bag I then headed to Maridalen. Here the fog was still thick but by 2pm the sun was shining through and it became majestically spectacular although my photos don’t really capture it properly. The 5 Scaup and 3 Tufted were still there and were briefly joined by a Common Scoter.

Turtle Dove (turteldue) with Collared Dove (tyrkerdue)

even in silhouette the smaller size of the Turtle vs. the Collared can be seen

female Bearded Tit (skjeggmeis) in the mist

and a male

Common Scoter (svartand) on Maridalsvannet

and the 5 Scaup (bergand) and 3 Tufted Ducks (toppand)

sun and fog in Maridalen

the sun was just behind the trees which were causing shadows in the fog

here the sun can be seen

the sun and fog combined very well with the church ruins in Maridalen

and this is how it looked only 6 days ago

Værøy 2016 Day 4 early update

Another promising start to the day with a number of Y-b Warblers, Blyth’s Reed still around (and probably two birds in same area), a Pied Flycatcher and good numbers of birds in the air.

Last night, after going to be early, I was awoken before midnight to a nice surprise – a trapped Storm Petrel. Regardless of what I may think of ringing it was a privilege to see this pelagic species so close up and boy are they small birds. It is amazing that they live their lives at sea and hardly ever seem to be driven into land by storms unlike their large cousins. Maybe their small size makes them less susceptible to be blown by storms?

Here are a few pictures from the last few days.

Wood Warbler (bøksanger)

Pied Fly (svarthvit fluesnapper)

Storm Petrel (havsvale)

Barred Warbler (hauksanger)

Blyth's Reed Warbler (busksanger)

Turtle Dove

juv Waxwing

Y-b Warbler