Memories

I’ve long been itching for a seagaze. It didn’t need to be a particularly good one just as long as there were a steady passage of birds. Over 10 years ago I had for a few years the habit of driving the hour to Brentetangen, just south of Moss in Østfold and seawatching from there before visiting nearby Kurefjorden. I cut some of my Norwegian birding teeth doing this and had some good birds and company doing so. Brentetangen used to attract quite a gang on good days but these days seems to get little attention. Serious birders are become a scarce species not just in Oslo but it would seem all over Norway.

I’d been looking at Windy.com for a few days and had highish hopes that yesterday would deliver some north bound passage over the sea. After a long period of northerly winds they were finally going to swing south on Thursday afternoon so by Friday there should be loads of birds. The winds did not end up being quite so southerly as initially forecast and it was quite cold but I still think that I should have seen more than I did which in terms of migration was pretty much nothing. Gannet and Kittiwake were good birds for me and are both species that usually need a real southern storm to end up Akershus waters but just 20km further south are fairly regular no matter the weather.

the view from Brentetangen looking 10km across the fjord to Vestfold

 

Kurefjorden was also disappointing with 18 Dunlin being the only calidris waders although I was sure I heard a BbS.

and Kurefjorden. I was expecting waders to be dropping out of the skies

 

Question now is how many years will it be before I try the Østfold combo again?

 

Thursday was another of those religious public holidays that Norway loves «celebrating» but for which 90% of the population have no idea why - it was of course Ascension Day and if you also don’t know what that represents then I recommend Google…

The winds may have been from the north in the morning but finally it was raining and the clouds heavy and low. Surely this would draw all the remaining serious Oslo birders out of their warm beds? Fat chance but as there seemed to be little to find maybe they were just birding smart.

I decided to keep it local. Maridalen early doors was just wet but Østensjøvannet had ca.300 Swallows and martins. I promise I looked at every single one but a red rump was not to be seen. Such a large congregation was a joy to see as the last couple of years have not seen scenes like this and means the lake again must have good numbers of insects.

just a small fraction of the Swallows (låvesvale) and a single Sand Martin (sandsvale)

Back in the Dale around 11am there was a very brief period when the rain stopped and waders flew over: a flock of Wood Sands, a couple of Greenshank, 3 Whimbrel then 160 Golden Plovers. And then it was over.

most of the Golden Plover flock (heilo)

I allowed Jr Jr to have some driving practice and drive me to Svellet but despite water levels not having risen and rain having fallen there were hardly any waders. This is strange given the passage I had over Maridalen and also a fall of arctic bound waders reported at Øra but I have noted this before that when other places experience fall like numbers of waders that Svellet can be nearly empty of birds.

 

Maridalen has had some exceptional days in late April and May always when there is rain and heavy, low cloud but they are not happening with the regularity I remember although I am sure that they didn’t happen quite as much as rose tinted memory tells me. Looking at the numbers it is actually seven years since the last big day which was 10th May 2019 but that will perhaps be a day never to be repeated.

 

This morning’s pre breakfast Maridalen visit was no less uninspiring that the last few days except for one bird that was totally not on my radar - a Taiga Bean Goose. This was my first record in the Dale although there is a previous record (but I remember seeing that bird and choosing not to put it on my list as such).

I finally found nesting Black Woodpeckers although they were still excavating which is very late. Three Great Spots were also drumming which again is late - both these species should be on eggs by now. Two Wryneck singing in the same area were to be more expected at this time of the year but no less exciting for that.

I nearly didn't pay these geese any attention but with the nakes eye thought that the bird second left looked a bit like a young White-fronted Goose (tundragås) one of which was found yesterday at Østensjøvannet. Through the bins it proved to be a Greylag but I continued looking at the other geese and the one of the top was a Taiga Bean!!

here the head and bill shape leave me in no doubt

just based on this picture though I am sure you could rgue for both Tundra and Taiga although I think the bill shape can only match Taiga and the extensive orange is also a very pro Taiga feature

It was also a large bird with a swan like stature

I would not say this bird is a classic Taiga but believe that most features are pro Taiga. I also must say that I do hate single Bean Geese and it would be much more convenient if the two species were lumped again

in the river it was also upending which I also view as pro Taiga

I had been hearing Black Woodpeckers (svartspett) and was sure they were nesting so went looking for a suitable tree and hole. These huge splinters on the road! gave away where they were.

Mid April and expectations are rising

It is the middle of April and the next six weeks are the most exciting of the year (in the Oslo area at least). In addition to many new birds for the year there are also new birding sites to reacquaint myself with and I have now competed my first walk to the end of Årnestangen for the year as well as my first grilling of the mighty Svellet.

Conditions today at Svellet were magical and I have a small but growing hope that this will be one of those Svellet springs that are entered into the history books, or at least get remembered on this blog. Today the water level (3.61m) was perfect and there were enormous areas of shallow water and wet mud. 2000 Teal and 234 Curlew were both good counts and the quality came in the form of a male Garganey, a Bar-tailed Godwit plus two very early Ruff and a Redshank. The weather over the coming weeks will be key to whether conditions remain perfect and we need just enough rain such that the mud doesn’t dry up but not too much rain (or sun that causes lots of melt water to flow down the river) such that water levels do not rise too quickly. I hope every birder in Oslo and Akershus is praying to the Birds Gods.

Svellet from the eastern side. Even though I describe conditions as perfect the distances are very long and a scope is essential and even then not always enough to identify all the birds out there

and some of the Teal (krikkand) and also the Garganey (knekkand). As I said they are a long way away

Årnestangen has also delivered with another very early wader in the form of a Whimbrel, an early Swallow and a good selection of raptors including a Red Kite which flew low over my head without me seeing it but that I then caught up with in the scope at about 6km range…

Taiga Bean Goose and Greylags at Årnestangen today. This is a relatively late bird as were the 4 Tundra Beans I saw yesterday

the bird was close to the Geylags in size and had a long slender neck and long thin bill with thin lower mandible.

I had a very enjoyable and successful morning guiding Barbara from Canada on Monday and we saw 60 species including Jack Snipe, Black and Red-throated Divers, Lesser Spotted and Black Woodpeckers. And if you don’t believe my description then read Barbara’s 😊

one of three Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) at Fornebu. This bird has been regularly feeding in the open and to me looks very much like a Broad-billed Sandpiper...

and a more expected shot of a Jack

and a Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin)

male Kestrel (tårnfalk) in Maridalen

and a Mistle Thrush (duetrost) in The Dale

Little Ringed Plover (dverglo) are back at Fornebu and will hopefully breed again this year

and Ringed Plovers (sandlo) are also back at last years nest site although they have less and less space available to them

Stock Dove (skogdue)

Finding my own, and many, signs of spring

Temperatures on the red side of zero if only by a small handful of degrees, no night time frosts and rain mean that spring is creeping along. There might still be lots of snow and ice but there are also now snow free areas even in Maridalen and a few birds are arriving. This morning’s dog walk revealed a singing Chaffinch which brought an uncontrolled smile to my face – maybe this world, and the bits that we humans don’t control is not so bad after all 😊

I have now seen two of the S’s in Maridalen with yesterday a number of Skylarks heading south (and a couple singing) after I think having met a wall of fog to the north and two Stock Doves doing the same. Mistle Thrushes, only the Dales’s third ever Rock Pipit, Merlin, Peregrine and migrating flocks of Whooper Swans have also suddenly announced the arrival of spring. As I write this there are strong southerly winds and more rain so I would not be surprised if a number of new birds arrive today. Maybe Maridalen will also get in on the Stonechat act? There is now a pair at Fornebu and with so many birds turning up surely we will find them breeding soon.

only Maridalen's third ever Rock Pipit (skjærpiplerke). Both other records were also in March and there is clearly a small overland passage of the species

it was on the exposed mud in the same field as the Whooper Swan (sangsvane) family were also finding food

Stonechat (svartstrupe) pair at Fornebu.

the male

and the female

the Whoopers

and an early Merlin (dvergfalk)

some sights and sounds from Maridalen yesterday:

Yesterday also saw me on a wild, and successful, goose chase. With no GPS trackers to help I can no longer use my phone to find the Taiga Beans but that didn’t matter as I tracked them down on two fields totalling 65 birds in total. I also had a number of early Pink-feet, two White-fronts and three Tundra Beans alongside Greylags, Canadas and hybrid between the two so it was actually a very goosy day.

The Taiga Beans were on stubble fields I have not found them on before although were in the same areas as previous years sightings and were also close to Whooper Swans and other geese whereas often they are alone. They were also relatively close to roads allowing themselves to be well watched and were surprisingly unskittish.

It was also noticeable that they were not together in a single flock. The first birds were 16 in total and were on a field close to where the birds regularly were in both spring and autumn last year and were spread out across a field with 140 Whooper Swans and Greylag, Canada and two White-fronts as you can see in this video.

After a while when they decided (for no apparent reason) to fly off and did so in groups of 4,4,5,2 and 1 with the last three groups eventually joining up and then turning around before flying back over the field and disappearing to the NE although these birds had returned later in the day and were again separate on the field as groups of 5,2 and 1. Amongst the group of 5 I saw bird V7 who has lost its neck collar but still has a colour leg ring.

V7 left leg probably with its family given how the group of 5 kept to themselves. This bird was ringed in Scotland in Nov 22 and I have seen it every spring since then but interestingly not in the autumns

Taiga Beans keeping separate and probably two family groups

another group of 4

The White-fronted Geese (tundragås). With such limited belly barring I wonder if they are 2nd winter birds

The second group of 49 birds was on a stubble field close to Udenes Church. The river here is where they roost but I have rarely seen birds on the fields here. A large flock of Whooper Swans has been here this week and maybe this attracts birds – it is very likely that I was watching very newly arrived birds. When I first saw them they were split into distinct flocks of 30 and 19 and there was in addition a small flock of Pink-feet which had a Tundra Bean amongst them. It was very interesting to see how these three small flocks were within 20m of each other but operated as distinct units. On a return visit 2 hours later though the geese were all mixed up. I was now able to find another leg ring Y7 but no collars.

a Taiga

more Taigas

and Y7 ringed on its right leg in Oct 2019 and seen by me every spring since and also in a couple of autumns

This video shows both the ringed birds:

So, 65 Taiga Beans in total with two leg rings but no collars. Hopefully there are more birds to come and the flocks will join up. It would make a lot of sense that the birds at Udenes were new in from Denmark that morning whereas the other 16 have been around a few days (I had 12 on 5.3 then 2 on 8.3 and 4 on 9.3 which may have been the flock of 16?).

 

The Tundra Bean Goose was educational to watch. When I found it amongst the Pink-feet it was clearly a Tundra due to being the same size as the Pink-feet and also the fact it was associating with them rather than the Taigas. On the return visit when all the geese were mixed together I did find it again BUT I doubt very much that I would have been brave or foolish enough to have called it as a Tundra if I had not seen it separately earlier. I have always been very conservative regarding reports of Tundras within flocks of Taigas and have dismissed other reports due to the individual variation amongst Taigas but of course it is possible for birds to get mixed up especially if Pink-feet (the more likely carrier species for Tundras) are mixed in. I had a pair of Tundras at another site amongst a large flock of Whoopers where there were also Pink-feet, Canadas and Greylags but no Taigas. The feature that was perhaps easiest to pick out the Tundra was that its head was paler than the heads of the Taigas which were noticeably darker than their necks. Whether this is a consistent (and previously described) feature is not something I am aware of.

These videos allows good comparison of the Tundra and Taigas:

Pink-footed Goose (kortnebbgås) and Tundra Bean - note how they are the same size

the Tundra with Taiga in the background

spot the Tundra?

these pictures could have been sharper but give an educational comparison of the two

this is probably the best with the smaller size of the Tundra apparant as well as the paler head. Bill structure is of little use but we see the shorter neck

and here with a Pink-foot

the bird on the right could very easily be mistaken for a Tundra due to short neck and stubby bill but note the darker head and I am sure it is "just" a female Taiga

and two Tundra on another field which I did not see side-by-side with other geese but look to be larger birds than the other one. Notice the pale head which is concolourous with the neck especially on the left hand

and Cranes (trane) are back although only no large flocks yet