Counting finches

An experienced birder once told me that we underestimate the number of birds in flocks, except when it comes to cranes where we overestimate it. This because cranes are big and fly in loose flocks, so the flocks look very large despite not being composed of that many birds. But anyway, it wasn't cranes I was going to talk about, but those smaller ones.

So, how many birds do you think there are in this picture?


Mostly Goldfinches (Carduelis carduelis) with some Common Redpolls (Carduelis flammea). Trekanten, Storvreta, December 27 2010.

The answer is 1358. (Well, approximately. Some might be a bit hidden in the photo and hard to see.) That's quite a lot of birds! Taking photos and counting birds on them are a very good way to more accurately assess the number of them than simply trying to approximate when you're out, at least if you're not an experienced bird-counter. I assume there are some people who count birds who can approximate correctly, but I can't.

But counting from a photo also seems like hard work. How do you know you haven't counted that little bird twice? The answer os very simple. Open the picture in Photoshop or similar (I use Gimp), put a grid over the picture, and use the paint tool to simply put a little dot of colour on every bird that has been counted. Count one square in the grid at a time, and note the number. This way you won't count anything twice, and if you get tired you can stop half-way through and continue later.

This is what my photo looked like when I was done: (this is the uncropped picture, the above one is cropped. So, eh, the above picture does not have 1358 birds in it, but a little less. The majority of birds are still there though, maybe 1250-1300 or so. My point still holds!)



The grid isn't shown since it was a feature in the program and not part of the picture. I just painted the number in each grid square, I'm sure some people can write down the numbers in a better way, but this worked for me. After I was done I simple added all the numbers I'd written down, and presto! I had the number of birds in the picture.
Of course I might have missed some birds, and maybe counted one too many somewhere where it was a bit hard to see, but the number should at least be more correct than me trying to approximate just using my eyes. Since this was a mixed flock of course it is a bit harder to tell how many of each species, but I approximated the Goldfinches to be about 80% with the rest being Common Redpolls (and a few other species in such low numbers I could count them, such as seven Twites, three Siskins and a single Linnet.)

I won't pretend it's not a bit tedious sitting there putting dots of paint on each and every bird in the picture though... ;-)


Part of the flock. Trekanten, Storvreta, December 27 2010.

Winter's day

Took a little walk over to mum's place this morning, to get her car. On the way I passed the feeding station in Stabby Backe, which I like to watch now and then. Nothing really special about, the usual Greenfinches, Yellowhammers, Bullfinches and tits milling around. A sharp "pix" alerted me to a male Hawfinch up in a tree. They always seem much shyer than the other birds, and he never came to the feeders while I was there.


Stabby Backe, the feeding station is in the clump of trees behind the gate.

In the afternoon drove to Storvreta, just outside Uppsala, where a huge flock of Goldfinches mixed with Redpolls had been seen. Saw two cars with birders parked by a small road, so drove there, and immediately got on to a Merlin up in a tree. Brilliant! It got chased off by a Kestrel after a short while, and started to hunt the large finch flock there. I've never seen so many Goldfinches in my life, there were at least 500 of them, probably more. And earlier in the day there had been as many as a thousand! Amongst them were loads of Common Redpolls, and we managed to find one certain and one possible Arctic in the flock when they landed in a tree. A Rough-legged Buzzard also passed by.


Merlin (Falco columbarius), Lilla Skärna, Storvreta. Very bad picture, it was the best I could do at a distance and freezing my fingers off!

Drove on a little bit and took off onto a small road on the other side of the main road, and drove along it a kilometer or two. At the end of the road found another birder I know, and chatted a bit while watching a Rough-legged Buzzard in a tree. A male Pheasant looked cold under a bush, a few Roe Deer where hiding in the snow, and then suddenly the finch flock appeared with the Merlin in close pursuit. The falcon managed to separate a Goldfinch from the rest of the flock, and chased after it at breathtaking speed and agility. The Goldfinch managed to escape into a tree though and the Merlin landed in top of a larch looking rather disappointed. Very cool to see it hunt at those speeds, and very close to us.

Eagle vs Goose

Went through some old photos on the computer, and found this video that I uploaded to Youtube. It's a White-tailed Eagle plucking a Greylag Goose, filmed by my brother (mobile phone through scope) at Kvismaren, Närke. We had gone out for a little birding, trying to show my brother and his girlfriend (who are not birders) some birds. We never thought we would see something like this!



The goose was fighting for its life, and the whole thing went on for at least 25 minutes. You can hear my brother in the film being totally struck by the whole thing.

Winter

Winter arrived all of a sudden, and now we've entered that period when days are short and birds are scarce. But certainly not all gone! Some of my friends are surprised when I tell them I go out birding in winter as well, "surely there aren't any birds around now?"

Oh how wrong they are! Now is the time for going out to the large plains around Uppsala, searching for Golden Eagles, those most majestic of birds. Some people are really lucky, seeing them chase after rabbits, something I have yet to see. I've been learning how to tell their age though, it's very interesting and it feels as it lends more to the observation when I'm able to tell that the eagle flying past us is three years old.
On the plains you can also find large flocks of Yellowhammers and Redpolls, and it's usually rewarding to look through them for rarer species. A few weeks ago I had both Lapland and Snow Bunting in amongst the Yellowhammers, and yesterday an Arctic Redpoll among the Common ones.

The forests can also be rewarding at this time, although it's often hard work and there's been times when I've come back having seen like two Blue Tits and nothing else. On a good day (with a bit of luck) there might be wonderful birds such as Black Grouses, Grey-headed Woodpeckers, Pygmy Owls, Pine Grosbeaks, all kinds of Crossbills and, if you just travel a bit north to Gästrikland, Siberian Jays.


Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator), male, Kittan, Gästrikland, 7/11-2010

Of course, one might want to stay in the city. Not to fear, Uppsala has it's very own Peregrine, which seems to favour the cathedral this year. I haven't seen it so far, but mom saw it a while back, and other people have seen it hunting around the cathedral. Just next to the cathedral is the Uppland museum, where a Dipper can often be found in the rapid waters of the river Fyris. Both Sparrowhawk and Goshawk can be seen chasing pigeons and smaller birds, and it can sometimes pay off having a look at the Mallards in the Swan Pond (which they must rename when the last swan, Alexander, dies...), I had a Wigeon there a few weeks ago.
The Ural Owl that moved into town two winters ago sadly perished in the following summer, but last year eight Long-eared Owls could be seen in some gardens in central Uppsala.

So, no birds in winter? Nothing could be further from the truth! And I haven't even mentioned the Waxwings, coming here in large flocks from the north; or the likewise northernly Rough-legged Buzzards, seen hovering over the plains; or the elusive Short-eared Owls that can sometimes be seen hunting voles at Årike Fyris; or the occasional rarity that might turn up at birdfeeders anywhere...


Marsh Tit (Parus palustris), not at all uncommon at bird tables. Hjälstaviken 22/10 2010

Björn

Last weekend saw the annual field trip to Björn, a small island out in the Baltic, in the north of Uppland. A great place, usually lots of nice birds and not too big, you can easily cover the entire island in a day.


Didn't take any pictures this time, so this was taken last year. 19 September 2009.

Drove up there early in the morning and got there around 6pm, and waited for everyone else to appear. After a while the entire group was gathered, and the fisherman who ferries people out to the island took us in his little boat and we were off. About fifteen minutes later we were on the island and took off to the lighthouse to start the birding there. Not that much around yet, but it was still a bit dark so we couldn't see very well. The weather was promising though, a bit overcast and it had rained a little in the early morning.
A Snow Bunting on a cliff was the best we found, until someone cried out Otter, and indeed, a really nice Otter could be seen swimming around amongst the stones. Very cool, only my second ever, and apparently a real rarity out on Björn.

After watching the Otter for a while we walked over to the other side of the island. Goldcrests, Chiffchaffs and Redpolls were everywhere, and we could also hear Robins and Dunnocks. Over at the other side of the island we spotted a large flock of Snow Buntings, at least 70 of them, as well as Dunlins, Grey Plovers and a Purple Sandpiper. Also met some other birders who had come with their own private boat, so in total we must have been almost 20 people on the island! Not often the island is that well covered, so we decided that we just HAD to find something a bit extra.

Raptors were rather scarce, only one White-tailed Eagle could be seen as well as one Common Buzzard. Not that we minded, it was more fun trawling through the bushes in search of warblers or watching the sea for divers and auks. Nothing really rare turned up, no matter how much we tried to turn Black-throated Divers into something rarer.


The harbour and the boat coming to get us. 19 September 2009.

It wasn't until we were almost about to go home that something happened. I was back at the harbour when we got the call that they had found a Little Bunting on the other side of the island. Good thing the island is small, so we got there fairly quickly. The bunting was very skulking and not everyone got to see it on the ground, but we waited patiently and was finally rewarded with great views, albeit for a short while. Then it was time to run back across the island to get back in time for the boat to pick us up and get us back to the mainland, after a very nice day on Björn, crowned with the Little Bunting, a new Uppland tick for me.

Bat Woodpecker

A new species of woodpecker just appeared outside my window! Because of it's habit of hanging upside down under branches I have named it the Bat Woodpecker (Dendrocopos chiropterus). It is superficially similar to a male Great Spotted Woodpecker, and its prefered diet seems to be the ants that crawl on the branches of its chosen tree. Unfortunately the woodpecker flew off after about ten minutes, so no more is known about it yet. Luckily I got a few photographs of this intriguing woodpecker, which I am sure the science world would love to know more about.

Nah, of course it's a Great Spotted Woodpecker. The first one I see from my window, new window/balcony tick!

Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major), adult male

On a completely unrelated note, I frigging HATE this new blogging editor. It centers stuff I don't want centered and refuses to change it, it puts text where I don't want it, it's annoying to work with and it's just so much worse than the old one. Stop making things worse!

ARGH! Went back to fix a small detail, and it erased one of my photos! And refuses to put my captions where they should be (I don't want to use that new caption function because it is UGLY), and my text just keeps moving across the page.. this is worse than an old version of Microsoft Word.

Editing again. Reverted back to the old editor to fix stuff. Works now. Dreads the day when they remove the old editor and I'm forced to use the new useless one.

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

A few days ago a Buff-breasted Sandpiper was found in Ledskär. Didn't go for it then, because 1) it was already getting dark and 2) I've already seen one a few years ago. Anyway, yesterday it was refound, and since I didn't have anything else planned today I decided to go for it. Since I really like Ledskär I figured it would be an okay day even if the sandpiper wasn't there anymore, lots of other birds to see.

Drove up there, met some happy people at the car park who informed us it was indeed there, and walked out to the tower. The two people in the tower were looking at other things when we arrived, so they weren't sure exactly where it was now. No worries, after a few minutes I found the bird and we could study it nicely. Some more people arrived, and the sandpiper was most obliging, even though it was at a distance. Got slightly cramped in the tower for a little while, it is not very big.


A few people in the tower watching the sandpiper

Only bad thing was the wind... it was absolutely howling! Scope shook so I could hardly see anything at times. Decided to go down and stand behind the information sign next to the tower instead, less wind but a little harder to see the birds. The sandpiper was very active, running to and fro and often hiding behind some grass.


The star of the day: Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Tryngites subruficollis)

Apart from the sandpiper we saw Golden Plovers, Grey Plovers, Coots, Wigeons, Pintails, Dunlins, Ruffs, Bean Geese, Barnacle Geese and a few Cranes, just to mention a few. All in all a nice day.

Hjälstaviken again

Been a little bit jealous at the people who's been going up to Holmögadd and the White-winged Lark there... but then again, apparently the boat ride to the island is just bloody horrible, so I would probably just have gotten sick if I went.

Instead it was back to Hjälsta again to check if the somewhat bad weather had pressed down anything interesting. Cold day, and rather windy, but some good birds were seen. Not that many geese around, think most were out on the fields grazing. A few thousand Barnacle and some hundreds of Greylag and Bean Geese, with eight Lesser White-fronts were all today. Quite a lot of Pintails though, at least 35, very nice! I really like those elegant ducks. About 250 Dunlins were the most I've seen there for a while, and I don't see Grey Plovers every day in Hjälstaviken, but today four graced us with their visit.
The birds took to the air several times, but it took us a while to discover why... but then two Peregrines swooped down and gave great views. The adult one flew off, but the juvenile one landed right in front of the tower and sat there for a while. A huge bird, surely the biggest Peregrine I've ever seen!


Peregrine (Falco peregrinus), 1cy female. Very windy and a bit dark so it was difficult to get a good photo.

Wasn't entirely over even then, because as we walked back to the car sometime later I suddenly saw a falcon hunting some gulls, and sure enough, it was the young Peregrine... flying so very fast and snatching a Black-headed Gull just like that. Wow! Then she sat on the ground with it for a little while before flying off with the gull in her claws...

New patch tick

If I could be said to have a local patch, well, it has to be Årike Fyris. It's the part of Fyrisån (River Fyris) and the surrounding areas just south of Uppsala, a great place so close to the city. Best thing is it's just like a minute or two by bike from uni, so it's easy to go there on lunches and bird a bit.
Anyway, yesterday a Knot was found there, and the fun thing with patches like this is that even birds that are easily seen elsewhere become fun. Last time a Knot was reported there was back in 1978, so naturally I had to go see it. The supporting cast of Little Stint wasn't bad either, since it too was a new Årike tick for me. :)

Didn't bring my camera, so no pictures. Instead here's a few pictures from Årike I took this spring. (Apparently I haven't really taken any pics there since then! Tssk, bad Nina.)


The boardwalk out to the platform. Lots of snow in winter meant really flooded meadows in spring!


Flooded meadows in april.


Female Kestrel (Falco tinninculus) in the nestbox where they nest every year.


Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava flava), male, a common bird at Årike.

Geese!

Went out to Hjälstaviken last weekend. Most waders have left by now, with only the occasional Spotted Redshank, Dunlin and Ringed Plover left. Oh, and a few hundred Ruffs. No, this is the time of the geese. Maybe 5000 Greylags, 6000 Bean Geese and 3000 Barnacle Geese could be seen, and amongst them we could pick out one or two White-fronted Geese and Pink-footed Geese. Also 33 Lesser White-fronted Geese, of which 7 were juvenile, were a nice sight. Unfortunately the one breeding with a Barnacle is still at large, producing more hybrids. Six such hybrids have been seen this year.


Mixed flock of geese (mostly Barnacle) being scared into the air by the Peregrine or an Eagle.

An adult male Peregrine hunted for several minutes in front of the bird tower, very nice. Didn't see that many White-tailed Eagles this time, the weather wasn't the best for them.
Bluethroats seem to have passed by as well, only saw one on the way out. Tried to find some Red-throated Pipits or Lapland Buntings, but no luck. Lots of Goldfinches though.


Barnacle Geese (Branta leucopsis)

Hmm hmm

Ho hum, seems like I'm not really good at this whole "post regularly" thing. Whoops.

So, Autumn has arrived, and with it the Bluethroats. Lovely little birds! Spent two weeks this summer up north ringing quite a few Bluethroats, great fun. Would be really cool if I could spot one I ringed down here now... albeit not very likely.


Juvenile Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica), ringed by me. Ånnsjön, 8/8-10

Led my first field trip about two weeks ago as well. Was a bit nervous, but it was really enjoyable. Did help that the participants were nice, weather perfect and birds very obliging, so we got to see several White-tailed Eagles, loads of geese including a Lesser White-front and to top it all, a brilliant Peregrine swooping in scaring all the birds.


White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla), Hjälstaviken, 28/8-10

Öland

Haven't written anything about my little trip to Öland... so here goes!

It's become somewhat a tradition to go to Öland in late spring/early summer. This year, because of stupid exams, I couldn't go until early June, whereas May is really the best month. Also, I couldn't stay more than three days because of my summer work starting. So, a short trip was scheduled.


Cattle at Ottenby

Arrived at Svalgården, the place we always stay while on Öland, late on June 3. Tried to listen for Quail in the fields just outside, but no luck. Went to bed.

Next morning we woke and drove down to Ottenby. The primary target there was the pair of Kentish Plovers that had taken up residence there (the only pair in Sweden!). Alas, they were not that easy to spot as the reports had said, and we only saw Ringed Plovers running around. This would repeat itself, as we actually never managed to see the plovers... we chose the one weekend when they weren't seen!

Got some new year ticks though, such as Little Tern, Avocet and Ruddy Turnstone. The weather was lovely, warm and sunny, although most birds seemed to keep away. The Southern Grove was filled with Icterine Warblers, Blackcaps, Chaffinches and other songbirds. A Golden Oriole had been heard, but it kept silent when we were there. Over the meadows (Schäferiängarna) we saw one of only two Montagu's Harriers for the trip, a nice male, although pretty far away. Wheatears and Red-backed Shrikes posed here and there, and the cries of agitated Redshanks (when are those birds NOT upset??) almost drowned out the Skylarks.


Icterine Warbler (Hippolais icterina)


Long-eared Owl (Asio otus), shown at Ottenby

The following days gave us pretty much the same, it was a calm weekend with no real rarities except a Great White Egret that we caught up with by the road. Some highlights were great views of a male Barred Warbler, singing and flying around nicely (and I think I spotted the female in a bush... hard to tell though!), the Long-eared Owl that got caught at the bird observatory at Ottenby one morning and was shown to the birders up that early (great to see one up close), the large group of Avocets feeding in a shallow bay, and I finally caught up with a singing Collared Flycatcher (last year all I got was a hybrid Collared/Pied... singing like a Collared by looking like a Pied!) that sang and showed splendidly.


Barred Warbler (Sylvia nisoria), adult male.

Really looking forward to my next trip to this great island!

So cute!

Found this link... makes me wish we could have hummingbirds here in Europe. Lovely birds.

Hectic

May is such a hectic month... most birds have arrived, and the light nights mean you can be birding pretty much 24/7. And then you're supposed to study for exams as well... not an easy equation!
Yesterday went to Vendelsjön to see if I could spot any Broad-billed Sandpipers, somewhat of a bogey bird for me. One other guy was there and told me he'd seen four or five in the morning, but not now. Typical. Well, then his alarm went off, a Golden Oriole not far away, in a place called Aspnäs by Lake Tämnaren.

Drove there, and was pleased to discover a most beautiful pasture idyll, with huge oak trees and green meadows. The oriole was singing nicely, although to actually see the bird was of course impossible. One would think such a brightly coloured bird would be easy to spot, but no.


No oriole, but the trees where it sat...

A Cuckoo was calling, Common Rosefinches sang in the trees behind us, and a Wryneck added it's rather peculiar song. In all a brilliant concert!
Didn't see anything really in the lake, but a young White-tailed Eagle showed nicely as it flew just over our heads.


A perfect place for rosefinches!

Pallid Harrier!

Yesterday I went to Lövstaslätten to see if I could hear a Quail. As we got there two other birders pointed to the sky. "Have you seen the Pallid Harrier?"
Eeep!
Grabbed my binos and saw a ringtail harrier flying around. Quickly got the scope up to see it more properly, and tried to see how to identify it. It flew around us, and then disappeared in the grass. Phone calls were made, and some other birders apparently had identified it as a Montagu's... all I was left with was a memory of a young harrier, flying almost falconlike and fast along the ground.

Anyway. Since I wasn't really happy having an unidentified harrier I went back this morning. Found the bird immediately sitting on a well, and snapped some pics. It was raining heavily, so soon went back home and uploaded the pics to Svalan. And lo! It turned out it WAS a Pallid! Very nice, a lifer for me.






Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus) , 2 cy male

A new lifer!

A bird that has been eluding me is the River Warbler. Singing males aren't that uncommon here, but for some reason I had never heard one... until now. I finally gave in. There's been a bird outside Knivsta for a few days now, and today (well, yesterday... it's past midnight now) I caved in and drove there. Since they're not that uncommon I kinda wanted to find my own one, but... eh. *shrugs*

Finding this one turned out to be exceptionally easy. Drove to the place, got out of the car (in the rain), and immediately heard the bird. Very loud thing, the only other bird I heard was an equally loud Thrush Nightingale... somehow it felt a bit anticlimactic. After five minutes I'd heard enough, I mean it's not exactly a varied song, and drove back to Uppsala. Got a Corncrake on the way home as well, nice.

Vendelsjön

Vendelsjön (Lake Vendel) is a place I often return to. A shallow lake surrounded by grazed areas and fields, it is home to a large colony of Black-headed Gulls and assorted waterbirds. At this time of year it is especially fun going there, because the birds are breeding and little chicks of different species are about!


View from the observation tower, towards the west.

The gull chicks haven't hatched yet, but I guess they will soon... loads of Black-headed and Little Gulls are incubating, as are a few Common Terns. The Greylag Geese chicks are out though, swimming after their mother in straight lines with the father last in line, keeping an eye on them.

I stood in the tower for maybe two hours, watching the sun set. A Great Reed Warbler was sitting in the reeds, singing away, and the Marsh Harriers were flying around carrying nesting material. A booming Bittern added some bass to the evening concert.

Best of all though were the pair of Crane chicks... very sweet, and so tiny compared to the parents! Tried to take a photo, but the poor light made it difficult.


Common Crane (Grus grus) with chick (can be seen in the bottom left corner... look closely.)

Arholma

So, went to Arholma this weekend... had planned to go to another island, but the hostel there was fully booked. Arholma is an island in the Uppland archipelago, map here. It is rather small, with a small village in the middle and a coastal pine forest in the north (which is where we spent our time.) There is also a military museum thingy, Arholma Batteri, a former coastal fortress which is now shown to the public. It was a great place to stand when looking for seabirds...


Arholma batteri, the (former) coastal fortress.

Anyway. After driving for about an hour and a half we arrived at the port where we were to take the boat. Not wasting any second we birded the place, finding a nice singing Redstart, a few Long-tailed Ducks in beautiful summer plumage, and the only (!) White-tailed Eagle of the trip. Boat arrived, and we dragged all our stuff aboard. Since we had a lot of stuff we were very happy that the people at the hostel met us at the boat and picked up our luggage, driving it up to the hostel with a small cart. Walking to the hostel we could hear and see loads of Chaffinches and Willow Warblers, as well as hear the ubiquitous Common Gulls.


Common Gull (Larus canus), this one nesting on a jetty... hope the owner doesn't need to use his boat!

After checking in we took a walk around the northern part of the island. In the forest Coal Tits and Goldcrests were common, as well as Song Thrushes, Common Crossbills, Siskins and Blackcaps. A small pond held a bunch of Tufted Ducks and a single male Pochard. We arrived at the small village, found a Mistle Thrush foraging on a field, and then heard a Common Rosefinch sing. Looked for the bird, and yes! A pair of them were sitting in a tree not far away, the male a brilliant red 3cy+ bird. In the same place we spotted several Wheatears and a pair of Whinchats. Took a break at the church where we found a bunch of Elder-flowered Orchids, before heading back to the hostel for dinner. A Spotted Flycatcher was a nice year tick on the way back.

Since it was still light enough after dinner we climbed the cliffs to the top of the coastal fortress for some sea-watching. A pair of Arctic Skuas amused us with their agility as they chased after the poor terns and gulls, but otherwise there wasn't much to see.


Arctic Skuas (Stercorarius parasiticus)

Went to bed after setting the alarm at 4am. Woke up to... rain. Well, we had decided that this morning would be dedicated to seawatching, and a little rain wasn't going to deter us! Walked through the forest to the northern-most part of the island, where we found an old bunker that was perfect for us. At first there was naught to be seen. Eiders were of course lying about, and Common Gulls were sitting on the cliffs like little white dots, but otherwise... not much.


Me seawatching

Luckily, after a while things changed, and we got to see Long-tailed Ducks, Razorbills, Arctic Skuas, Velvet Scoters and quite a lot of Goldeneyes. Several divers flew past, giving us a headache trying to id them. At least six were Black-throated and three were Red-throated, but we had to leave six unidentified. Oh well, it can't be easy all the time! At least a few of the Black-throated ones decided to rest for a while right outside our bunker, giving us great views of this beautiful bird. I like this picture I took of them, somehow it looks almost like a painting.



Black-throated Divers (Gavia arctica)

A bunch of Oystercatchers and two Black Guillemots also caught our eyes, there's just something special about black-and-white birds! A Lesser White-throat came in from the sea, looking tired, and sat for a little while in the tree next to us.


Oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus)

Well, at around 8am we gave up and went back to the hostel, since we were rather cold by now. Rain didn't want to stop, in fact it just kept increasing, so we stayed indoor playing games for a while, before checking out and dumping our luggage so the hostel would drive it down to the boat. A walk to the village did yield a new year tick for me, as we found a male Red-backed Shrike in a pasture.

Had some tea/coffee and cake down at the village, then got on the boat and went home. All in all a very nice little trip, with no rarities but nice nevertheless.

So, I'm starting a blog...

In a perfect world, I would have started a blog in January. Few birds around, all very calm, and sort of a new beginning. Well, can't have everything. So, I'm simply going to skip right past all the things that has happened before, including the bird race in February, the massive amount of snow, the owls, the first Skylark and all the rarities that suddenly turned up in May. Let's have a blank slate!

So. Yesterday I escaped from revising (exams coming up, argh) and went down to the lovely place that is Uppsala Sewage Treatment. The "ponds" where they dump the sludge used to be a great spot for birds, except this year they dumped snow all over it... guess the ordinary snow dumping place got filled up. Anyway, end result is that there are huge mounds of gravel and slowly melting snow everywhere now. The poor pair of Lesser Ringed Plover that usually breeds there seem to have found a little corner though.

Anyway, walked around there, trying not to think about the smell, and was initially a bit disappointed. Only a few Goldfinches and Tree Sparrows were about, as well as a Thrush Nightingale. But then I saw what I was searching for, two Temminck's Stints flying up from one of the ponds. And Lesser Ringed Plover as well. Nice. They all gave me wonderful views in the beautiful evening light, one of the things I really like about this place is, while there might not be loads of birds, the ones that you find can usually be seen very close.





Temminck's Stint (Calidris temminckii), same individual in both pics.

Went home happy. Had dinner. Then decided to escape some more, so went for a bike ride along the river, just in case some rarish warbler had turned up... I wouldn't say no to a River Warbler or something like that! Four Thrush Nightingales were singing their little hearts out, and drowned out everything else, but that was okay. They're pretty fun to listen to.

Haven't been out today. But tomorrow I'm going to the small island of Arholma (in the Uppland archipelago) for two days of birding, expect a report when I get back!