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!