Kvismare fågelstation, Sweden - Day 42

 1cy Ortolan Bunting

 wing, mantle and rump of a 1cy Ortolan Bunting

 Tail of 1cy Ortolan - note pointyness.

1cy Spotted Flycatcher wing. Compare to yesterday's adult. (note pale fringed uppertail coverts, and wing coverts.)

Last night we went to Vallen to do another Swallow roost and caught an impressive 160 Swallows (including 1 'control' that we ringed at Ässön a couple of weeks ago.) As a result, we were ringing until almost midnight, so I was very tired indeed this morning.
The weather was pretty poor at first light with strong winds and very heavy rain, so Craig waited until it stopped and headed off out to Öby Kulle. I made the decision to stay in bed for a couple of hours and then do data input. Craig came running in after a short while and shouted 'Zac, you might want to come to Öby. We've caught an Ortolan!'. I don't think I've ever got dressed so quickly!

Martin got to ring the bird, but I was just happy to see my first 1cy Ortolan and my first Ortolan in the hand. Very nice indeed, but I was amazed by how Pipit like the plumage was at this age.

Additional birds caught this morning were 12 Tree Pipit, Garden Warbler, 8 Willow Warbler, 3 Robin and a juvenile Spotted Flycatcher.

Kvismare fågelstation, Sweden - Day 41

 Teal!

 Adult Spotted Flycatcher which has just started moulting. Not fresh central tertial on both wing.

Juvenile female Bearded Tit

Last night we did a Swallow roost at Vallen, catching 63 Swallow, 5 Reed Warbler, 1 Willow Warbler and 1 Great Reed Warbler.
This morning we were back at Vallen for first light in the hope of a Bluethroat, but sadly this did not happen. Highlights for the morning were a Teal caught in the first round, 3 Marsh Warbler and a Bearded Tit, as well as a recap Lesser Spotted Woodpecker which was again, fantastic to see in the hand.
The totals for the morning were 85 new and 15 recaps, comprising of (recaps in brackets)
Reed Warbler - 51 (4)
Sedge Warbler - 7 (2)
Marsh Warbler - 3
Willow Warbler - 2 (1)
Blue Tit - 4 (3)
Great Tit - 1
Bearded Tit - 1
Whitethroat - 1
Blackcap - 1 (2)
Robin - 1
Swallow - 1
Spotted Flycatcher - 1
Blackbird - (2)
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - (1)
Teal - 1

Throughout the morning, there was a really good passage of passerines overhead with the highlight being a reasonably low flying Hawfinch and a really good passage of 100+ Tree Pipit. As a result, Craig and I set 4 nets at Öby Kulle with the hope of Tree Pipits. We managed to catch 6 juvenile Tree Pipits, 1 juvenile Marsh Tit and a retrap juvenile Great Tit. We also managed to see 2 Honey Buzzard and 2 Golden Plover.

A successful day!

Kvismare fågelstation, Sweden - Day 40

We woke up this morning to rain, which was quite a shame, because I was really looking forward to ringing today with the prospect of perhaps a Bluethroat at Vallen.
Instead, I went back to bed for a couple of hours and then headed off to Hammarmaden in search of waders. There was loads of water at our wader catching site so only saw 2 Ringed Plover, plus 2 Garganey and 458 Teal.
Viewing Hammarmaden from the bridge, I saw 43 Bean Geese (that increased later in the day to 65), c500 Greylag Geese, 3000+ Lapwing (including a leucistic bird) and 12 Ruff

When I got home, we found out that a Greater Yellowlegs had been reported from Hammarmaden about 40 minutes before I had arrived! We went straight back in the hope it would have been refound, but there was no sign. Hopefully, if the report was genuine, it will be refound locally.

We decided to have a couple of net rounds at Öby Kulle as quite a few Tree Pipit were flying over. We managed to catch 1, plus 2 Willow Warblers, a Robin and 2 Marsh Tit.

The weather looks better for tomorrow, so Ässön could be our target. We also intend on catching Swallows this evening at Vallen

Kvismare fågelstation, Sweden - Day 39

1cy Thrush Nightingale

1cy Thrush Nightingale wing - note fresh white tipping and thorning to flight feathers as well as 5 retained juvenile outer greater coverts.

2cy+ Thrush Nightingale

2cy+ Thrush Nightingale wing - note overall monotone quality to the wing and uniform Greater coverts lacking the obvious ginger tips.

juvenile female Common Redstart

This morning Craig went to Öby Kulle, whilst the rest of us went to Banvallen. Craig caught a total of 27 birds including 7 retraps. Highlights came in the form of 3 Tree Pipit and a Spotted Flycatcher
Totals for Öby Kulle: (Retraps in brackets)
Great Tit - 6 (5)
Blue Tit - 1
Marsh Tit - (1)
Willow Warbler - 4 (1)
Robin - 1
Spotted Flycatcher - 1
Garden Warbler - 4
Tree Pipit - 3

Highlights from the 33 (1 recap) birds we caught at Banvallen came in the form of a juvenile female Redstart which had almost completed it's post juvenile moult so looked very smart indeed. After worrying that I wasn't going to see many more Thrush Nightingales whilst in Sweden, I was very happy to catch 4 today, including a 2cy+ bird that was ringed in June. It was nice to be able to compare the ageing criteria of a freshly moulted adult and a juvenile which is very close to completing post-juvenile moult. The adult was carrying a lot and was 'Fat 7' on the scale of 0-9, so I think we were very lucky to retrap this before it migrates away from Kvismaren.

Totals for Banvallen: (Recaps in brackets)
Reed Warbler - 1
Willow Warbler - 3
Blackacap - 1
Garden Warbler - 2 (1)
Whitethroat - 1
Redstart - 1
Thrush Nightingale - 3 (1)
Robin - 5 (1)
Blue Tit - 4 (2)
Great Tit - 3
Blackbird - 2
Song Thrush - (1)
Nuthatch - (1)

Kvismare fågelstation, Sweden - Day 38

Autumn has struck Kvismaren with 2 Taiga Bean Geese in amongst lots of Greylag

Part of my largest flock of grounded Cranes featuring 642 birds!

The majority were flushed by 2 freshly fledged White-tailed Eagles

Today we woke up at 3am ready to get out ringing at Banvallen, however we quickly realised that it was pouring down with rain and did so until about 10am. Early morning the wind also picked up massively from the south and therefore we have done no ringing at all.

I have however 'twitched' 2 Bean Geese at Hammarmaden which are the first for the Autumn here that arrived yesterday. It's quite strange to see what I would call Winter birds in mid-August! I also enjoyed the spectacle of a marsh full of 642 Common Cranes, 2500+ Greylag Geese, 1000+ Starling and 700+ Lapwing.

The weather is supposed to calm down a bit tomorrow, so should hopefully get some proper ringing done again. Stay tuned.

Kvismare fågelstation, Sweden - Day 37

A recording of a Wolf pack last visit to the Pine Forest (Martin Carlsson)

Last night, Craig, Martin, Heather and I went to look for the Wolf pack again. It was a really clear night so was really cold. Unfortunately we were unable to see any this visit, but we were able to find the pack again and we were lucky to find an alfa male with c5 puppies that were yapping away. It was quite strange to hear the power of a big male and then the, almost patheticness of the puppies yapping away.
My absolute highlight came from something that I really, really wasn't expecting... We were making wolf howls to get them to respond when we heard a deep 1/2 second long 'roar'. It was quite quiet and we guessed it must have been coming from the forest edge c150 meters away. It was reacting to our howl, and did so 6 times. I couldn't believe it when we realised it was actually coming from a male Lynx, and a big one at that!

Lynx are by far my favourite non-avian animal in the world and I would pretty much pay anything to see one in the wild. The fact that I was only c150 meters away from, and communicating with my favourite animal is just breathtaking. In a way, I am slightly glad that I didn't see the animal because it not only remains an almost mythical beast (or a CMF in birding terms), but it means I still have lots of things to acheive before I 'climb Everest'. Again, one of the best noises I've ever heard and was made even better by the wolves. A night to remember, yet again!

Freshly moulted 1st winter Thrush Nightingale

The weather was pretty miserable today, so we weren't able to do much ringing. It cleared up for a couple of hours this evening, so we attempted a swallow-catch at dusk. We weren't able to catch any swallows, but caught several Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, a single Thrush Nightingale, Willow Warbler and a Great Reed Warbler.

Kvismare fågelstation, Sweden - Day 36

 Sunrise over a millpond-like Ässön

 My first Grey Wagtail

With 0m/s wind and cloud cover overnight forecast, we visited Ässön again where we caught 105 new birds and 7 recaptures. It was quite strange that throughout the whole day, we only caught 2 adult birds which came in the form of 2 White Wagtail. All the other birds were 1cy birds. It would appear that the vast majority of adult summer migrants have made a dash for the south (except for maybe Swallow). Unless we catch some adult migrants from further north, I may have to come to terms with the fact that my next adult Reed and Sedge Warblers will be in 2013!
The obvious highlight of the day for me was a juvenile Grey Wagtail which is I species I had never before ringed so was handed the bird bag with it in. This is even more special because Grey Wagtails aren't common in the province of Närke. A really stunning bird

Totals for day are as follows: (recaps in brackets)
Reed Warbler - 18 (2)
Sedge Warbler - 7
Willow Warbler - 22 (1)
Garden Warbler - 1
Blackcap - 1 (1)
Robin - 4 (1)
Blue Tit - 2 (1)
Great Tit - (1)
White Wagtail - 4
Grey Wagtail - 1
Swallow - 38
Reed Bunting - 5 (1)
Spotted Flycatcher - 1

Kvismare fågelstation, Sweden - Day 35

 Freshly moulted 2CY+ male Blackcap

Another juvenile Red-backed Shrike leaving a lasting impression on our fingers!

Today we attended Vallen for the first CES here in 6 days which was nice as it is obvious that the juvenile Reed Warblers are getting ready to move with a lot of stored fat and in good numbers too.

Totals from the morning were: (retraps in brackets)
Reed Warbler - 42
Sedge Warbler - 6
Willow Warbler - 15 (2)
Marsh Warbler -2
Great Reed Warbler - 4
Garden Warbler - 4
Blackcap - 4
Whitethroat - 5
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Blackbird - 1
Song Thrush - 1
Red-backed Shrike - 1
Reed Bunting - 8

Taking a blood sample from a Great Reed Warbler

It was really nice to catch 4 unringed juvenile Great Reed Warblers, because Kvismaren have been undertaking a study on this species for 29 years. Over the past week I have been undergoing training to take blood samples on birds which has been really interesting as I don't think I'll ever get the chance to do this in Britain due to requirements of vet licenses etc.
I have found myself being really comfortable with the delicate procedure and a Great Reed Warbler is a really nice bird to take a sample from because they are a proper sized bird, so aren't too fiddly... We are also helping out with a project for Lund University and I have, in the last week, taken samples from Garden Warbler, Reed Warbler, Willow Warbler, Blue Tit, White Wagtail and Wren (the latter being only a very very small sample for obvious reasons).

Kvismare fågelstation, Sweden - Day 34

recap juvenile Marsh Warbler - Sorry if I am boring you with Marsh Warblers...I just really like them!

Note the long primaries of the closed wing with obvious pale fringing and that p9 is longer than p7 on the open wing, which is one of the diagnostic features of the wing formula

Again, the long primaries, with pale fringing and the very clean looking tertials help to ID this as Marsh.

One of the best birds of the day came in the form of a controlled Reed Warbler which was ringed in Belgium

Continued good weather for migrants ensured a follow up trip to Ässön where we caught 62 new bird and 8 recaptures. The decrease in birds from yesterday is presumably due to the sudden increase in wind mid-morning. Non-ringing highlights came in the form of 3 Honey Buzzard and a movement of Cormorant away from their colony with a flock of at least 50 birds which was quite a sight.

Totals for the morning included: (recaps in brackets)
Reed Warbler - 4 (2)
Sedge Warbler - 6
Willow Warbler - 11 (2)
Marsh Warbler - (1)
Garden Warbler - 1
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Robin - 3
Great Tit - 3 (3)
Marsh Tit - 1
White Wagtail - 14
Blackbird - 1
Swallow - 13
Reed Bunting - 4

This evening, we went to a usual spot where a Beaver hangs out. Because it was lovely calm weather, I took the opportunity to get some pleasing photos of this fantastic animal. We also saw c650 Common Cranes which is quite a sight!

Kvismare fågelstation, Sweden - Day 33

1CY Willow Tit (with presumably a new tail being grown after an attack/accidental loss?) - My favourite bird!

1cy Lesser Whitehtorat wing - general overall freshness with 3/10 unmoulted Greater Coverts

1cy Lesser Whitehtroat tail with 5th Primary (2nd from left and right) lacking a white tip)

3cy+ male White Wagtail (don't get a chance to catch these at home really, so thought I'd blog it again!)

Ringing took place today at Ässön at dawn where we set 19 nets. The day started off really slowly with several 1/2 bird net rounds which was very hard work on a cold morning. Luckily the wind dropped slightly and the birds started to move with a total of 111 new birds and 7 recaps. Highlights were 1cy Willow Tit, 1cy Goldcrest (first of season), Lesser Whitethroat and 44 Willow Warbler (inc. 2 retrap). There is also a retrap Thrush Nightingale that we keep catching almost every visit, which is nice to see it's Post-juvenile moult progress.

Totals for the morning were: (recaps in brackets)
Reed Warbler - 15 (2)
Sedge Warbler - 6 (1)
Willow Warbler - 42 (2)
Garden Warbler - 1
Blackcap - 1 (1)
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Whitethroat - 1
Blackbird - 1
Song Thrush - 1
Thrush Nightingale - (1)
Blue Tit - 7
Great Tit - 18
Willow Tit - 1
White Wagtail - 6
Reed Bunting - 3
Swallow - 2
Robin - 3
Wren - 2
Goldcrest - 1 (first for season)

Non-ringing highlights came in the form of something that was almost a ringing highlight, as a flock of 15+ Northern Long-tailed Tit almost brushed the top shelf of one of our nets! This is the first time I've see the caudatus race of Long-tailed Tit and I can't quite think of a cuter bird I have ever seen if I'm honest! Stunning in every way!

Kvismare fågelstation, Sweden - Day 32

 Juvenile male Robin

We woke up at 3am this morning to a brisk wind that was too strong to do any mist-netting so we waited until mid-morning and went to Öby Kulle, erecting 4 nets. We only caught 7 new birds made up of 5 Willow Warbler, a juvenile Spotted Flycatcher and a juvenile male Robin.

This was a puzzling Robin for me, because the post-juvenile moult was only just 2/3 of the way though, but the breast was fully orange, there was a moult limit in the greater coverts and the outer two primaries appeared to be of a different generation in the field.
Analysis of the photos reveals that there is only 1 'adult' greater covert, the other 2 primaries appear to just be slightly more worn than old and the retained juvenile tertials confirm the age as Juvenile. An interesting bird

Robin's in Sweden are generally much greyer and paler than the British birds I am used to, so are a real treat to see, however this bird was almost a mix of the two, presumably based on the freshness of the new feathers and the warm brown in any retained juvenile feathers. Stephen Menzie describes it very well here

The weather looks pretty good tomorrow so should hopefully catch over 100 birds if we're lucky.

Kvismare fågelstation, Sweden - Day 31

 c2year old male Moose

This is far from a bird-related blog post, but it's certainly not short of awesomeness! Last night we decided to have a look for Moose and Wolves in much deeper forest than anywhere near to Kvismaren. It reminded me of Abernethy in some respects because of the dirt tracks and the vast pines.

As it became dusk, we were lucky enough to see 6 Moose! The first showed pretty well in a forest clearing that appeared to be a 2 year old male. My first ever Moose and I was impressed with the size of them. They reminded me of a Cow x Horse hybrid more than anything.
After this, we were even more lucky with seeing a full adult male with huge antlers! The light was going at this point so wasn't able to get a photo.
Finally, we were moving to another site and driving past a field where they were 4 Moose in the same field! Incredible!

The most optimistic target of the night were Wolves, but as it got dark, we found ourselves on a pitch black track, howling at the sky in the hope of something replying. Incredibly, we managed to hear a distant howl of what sounded like an alpha female. We listening to 2 more sets of howls, before deciding we would head off in the direction of the howl.
Getting out the car some 3/4 of a Km down the track, we began howling again and were all amazed by the sound of 6 Wolves at probably 300 meters range producing a stunning noise that I likened to a Whale, rather than the classic TV Wolves, presumably because the pack weren't especially old?
Moving further down the track still, we got out the car, waited for 5 minutes and produced one short howl. This set the 6 off again and we had wolves howling all around us as close of 100 meters!
Listening to this majestic and haunting noise, we suddenly heard a rustle in the grass. We thought it was just our imaginations, until we heard some footsteps on the gravel track followed by a faint dog like inquisitive call. In the pitch black, this was certainly a bit too close for comfort, so we turned on a flash light straight away and there, about 30 feet in front of us were 2 Wolves in full view! One, a slightly larger darker one retreated down the track and out of view almost straight away, but a much paler 2nd Wolf stayed on the track about 25 meters away for 10 seconds allowing us to get amazing views of it before it retreated. I would estimate that it was probably the same size as a Golden Retriever, but due to the summer coat, it was quite a thin looking animal

After this amazing encounter, with adrenaline pumping, we carried on listening to the pack of 6 howl into the night. It was an incredible night and has to go down in my top 5 wildlife encounters of all time and probably the mose incredible noise I've ever heard! A mix of fear, excitement and pure amazement made for a completely memorable experience.

Kvismare fågelstation, Sweden - Day 30

Juvenile Marsh Tit

Juvenile female Redstart

Elevator net! Ridiculously awesome!

Overnight the wind dropped to 1 metre/sec to the NW and the sky was clear. This meant that Ässön was our destination for dawn. We set 19 nets including an elevator net, which is a double net set up on a pulli system, meaning instead of 4 shelves, there are 8 on top of each other. Very impressive!

We caught 126 new birds and 5 retraps, of which highlights came in the form of a juvenile Marsh Tit which is the first time Craig has caught Marsh at Ässön. This just proves that they have had a fantastic breeding season in Sweden. We also caught another migrant Marsh Warbler, juvenile female Redstart and 2 Tree Pipit

Non-ringing highlights came in the form of 4 Black Woodpecker flying tantalisingly close to the nets, but sadly evading them. It was still amazing to have 4 Black Woodpeckers landed in trees 30 feet away in full view!

Totals for the morning were: (recaps in brackets)
Reed Warbler - 18 (2)
Sedge Warbler - 12 (1)
Marsh Warbler - 1
Willow Warbler - 39
Garden Warbler - 2
Blackcap - 1
Marsh Tit - 1
Blue Tit - 11 (3)
Great Tit -3
Tree Pipit - 2
Redstart - 1
Pied Flycatcher - 2
White Wagtail - 1
Swallow - 17
Robin - 5
Chaffinch - 1
Blackbird - 1
Reed Bunting - 8

Kvismare fågelstation, Sweden - Day 29

As blog readers may have noticed....I have a bit of a thing for Marsh Warblers!

....and Blue Tits

The first nice morning in a while this morning, meant that it was CES at Vallen. 61 new birds were caught in total, with 11 recaptures. Highlights came in the form of a Marsh Warbler, which I noticed was a Marsh even as I walked up to the net! (I think I'm getting my eye in now). 4 retrap juvenile Great Reed Warblers and a 2cy male Blue Tit that had a massive wing of 73mm! Swedish Blue Tits eat their Weetabix!

Totals from the morning (recaps in brackets)
Reed Warbler - 31 (4)
Sedge Warbler - 12
Willow Warbler - 5
Great Reed Warbler - (4)
Marsh Warbler - 1
Whitethroat - 4
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Garden Warbler - 2 (1)
Blue Tit - 2
Great Tit - (1)
Robin - 1
Reed Bunting - 2
Yellowhammer - (1)

Kvismare fågelstation, Sweden - Day 28

Juvenile Tree Pipit

Juvenile Tree Pipit - Note the fresh plumage and the black thorns in the median coverts

Juvenile Dunnock

Juvenile Dunnock - Black vertical line going all the way through the greater coverts are one of the ways you can age this.

We woke this morning to rain, so everyone went back to bed for a while with the aim to go to Öby Kulle to catch some migrants mid-morning. I however stayed up and plonked myself at the end of the garden with a scope, chair and cup of tea.
Visible migration came in the form of:
Tufted Duck - 9
Ruff - 3 (2,1)
Curlew - 1
Bar-tailed Godwit - 24
Greenshank - 6
Caspian Tern - 3 (flying over Vallen with 1 migrating alone)
Black-headed Gull - 58 (34, 1, 21, 1)
Common Gull 40 (17, 21, 1, 1)
Herring Gull 3
Woodpigeon - 162 (78, 84)
Tree Pipit - 5
Northern Bullfinch - 2 (my first ever of this race. They landed in a tree in the garden calling and then flew off west)

At around 7am, the drizzle stopped, so I put up 3 nets in the garden. We only managed to catch 3 birds, but one of them was a bit special. It was a Dunnock! It doesn't sound like much, but it's the first to be ringed here in 2012, so was nice. We also caught a Blue Tit and a Willow Warbler

Once the rest of the lazy staff woke up, we went to Öby Kulle erecting 4 nets. We only had a small catch made up of Willow Warbler, Great Tit, Nuthatch, Chaffinch and Yellowhammer, but the final round saw me discover a stunning juvenile Tree Pipit in the net. This is my first pipit sp in the hand and I have been wanting to catch Tree Pipit since the 2nd day I got here. Stunning bird!

Kvismare fågelstation, Sweden - Day 27

The weather has been a bit on and off today, so not much ringing has taken place except for 2 recap Marsh Tits in the garden. It's nice to recapture some of these juveniles to observe their progression in post-juvenile moult. It was evident in this bird that some adult-type inner greater coverts were growing and showing a really nice contrast in the wing, as well as the two toned matte and gloss cap.

Vis-mig has been the main part of today with the below sightings all observed from the end of our drive:
Common Crane 254+
Honey Buzzard 7 (singles)
Green Sandpiper 7
Wood Sandpiper 5
Dunlin 2
Ruff 1
Snipe 10
Black headed Gull 112 (47, 43, 2, 2, 18)
Common Gull 54 (16, 2, 4, 32)
Herring Gull 6 (singles)
Common Buzzard 4
Golden Plover 12 (8, 4)
Grey Plover 5 (4, 1)

If the weather improves somewhat, we hope to go out catching waders tonight as there is a large congregation of Spotted Redshank that would certainly be valuable to catch.

Kvismare fågelstation, Sweden - Day 26

Female Adder

Yearling Adder

Common Lizard

From about 13.00 yesterday until about 07.00 this morning, it didn't stop raining, so we didn't go out for CES today. As a result, we put up a couple of nets around the house and caught a small number of birds including the 2nd and 3rd Treecreepers for Kvismare 2012 which was nice.

A small burst of sun came out at lunchtime, so I decided to go for a wander around Vallen looking for snakes to photograph.

I found about 6 Adders, 1 Grass Snake and 10 Common Lizards. It's fantastic to see the variation between Adders and to get such prolonged views of some of them. The female Adder photographed above is a regular which is always in her same basking spot, so am glad to have documented her.