23th May 2015
Staff: DWE, JMY, MBL, TMJ, EKP, DHT
Weather: Very sunny but stormy in the morning, less wind in the afternoon
Projects: Great Reed Warbler, Wetland survey, Skylark, Starlings, Ortolan bunting.
Great Reed Warbler
As they already had done their parts on the Wetland survey the other day, the Great Reed Warbler team went straight out for controlling already known birds and to see if some new birds arrived with the strong wind. Unfortunately we are still missing a lot of young males. MBL focused on Ostrasjön and Fågelsjön and even though he didn’t find any new Great Reed Warblers they happened to see a beautiful kingfisher which cheered made his day. DHT and TMJ went to Sörbysjön with the same mission and sadly with the same bad luck.
Wetland survey
As said before, the staff of the Great Reed Warbler had done their survey on the day before which the rest of the staff couldn’t do because of other pressing tasks. But they went out today in the greatest sunshine fighting their way through the marshlands against heavy wind.
We may present the results (of both days) as following but first we have to say two things:
First - if you don’t to read through the whole results for interesting sightings, spoiler here: we would like to point out the kingfisher in Hammarmaden and 10 Little Gulls displaying in Sörbysjön.
Secondly, most of all we would like to say the biggest of Thank-yous to a certain White tailed Eagle (if it happens to read this), that scared off all the invisible birds in the meadows of Fräknabotten so we were able to see 2 Black tailed Godwits flying off and furthermore around 50 Gadwalls which happen to be rarely in such large flocks.
Fiskingemaden, Kvismaren (JMY)
• Mute Swan Cygnus olor 1 Adult In pair Forage 06:20-06:50
• Greylag Goose Anser anser 4 Adult In pair Forage 06:20-06:50
• Greylag Goose Anser anser 12 Nestling Forage 06:20-06:50
• Gadwall Anas strepera 1 Adult In pair Forage 06:20-06:50
• Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus 6 Adult Stationary 06:20-06:50
• Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus 68 Adult Stationary 06:20-06:50
• Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago Listed Adult Display/song 06:20-06:50
Fräknabotten, Kvismaren (EKP)
• Greylag Goose Anser anser 20 Adult In pair Forage 06:40-08:40
• Greylag Goose Anser anser 46 Adult Forage 06:40-08:40
• Greylag Goose Anser anser 96 Nestling Forage 06:40-08:40
• Garganey Anas querquedula 2 Adult Male Forage 06:40-08:40
• Gadwall Anas strepera 1 Adult In pair Forage 06:40-08:40
• Gadwall Anas strepera 19 Adult Forage 06:40-08:40
• Gadwall Anas strepera 50 ex. Flying by 06:40-08:40
• Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata 2 Adult Male Forage 06:40-08:40
• Eurasian Teal Anas crecca 2 Adult Male Forage 06:40-08:40
• Mallard Anas platyrhynchos 7 Adult In pair Forage 06:40-08:40
• Common Pochard Aythya ferina 1 Adult Male Forage 06:40-08:40
• Common Goldeneye Bucephala clangula 1 Adult Female Forage 06:40-08:40
• Common Crane Grus grus 1 Adult In pair Forage 06:40-08:40
• Common Crane Grus grus 1 Adult Forage 06:40-08:40
• Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus 1 Adult In pair Forage 06:40-08:40
• Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus 34 Adult Forage 06:40-08:40
• Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus 9 Adult Forage 06:40-08:40
• Common Tern Sterna hirundo 3 Adult In pair Forage 06:40-08:40
• Common Tern Sterna hirundo 2 Adult Forage 06:40-08:40
• Common Tern Sterna hirundo 1 Adult Killed by predator 06:40-08:40
• Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa 2 Adult Flying by 06:40-08:40(probably pair)
Sörbysjön (f.d. Kilen), Kvismaren (DWE)
• Mute Swan Cygnus olor 1 Adult Forage 07:00-07:45
• Greylag Goose Anser anser 1 Adult Forage 07:00-07:45
• Gadwall Anas strepera 1 Adult In pair Forage 07:00-07:45
• Eurasian Coot Fulica atra 1 Adult Forage 07:00-07:45
• Little Gull Hydrocoloeus minutus 10 Adult Distraction display 07:00-07:45
• Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus 100 Adult Distraction display 07:00-07:45
Hammarbotten, Kvismaren (DWE)
• Mute Swan Cygnus olor 6 Adult In pair Forage 07:00-07:45
• Greylag Goose Anser anser 24 Adult In pair Forage 07:00-07:45
• Greylag Goose Anser anser 58 Nestling Forage 07:00-07:45
• Greylag Goose Anser anser 203 Adult Forage 07:00-07:45
• Canada Goose Branta canadensis 1 Adult In pair Forage 07:00-07:45
• Gadwall Anas strepera 2 Adult In pair Forage 07:00-07:45
• Gadwall Anas strepera 3 Adult Forage 07:00-07:45
• Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata 1 Adult Male Forage 07:00-07:45
• Eurasian Teal Anas crecca 1 Adult In pair Forage 07:00-07:45
• Common Goldeneye Bucephala clangula 1 Adult Female Forage 07:00-07:45
• Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus 5 Adult In pair Forage 07:00-07:45
• Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus 3 Adult Forage 07:00-07:45
• Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus 25 Adult Stationary 07:00-07:45
• Common Tern Sterna hirundo 2 Adult Stationary 07:00-07:45
• Common Redshank Tringa totanus 1 Adult Forage 07:00-07:45
Killingemaden, Kvismaren (DWE)
• Greylag Goose Anser anser 2 Adult Forage 07:00-07:45
• Canada Goose Branta canadensis 3 Adult Forage 07:00-07:45
• Gadwall Anas strepera 1 Adult Male Forage 07:00-07:45
• Mallard Anas platyrhynchos 1 Adult In pair Forage 07:00-07:45
• Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus 1 Adult In pair Forage 07:00-07:45
Värstamaden, Kvismaren (JMY)
• Mallard Anas platyrhynchos 1 Adult Female Forage 07:05-07:25
• Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago Listed Adult Display/song 07:05-07:25
Hammarmaden, Kvismaren (DWE)
• Greylag Goose Anser anser 87 Adult In pair Forage 08:00
• Greylag Goose Anser anser 282 Nestling Forage 08:00
• Greylag Goose Anser anser 42 Adult Forage 08:00
• Canada Goose Branta canadensis 3 Adult In pair Forage 08:00
• Canada Goose Branta canadensis 1 Adult Forage 08:00
• Canada Goose Branta canadensis 11 Nestling Forage 08:00
• Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola 4 Adult Forage 08:00
• Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis 1 Adult Flying by 09:45
Nyängen, Kvismaren (MBL)
• MallardAnas platyrhynchos 3 Adult Forage 07:00-08:05
• Eurasian CootFulica atra 2 Adult Forage 07:00-08:05
Nynäsängen, Kvismaren (MBL)
None (unfortunately).
Skylarks and Ortolan buntings
Quite satisfied with our results of the wetland survey JMY and EKP went out freshly motivated for their everyday-projects on skylarks and Ortolan buntings. First of all, JMY did survey skylark-plots near to Öbykulle to find out how many territories are in there. It was our first survey there as the skylarks had just recently started displaying over spring corn-fields. EKP used the warm afternoon to sit next to a hayfield were the skylark probably have started sitting on the nests because there were only males visible and they have come a little out of their strong singing-mood. Nevertheless, finding out that they shouldn’t have any chicks yet as they weren’t feeding is a result, too. JMY cycled to Lindåsabaken to see if she could find our most recent happy couple of Ortolan buntings to find out if they have started building a nest yet. She managed to hear the male singing but the female is still a little shy towards us and preferred to not show herself. Maybe a sacrifice of a little more oat there can convince her of our friendly attitude soon. Also the Ortolan buntings of Ängfallet didn’t want to show themselves to EKP. JMY could hear our old Ortolan-male friend singing in the most beautiful sunset at Torsholmen, but he still doesn’t seem to have found the right female yet – never lose hope!
Starlings
Just before dinner DWE and EKP thought it good to run off some of those on-the-way-snacks we had that busy day and went to check to nestboxes of Starlings around Ängfallet. Happily we can confirm that only one chick has died since we checked them last (that's a remarkable low drop-out rate!) and all of them have grown a lot to chubby, always hungry, halfway feathered nestlings. As the weather finally seems to change for the better, they hopefully will grow on that quickly!
And, just to make our report complete, there was some inevitable office work done but actually, on an eventful day like that, this isn’t even worth mentioning.
EKP