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CABC Scandinavia Choir Tour

Day 12: Birding Stockholm

The next day with Kalle Sjölund was great!! He picked me up at six, and we headed northeast to a little area called Angarn

 Nature Preserve. You drive through lovely farmland to get there, and on the way in we had a female Pied Flycatcher sitting

 on the wire much like a bluebird would, and a very patchy-looking Marsh Harrier. Wood Pigeons were all over, and on a

 dead tree had a wonderful Great Spotted Woodpecker! The first place we went to was a woodland area with a trail a couple

 of miles long near Lappdal, where we had many uncooperative feeding flocks; Kalle heard both Crested and Long-tailed

 Tits, but they wouldn’t come out. The Willow Tit was more recognizable, sounding much like our Boreal Chickadees, so I

 felt comfortable counting that. Chaffinches gave their zink-zink calls, and Willow Warblers gave their rising whistles in

 addition to some half-hearted attempts at some songs. Kalle really knows his stuff, too, and he had a wonderful Leica that

 worked great for digi-scoping! Got great shots of the aforementioned woodpecker, and in an open area a Tree Pipit landed in

 a tree (naturally) and gave great looks (and the pictures came out surprisingly well, seeing as the lighting wasn’t the greatest

 in some cases and what I saw through the viewfinder was often less than satisfactory)! A flock of Siskins came in and a Winter

 Wren scolded (very unlike ours, it sounds almost more like a House Wren’s scold), but he wouldn’t come out.

                                                                                        Road to the preserve

                    Great Spotted Woodpecker,                         Trail at Lappdal                                      Shy Eurasian Siskin

                    taken through Kalle's scope!

Tree Pipits

But the star of the show was just into the woods again: a rolling call revealed a Black

 Woodpecker! He attached himself to a tree, Kalle got the scope on him, and what

 looks! He was incredible! A Cuckoo flew by at the same time, but he wasn’t nearly as

 exciting!

We made it to the campground in an attempt to flush a Black Grouse, but to no avail. Things

 actually started picking up on the way back, though: a flock of Eurasian Jays flopped by

 which flushed a Sparrow Hawk, and a Nutcracker flew over as well. Kalle heard a Lesser

 Spotted Woodpecker which got him excited, and presently the little guy bounded over, just

 like a Downy! A Robin gave a shy look, and Mistle Thrushes flew overhead. Almost back at

 the car yet another feeding flock happened by with more Crested Tits, but I didn’t feel right

 about counting them because I didn’t recognize the call, even though I could tell it was

 different. Kalle pointed out both Song Thrush and Redwing flying overhead, but again I

 wasn’t comfy counting them. I did hear a Green Woodpecker, and a female Blackcap gave us a

 fair view.

Black Woodpecker, a real dream bird!    

I was in dire need of a potty, so while Kalle checked out a nearby trail that was sometimes good for Wood Larks, I checked

 out the outhouse at the parking area, and all that turned out to be was a shack with a bucket; not even a hole in the ground!

 And the bucket was clean, so I wasn’t even sure that’s what it was for... So I went to retrieve Kalle; there was nothing on the

 (albeit cute) little trail, but on the way back I noticed he had left both his scope outside and his car keys in the car door! I was

 appalled but he assured me this was one of the safest places in the world; I guess so!

We then drove over to a little wetland, but before we got there we stopped at a field that was good for Cranes, and sure

 enough, there they were! (Well, he had heard them earlier, so he was pretty sure they’d still be there...) Another dream bird

 come true! We also had gobs of Greylag Geese on the way over as well; Kalle confirmed that that’s probably what I had on

 the way into Stockholm on the ferry, as Bean Goose is pretty rare, as is Lesser White-fronted (although there is a feral colony

 somewhere, he said).

            A nice wetland, on the way to which we had several Greylag Geese

At the trail to the wetland they had very nice potties, so I took care of that while Kalle went on ahead. The trail went up a little

 knoll, and on the way up there a Stock Dove went whizzing by. Up on the hill we had a great view and were able to pick up

 Gray Heron, Common Teal, a Shoveler, and a pair of Whooper Swans that had begun breeding (as well as the ubiquitous

 geese and Mallards). We also had distant views of shorebirds that we went after on another trail. A cute little Nuthatch came

 in, and a Marsh Tit called behind us. A Greenfinch called from the top of a spruce and took off just as I shot it!

                        Trail to the knoll                                                    The knoll                                      Kalle checks things out...

                                                        View of the wetland from the hill                                                Fleeing Greenfinch

                                                Incoming Cranes                                                                Whooper Swans

We then headed across the meadow and scanned another wetland (after negotiating the cattle), where we got closer looks at

 Little Ringed Plover and Ruff, as well as a Common Snipe (a lifer now that they’ve split it) and tons of Lapwings, which was

 fun. Yellow Wagtails were calling and I finally saw one, and we had a female Wheatear show off for us, too. A juvenile Red-

backed Shrike posed on a post, and in the raptor department we had several Common Buzzards, a distant Hobby, another

 harrier, a Sparrow Hawk that got all the lapwings going, and a Honey Buzzard lazily flapping by, as well as an Osprey.

 Down at the end of the trail we had better views of the shorebirds, plus Spotted Redshank (a migrant I hadn‘t prepared for),

 Greenshank, and Wood Sandpipers.  Kalle tried to flush a Meadow Pipit for me and succeeded, but I missed it cuz I was too

 busy watching where I was going (there was a narrow boardwalk over the marsh at this point)! Back at the car several

 Buzzards were circling, and I thought one was larger, but dismissed it because I kept losing it. We almost drove off before

 Kalle took a second look and yelled, "White-tailed Eagle!" Needless to say I was out in a flash and got passable looks at this

 Bald Eagle Wannabe (you could tell the tail was paler, but because of the lighting the best you could get was a silhouette...)!

 Kalle also confirmed that the area the ferry passes coming in to Stockholm is good for the eagles; it reminded me so much of

 the northwest I was almost expecting a Baldie to be perched on the top of one of those conifers!

                                                Trail to the shorebird spot                                            Canada Geese

Greylag Geese

                                        Juvenile Red-backed Shrike                    Boardwalk through the wetland

Shorebirds through the scope...

Northern Lapwings

        Note the size difference between the

   Greenhank (upper left) and the Wood Sandpiper

   (lower right and above)

                                The Ruff is told by his rich buffy                 Kalle wades through the grass in order to

                                coloration and his shaggy-backed/small-                                  flush pipits.

                                headed appearance.

I was pretty beat after that, so we just stopped at a little lake on the side of the road that had nesting Mute Swans, and both

 Great Crested and Little Grebes, the latter of which I miraculously got a picture (as they kept ducking in and out of the

 grasses)! Added Gadwall and Moorhen to the trip list as well.

                            Gray Herons                                                    Mute Swan family                                             On the nest  

Headed home after that, agreeing that I’d take him around San Diego when he came! That night was our official farewell

 dinner, as our official ministry tour ended this day, and some people were heading home while others were hanging around

 for the Norway extension.  The dinner was great fun; while the food was passable (but the gravy was terrific), the

 presentations were just hysterical (and you had to be there and know the people to appreciate it, so I won't elaborate here)!