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This post will not make me any friends and possibly some enemies but after sleeping on it and now having, if not ice cold, then luke warm blood in my veins I still want to publish it (although have now toned it down through many iterations...). Yesterday was a day of high temperatures and not just the continued barmy weather. First, I got very wound up and my piss stated to boil by the blingers at Fornebu. On a number of my visits this autumn I have, upon getting out of the car, been greeted by the sounds of a Best of Eastern Vagrants mix tape being played by a net which is a whole 250m away. This goes on for at least three hours whilst the blinger(s) hope they will pull a rarity from the nets and completely disturbs all other life (both bird and human) in the nature reserve. Raising my displeasure about it hasn’t resulted in any change in actions and nor have any rarities been pulled from the nets (far more is recorded here by birders with bins than blingers with bling). Well, the tape (or in these days digital recording) was playing again yesterday and my heart dropped and blood started to boil at the thought of another ruined visit. I found an area though where I could stand which was a bit sheltered from the noise by the lay of the land and actually found some birds. All this time I was able to observe that the net was not being checked (way over half an hour) and when I did eventually spy the blingers they were engaged in an extended selfie photo shoot with a scarce bird they had caught and then proceeded to parade it around. Everything I was observing was against the rules governing ringing in Norway and is why for a lot of us ringing has such a bad reputation – for far too many blingers it is a hunt for rarities and good times hiding behind the excuse of being an important scientific activity (that is the only legal reason that people are allowed to trap birds and put them through the inherent stress and discomfort this causes them). Just so it is clear I am a big supporter of the serious Constant Effort Scheme ringing that is carried out at two Bird Observatories in Norway plus some other Observatories that take their work monitoring birds very seriously even if they do not have the resources to run CES schemes. I also fully support specific research with a conservation goal and cheer the use of modern technology that means a single tagged bird can answer more questions than 100 years and 10,000 birds worth of old fashioned ringing ever managed. But it's all the ad-hoc "let’s find a rarity" ringing that boils my piss. And further boiling occurs because many blingers don’t see the problem – birds are just objects to be (physically) exploited for their enjoyment. I think the problem is that the ringers get so caught up in the excitement of the catch (it triggers a basic human instinct) that they forget exactly what they are doing and why they are supposed to be doing it - it is the exact same instinct that drives photographers, twitchers and birders in general to chase birds and sometimes cross boundaries but the one important distinction is that only one of these requires a specific dispensation in law to be carried out. For anyone interested, here is a summary of the laws/rules/guidelines for ringing in Norway (all in Norwegian of course). There are very few explicit laws that govern ringing but two things that are stated very clearly are that trapped birds shall be ringed and released immediately and traps and nets should be continually watched (“Ved bruk av fangstredskap for å ringmerke fugl og merke flaggermus, skal fangede individer straks merkes og slippes fri. Fangstredskapet skal være under kontinuerlig tilsyn når det står til fangst.”) These rules are almost impossible for single ringer to follow so the body charged with organising ringing in Norway has in its handbook decided to define continuous as meaning at least every 30 minutes and with ringed birds has allowed for there to be a 5 minute photo shoot after the bird has been processed and ringed. Make of that what you will and also remember that if you ever witness ringing in action. How long is it really acceptable for a bird to hang in a net on damp morning right beside a loud speaker at full volume and in an area where cats prowl and humans walk with their dogs? I had a long email exchange with the two bodies responsible for ringing in Norway way back in 2014. This was as a result of a young Great Grey Owl being found with a broken leg due to a twig having got stuck between its leg and the ring and the bird would have died a long, painful death had it not been found (although I suspect that it exchanged that for being put down). I contacted the authorities-that-be to hear what the consequences of this would be as clearly the ring had either not been attached properly or perhaps a wrong ring size was used. The reply I got was literally “shit happens” and I also found out that there was no reporting on how many birds that died during the course of ringing but was assured it's not a problem even though they had zero data to back that up. There was a data field for this in the reporting software but it was not active. I expressed my shock at the cowboy like state of affairs but have since then kept my feelings on ringing mostly to myself as I feel there are few birders here who share my concerns. It was therefore very pleasing to see in the Ringers Handbook (in the link above) published in 2025 (but seemingly written in 2021 and promised in 2017…) that ringers now have to report dead birds in the now activated data field and it actually says that anyone who deliberately neglects to do so will see the removal of their ringing licence (en bevisst neglisjering av dette [dead birds] vil medføre at merkelisensen blir inndratt eller ikke fornyet) so it looks like when I thought I was banging my head against a wall that I may have actually brought about some change for the good. Maybe I will have to recharge my attempt to make Norwegian Ringing Ethical Again. The second annoyance of the day was that a Pallid Swift was found and I didn’t see it. As I arrived to look over the fjord from Fornebu a message came through that a Pallid Swift was at Nesoddtangen. I could see Nesoddtangen from where I was standing and through the scope could see the person who had sent the message at a range of 3.5km. But the persons (there were actually 3 of them) did not look like they were actually watching a swift. It transpired that the bird had been seen for half an hour and the finder had managed to inform local birders who managed to get there and see it but by the time the rest of us were informed that bird had disappeared not to be seen again. Just as well probably because I would then have had to decide whether the views would have been “tickable” or not. I did however have to answer that conundrum today after the bird was refound this morning but my decision will have to wait until my next blog post. Did I see any birds though? I had three Bearded Tits and three Chiffchaff in the reedbed at Storøykilen and one of the chiffies was a tristis with a ring on. While looking for the Pallid Swift I was informed that the long staying but not often seen King Eider was on the fjord off of Nesoddtangen and sure enough on a mirror flat sea I could make it out at a range of 3.5km and those views were just about tickable. In Maridalen all the Whooper Swans and the Pink-footed Geese have left and Jack saw a family of 4 Whoopers and a Pink-foot flying over Sørkedalen which were surely from the Dale. A single Pygmy Owl revealed it self to me in the same place as before and has presumably found a good hunting ground although I have yet to see it catch anything. female Bearded Tit (skjeggmeis) pair a ringed tristis Chiffchaff. In addition to looking right it also had the right call this unringed bird also looks like a tristis (in fact looks pretty much identical to the ringed bird above) but did not give the right call when I was watching it although that doesn't rule it out from being a tristis Pygmy Owl (spurveugle) - one of at least 3 birds that have been discovered in Maridalen this autumn where I was stood, where the Pallid Swift was seen and where the King Eider was swimming. Birding as it should be ;-)
Sidste år, den 23. november havde Ørneklubben en tur til Assistens Koirkegård i Svendborg, hvor der blev opsat fuglekasser - det kan man læse om her. Nu var...
8. nov. 2025 kl. 00:29
A new scientific paper published in the journal Marine Ornithology documents the power of community science across the west coast, and provides essential information on a population of Brown...
Every spring, Common Loons flock to Montana’s lakes to nest after wintering along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. For the past three decades, Tony Gangemi has followed them, surveying the lakes...
This morning, Florian, János, and I headed to World?s End 3 for the migration count with Knud. János left a bit earlier to bird along the way and noted many Eurasian Blackbirds (Solsort) along the...
Morgenobs Vejret er gråt og overskyet, tågen buldrer ind fra både havet og mosen og vinden blæser med sølle 3 sekundmeter fra næsten stik øst. Heldigvis er der stadig relativt lunt for en novemberdag...
8. nov. 2025 kl. 00:00
Ringmærkningen/the ringing: Today's weather was very different to yesterday's: a grey sky and a colder temperature, autumn is here. When Anna and I opened the nets, we found that there were still lots...
Ringmærkningen/the ringing: xxxxx Trækket på Odden: Vejret spiller stærkt ind, selv om vi måske stadig ikke helt forstår, hvordan. En overskyet morgen og formiddag næsten uden vind, men med kort...
7. nov. 2025 kl. 21:19
In a world grappling with biodiversity loss and climate change, the need for practical tools to measure nature’s health has never been more urgent. That’s where birds come in—and why...
This mural is in progress! Check back soon for more. As part of the Audubon Mural Project—a public-art initiative drawing attention to birds that are vulnerable to extinction from climate...
I went once again out for observing at World?s End III. The first hour already brought us a Black-throated Diver (Sortstrubet Lom), which we hadn't seen so often in the last weeks. It was also a good...
Morning Observation This November day gave us a heads up for what is to come in the coming days. Once November really hits the birds stop in their footsteps and the migration slows down. Today however...
7. nov. 2025 kl. 00:00
Ringmærkningen: Ligesom i går hørte vi mange Fuglekonge (Goldcrest) da vi satte nettene op i det spæde morgenlys. Derfor valgte vi endnu en gang at tage kasser med på de første runder- hvilket...
7. nov. 2025 kl. 00:00
Ringmærkningen: Xxxxxxx Trækket på Odden: Solopgangen var smuk på en næsten skyfri himmel, og det føltes hurtigt lunt at stå i læ af buskene yderst på spidsen, selv om temperaturen var nede i...
Listen to the birds in this mural! 1919519196 Painted: 10/26/2025 About the Mural: In this mural by artist Cern, a Dark-eyed Junco and Blue-winged Warbler perch amid a landscape blooming with...
Listen to the bird in this mural! 1917619177 Painted: October 2025 About the Mural: In this mural by artist Majo San, an Eastern Towhee perches on a vine of native Virginia creeper. As part...
Listen to the bird in this mural! 1917419175 Painted: 10/21/2025 About the Mural: In this mural by artist Majo San, an American Woodcock peers out from a landscape of native New England aster...
6. nov. 2025 kl. 21:20
NEW YORK—Today the National Audubon Society and NYC Parks announced 21 new murals at GreenThumb community gardens in The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. Each mural was designed through a...
It has been commented that I moan about the weather nearly as much as I write about birds and that is no doubt correct and to prove it – the weather is just wrong at the moment! +12C night and day, southerly winds, overcast and drizzle and not a good, out of season bird to show for it…I’m hoping for Pallid Swift, Hoopoe, Desert Wheatear or at the absolute minimum a Firecrest… I’m not sure if out of desperation or a real expectation that there would be something good but I found myself sea gazing at Krokstrand yesterday. The site of many a good seawatch a decade or more ago it now serves as a reminder of how autumn weather patterns and arrivals of seabirds have changed. For the nostalgia value it was good to be there and remember previous visits with skuas of all 4 species, Brunnich’s Guillemot, Sabines Gull, Grey Phalarope and all the more expected but still for these parts unusual stuff. Yesterday wasn’t a disaster and there were birds and not just sea to gaze at but it was not a day that will be remembered in a week’s time let alone a decade’s time. Three Kittiwakes were the best of the bunch and there were double digit numbers of Guillemots along with three each of Razorbill and Little Auk but I could just as easily have seen the auks in Oslo. A nocturnal visit into Maridalen with the thermal imager revealed unsurprisingly that Woodcock are still around with 4 seen along a short stretch. Slightly more unusual was a single Common Snipe and two Fieldfares that were seemingly roosting on the ground in a stubble field. Nearby at least 20 Magpies were roosting together in some isolated bushes. A Tawny Owl called but I picked up no other owls hunting over the stubble fields despite there seeming to be increasing numbers of mice. Krokstrand looking south towards more open sea and looking north towards Oslo and the end of the fjord Woodcock (rugde) taken just with the aid of my head torch and here using the camera's inbuilt flash. Note how far up the mud goes on the birds long beak showing quite how deep it has been probing for worms a Fieldfare (gråtrost) one of two which I believe were roosting on the ground rather than nocturnal feeding and a Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin) an unusually easy to observe Little Grebe (dvergdykker) on the park lake at Valle Hovin. In Norway it is unusual to see one so well
6. nov. 2025 kl. 06:00
The BOU Summer Placement Scheme provides financial support for undergraduate students to carry out small summer ornithological research projects. Here Rebecca Gillmore provides an account of her time on Puffin Island. The post The ecology of a nationally important Great Cormorant population on Puffin Island, Anglesey, Wales appeared first on British Ornithologists' Union.
The 2025 U.S. State of the Birds report revealed that birds are suffering rapid population declines across the United States from impacts like habitat loss. Audubon’s science shows that two-thirds...
This month, Audubon experts will travel to the heart of the Amazon rainforest—not to study birds in the wild (at least not this time), but to demonstrate how Audubon’s science, conservation work...
6. nov. 2025 kl. 00:00
Ringduen og hulduen trives i det danske landskab, hvor føden af plantefrø er rigelig. Derimod går det tilbage for tyrkerduen og i særdeleshed for turtelduen, der er truet i Europa.
Efter en del dage med regn var vi glade for at vejr-radaren endelig sagde der ville være tør vejr. vi cyklede glade til verdens ende 3, Vores forhåbningerne var høje efter som vi havde haft mange havfugle...
