Plenty of Waxwings

There are plenty of Waxwings around in the area right now. Wonderful birds! Some Pine Grosbeaks reported lately too.

Red-breasted Goose

Its´ been a nice time for Nutcrackers lately and today I popped in at Hjälstaviken to enjoy a few good birds, among them Red-breasted Goose (very rare in-land find), Buff-breasted Sandpiper (the same), some Tundra as well as the more common Taiga Bean Geese, Pink-foots and a flock of 10 Smew.

Last crane-evening

Friday night might just have been this season´s last major Crane evening at Lake Fläcksjön. Probably the most colorful sunset sky this autumn and the Cranes (at least 450) coming in to roost while the sky was still good. Tomorrow northerly winds are due to come and that usually means most Cranes take the opportunity to go south with a good tail wind.

Red Deer in rut

It was a very atmospheric night with the roars from rutting Red Deer under a rising full moon and a stroke of mist over the meadows. I heard roaring stags from at least five positions at the same time and saw a couple of more animals. These calls are so powerful and raw, it´s like a mix of Elephants and Wolves. Imagine that!

Hoopoe visit

Hoopoe (Upupa epops) is a rare bird in central Sweden so it was really enjoyable to see this one who appeared in a garden area outside town last week.

Moose safari evenings

The last nights we have been out on Mammal safaris. 7 Moose the first night and 4 the second, a Wild Boar also showed a while. Despite low light and long shutter speeds a few pictures got reasonably sharp.

Black tern hide in feature

The newspaper VLT published a feature about the Birdsafarisweden floating hide for Black Tern photography yesterday. Here it is with slideshow and sound on the web: http://vlt.se/nyheter/vasteras/1.2136992-bild-ljud-svarttarnor-i-svartadalen

Peregrine on the dome

The cathedral/ dome/ church in Västerås is not only the tallest building in town, but since Sunday at least also the new favourite perch for our 2:nd calender year male from last year´s hacking clutch. I will name him "the Ringer" after his preferred sitting-point! He´s been harassing this year´s clutch of chicks, visiting their cage on the water tower, stealing their food and acting aggressively. The last days he seems to have calmed down a bit though. The young ones are still attending the (now open) hacking-cage and he only pays a visit every now and then. Anders Nylén took the close up. Anyway it is like a little dream come true to see Peregrine on the church of my home town just a few blocks away from home. It´s also a first step to realise the goal of the project, local breeding birds, because this guy means business!

Peregrine arrival

5 Peregrine chicks raised on Nordens Ark arrived to Västerås yesterday to be put in the new cage on a roof near the old steam boiler in the harbour area. A little fight broke out between two of them, that´s why one is still lying on it´s back in defense position. Meanwhile 2 of the chicks from the first clutch where cool on the old water tower sitting just outside the cage, they arrive some weeks ago and are fully fledged by now, coming and going as they want.

Griffon Vulture in Skåne

After a little round-tour in southern Sweden the Griffon vulture is settling down. The bird turned up in in Västervik on the 16:th of July, roosted in a pine and took height the next moring, that followed by brief views in Skåne, the next day on Öland, then missing for 2 days and now back in Skåne and well watched for the 2.nd day. Pav Johnson got these pics on Öland.