It’s always a surprise when I’m woken to the song of a wren (gjerdesmett) in the garden at this time of year. This is not only the second smallest bird in Norway, but along with the smallest bird goldcrest (fuglekonge) they rely almost only on natural food and don’t come to bird feeders. It’s been a relatively snow rich winter with stable conditions over long periods, but somehow this bird has made it through the winter. There have been reports of wrens regularly through the winter in this area, so it’s likely that it has overwintered (some of the local population migrate to milder areas in western Europe). I haven’t heard them in the daytime yet this year, so it’s probably spending the night in one of the bird boxes in the garden and finding food elsewhere!
Tag Archives: bird song
Blackcap song
It’s not often that I see the resident blackcap singing as it usually sings well hidden in the bushes, but today it sang from the top of a birch tree (see the end of this sequence).
Woken by Troglodytes troglodytes
Even though it was only 5 am, I was happy to be woken this morning by a wren (gjerdesmett) singing in the garden. Good to hear that at least one has survived the cold winter.
Magpie song
I heard a magpie “singing” this morning outside the front door. It has been desribed as a low-pitched, slightly chirping giggle and is in my experience most often heard on cold winter days. Indeed song has been recorded in January in Finnmark (the northernmost county of Norway) in an air temperature of -36C!
Unfortunately, the magpie discovered me as soon as I started filming and there’s only a very short snatch at the beginning.
Lesser Whitehroat in the garden
Lesser whitethroat (møller) singing in the garden with a blue tit (blåmeis) joining in. In the second video you can hear snatches of the subsong. Lesser whitethroats overwinter south of the Sahara in Africa and in India.
Singing Brambling
Bramblings (bjørkefink) are common breeding birds at higher elevations, but it’s just possible that they will breed here one day. This is the closest I’ve got with a male singing the last few days in the garden, here atop a Norway maple (spisslønn), the flowers still waiting after two very cold weeks!
Nutcracker song in the garden
Over the last week there’s been up to 4 Siberian nutcrackers (nøttekråker) in the garden. Unsure what they’re eating at the moment as the hazelnuts aren’t ripe yet, but they always appear at about this time.
Anyway, sitting in my outside “office” for breakfast I heard something I’ve never heard before….what I believe is its song, a strange assembly of grating and sweeter notes, heard (you’ll need high volume to hear it) up to about 0:35 when it’s raucous jay like call begins and it flies to the top of the tree!
Great tit boundary dispute
There are two great tit (kjøttmeis) territories in my garden and you can here both males singing to defend their patch in this video…
First day of spring sign!
The first day of spring, snow showers and, right on the dot, I heard my first yellowhammer singing this morning whilst I was in the outhouse….managed to capture one short “Little bit of bread” phrase.
“1896, Edward Marston, By meadow and stream: pleasant memories of pleasant places
It is delightful to hear the yellowhammer’s song — his only song : “A little bit of bread and no cheese.”
1937, Lovely places I remember (in The Rotarian, volume 50, number 2, February 1937)
“A little bit of bread and no cheese!” cry the yellowhammers petulantly. But no one takes any notice of them.”
In Norwegian they sing:
En-to-tre-fire-fem-seks-syv) with weight on syv.
(meaning 1-2-3-4-5-6-7…..
Spring choir including Icterine Warbler
On the way to work this morning my first singing Icterine warbler / gulsanger of 2016 at Leangenbukta. The warbler is heard at the beginning with a chaffinch/ bokfink and is then swamped by a singing redwing / rødvingetrost with a willow warbler/løvsanger and blackcap /munk in the mix too.