October | Öland

Birds in October

The same appeal as the weeks 21 and 22 (End of May and beginning of June) has on birders in the spring has the weeks 41och 42 (mid October) in the fall. Now in the middle of October, when the dark and cold settles over northern Sweden, the White Wagtails still trips around on the beach land of Öland, and the last Barn Swallows is quietly leaving the southern tip of Öland.

Now it’s the time of the geese. In flocks of thousands Barnacle Geese gathers in many places along the east coast. In recent years, the freshly harvested corn fields have proved to have huge appeal to the Barnacle Goose. Now is the time to look through the flocks for other species, such as the Greater White-fronted Goose and the beautiful but treacherous elusive rarity, the Red-breasted Goose.

Red-breasted Goose, © Lars Lundmark

Barnacle goose, © Lars Lundmark

The bird together with Barnacle Geese that dominate October is the Common Crane. Everywhere on the island you can see flocks foraging in the fields and the corn fields are now days a favorite place. At dawn and dusk, flock after flock is flying to and from their roosting sites, which often consists of water areas out on the Great “Alvar”.

Birding becomes more concentrated this time of year when the days are short. It comes to planning the day so that every hour can be utilized. The mornings are best for count migrating birds on the coast and to search in the isolated tree groves on the east side of the island for new arrivals, exciting small birds that have flown over the Baltic Sea during the night. The weather will decide. If the wind blows, it will be migration spotting, but if not, it will be beach search, a systematic search of scrubs, tree groves and riparian vegetation for small birds.

If the Common Crane leaves its mark on October virtue of its size, now towards the end of the month, the Goldcrest dominates virtue of the large number of individuals. Some days, especially in the weather with fog, is Öland crowded with these the smallest of our Swedish birds. They are literally everywhere, often jumping around in riparian vegetation or in coastal shrubbery. They have then arrived at dawn after having looked out to the nearest land. The Goldcrest are remarkably fearless and you can get them almost within pats distance.

Common Crane, © Lars Lundmark

Goldcrest, © Lars Lundmark

Now is the time to look for if rarer guests are among the Goldcrests. The East Siberian species Yellow-browed Warbler and the Pallas’s Leaf Warbler, although they are quite rare, yet the two most frequently found these mornings, but there are a row of even more rare species, non-annual passerines that may be encountered occasionally, such as have the words “Siberian” or “Taiga” in the name of which shows that they come from far away eastern Russia or China.

Strong winds speak for migration birding on either the east or west side depending on wind direction. Large amounts of gulls migrate past the island of Öland in October and among the European Herring Gull, Common Gull and Black-headed Gull is sometimes found a little rarer species like Caspian Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Little Gull and Mediterranean Gull. Some years, with good rodent’s access at the Siberian tundra, can offer a good presence of Pomarine Skua.

Birds to scout for in October.

Loons, Rough-legged Buzzard, European Golden Plover, Jack Snipe, Purple Sandpiper, Black-legged Kittiwake, Long-eared Owl, Short-eared Owl, Boreal Owl, Richard’s Pipit, Ring Ouzel, Chiffchaff, Common Firecrest, Great Grey Shrike, Brambling, Twite and Snow Bunting.

Rough-legged Buzzard, © Lars Lundmark