Last year we spent a couple of days in the southern Swedish mountains at Grövelsjön. We were surprised to see Siberian Jays on our first walk as it’s a bird I had always associated with parts of Sweden much farther to the north. This year we thought we’d return to the same region, a little further to the south, to visit the national park at Fulufjället. My hope was that the location in the mountains and its proximity with Norway might result in some unexpected species.
Day 1
We arrived in pouring rain at about 5 pm a bit dispirited. Our chalet at the hostel was beautiful though and we were alone there, apart from a nice lady from the Netherlands who left the following day. I think it was just a little too quiet for her. No birding that day but the weather looked a little brighter before we went to bed.
Day 2
We got at useful tip at reception about a local bird expert who runs a café with his wife. It was closed on Mondays so we decided to pay a visit the following day. We headed off to the national park but my wife spotted a nice male Redstart outside the chalet opposite before we left. After leaving the car park we saw a very tame male Chaffinch that was allowing the children to follow it around. It was very fat so its strategy of friendliness to humans was clearly paying off. There were lots of Willow Warblers and I took some pictures but the light was poor and they moved very quickly. We decided to begin with the relatively short walk to Njupkär, the highest waterfall in Sweden. We weren’t alone; there were lots of noisy visitors on the trail with us. We tried letting them past but more came along all the time and we were moving fairly slowly as we were looking for birds. We stopped at a small marshy lake and heard a wader calling loudly. It emerged from the grass and we saw it was a Greenshank. It got closer and closer still calling loudly so I got lots of great pictures. I tried to get low angle shots by crouching down but I wasn’t prepared to actually lie down on the sodden ground. As we approached the fall there was a bird calling loudly in a tree. Some of the tourists were trying to imitate it but it didn’t seem to be disturbed. I looked through my bins and saw a male Ring Ouzel. I failed to get a picture but took some ID shots a little later close to the waterfall. At the fall we looked for Dippers but didn’t see any. We saw a girl and her father looking up at the cliffs though through binoculars though and, following their lead, we saw a large fledgling raptor. Then we saw three more. The last sign we passed had a picture of a Rough-legged Buzzard but these didn’t look much like the Rough-legged Buzzards that spend the winter in the Stockholm area. A suspicion and a hope were awakened. When we started to climb down from the fall we saw a young Dipper and got some great pictures. On the way back my wife spotted a pair of Willow Tits and we saw a nice female Brambling. At the nature centre a notice said that the best place to see Siberian Jays was near the car park where they beg for food from visitors but we didn’t see any there either. I asked about the fledgling raptors and was told they were Gyre Falcons, a life bird for us. We didn’t see any adults though.
I persuaded my wife to make a short trip to a nearby lake before making supper. It just seemed too good a day to end it too soon. When we parked the car at the lake we disturbed a Common Sandpiper that flew off calling noisily. My wife, who was having a very good day indeed, spotted a bird to our left before we had time to leave the car. She thought it was a woodpecker of some sort but when we looked through the bins we were astonished to see a Waxwing and got some fairly good pictures through the car window. All in all a very promising start in spite of poor weather.
Day 3
The weather was much better so we decided on a walk to twin lakes, Rörsjöarna, on the other side of the mountain ridge. This time we were lucky enough to spot a Siberian Jay just after leaving the car park. It sat huddled at the top of a pine presenting no clear view but then it flew off and we followed it. It put on a very good show for ourselves and a couple who were just returning from a walk but unfortunately we had no food to offer it. It hopped from ground to tree and back again. At one point it perched on a national park sign, very appropriately as the Siberian Jay is the symbol of Fulufjället National Park. Then another bird arrived and they chased each other around for a bit before disappearing. At which point we saw a third bird which hung around briefly before flying off. It was good start to the day but the rest of the long climb up to the lake, apart from providing some spectacular views, was largely uneventful. There were Willow Warblers everywhere though, charming us with their song and lively antics. I no longer have any difficulty accepting that they are Sweden’s most common bird. We saw no Gyre Falcons on the way up but one Kestrel hovering in the distance.
When we got close to the lakes we saw Arctic Terns fishing. Arctic Terns that breed at inland mountain lakes are a special feature of the national park. There were also House Martins which I found a bit puzzling until we got to the second lake and saw there were several wooden buildings by the lakeside. I saw a few Bluethroats but only managed some poor shots of a male. They are much shyer birds here than the ones I see at my local patch in September, skulking and diving for cover at the first approach. The same cannot be said of the numerous Yellow Wagtails that seemed to follow me around wherever I went. They sang and posed beautifully and I got a lot of good pictures. While looking for Bluethroats I flushed a Willow Grouse and saw a Reed Bunting. Before heading back I grabbed a couple of quick shots of some female ducks that stuck their heads up over an embankment. When I looked in the guide I was puzzled at first but then realized that they were Common Scoters another odd feature of the national park. I was later to see at least one pair at almost every lake we visited. I was a little disappointed not to have seen any Red-necked Phalaropes but there was still plenty of time.
On a shopping trip that evening I spotted another duck in a small lake we passed in the car. On the way back we stopped and I took some poor shots of a group of drakes and also of a diver. With the aid of my wife I determined that the ducks were Scaup apart from one Tufted Duck. Scaup was another life bird but they are relatively common in the national park. The diver was easily identified as a Black-throated Diver.