In search of the Grasshopper Warbler

Last Sunday I travelled north towards the city of Trollhättan and a small lake called Hullsjön. This is the place nearest to Gothenburg we you can see the White-tailed Eagle and of course that was a bird I would like to photo there. But for this Sunday the priority was the Common Grasshopper Warbler.

On Saturday I took a look at Svalan, a Swedish bird site, and there had actually been a sighting of a Grasshopper Warbler there. The odd with the sighting was that it where singing displaying itself nicely for photo. I have heard them at occasions along Säveån but I haven´t seen them so this might be one of the last chances this year to get a good photo.

This morning I stayed in bed and didn´t head out before Maria had gone to work so the time was around 10:00 when I arrived after an hour’s drive north. The parking space wasn´t empty and when I walked towards the lake I saw another person at the picnic table. His attention was to the right of me where I had noticed what I thought was a bird of prey. I took some quick snapshots but sadly I hadn´t time to do any adjustments and therefore the bird was a bit of a blur. Still I could see that it was the shape of a Falcon and the behavior wasn´t that of a Kestrel. I needed to confirm this and went over to chat with the man at the picnic table who I could see also was a photographer. He confirmed that it was a young Peregrine Falcon and that they have a good population of them here. It is not hard to understand it because there are some good cliffs to the north of Trollhättan where they their nests.

I chatted with the fellow for half an hour and he explained to me where the Grasshopper Warbler was and that it was easy to take photos of. I could also see that an Osprey was actively hunting over the lake but no White-tailed Eagles in sight and that was the story of the day.

During the conversation he told me many interesting things about the lake and the surrounding area that hopefully will give me good photo opportunities later on. When he left I took out my camera and took some pictures of the hunting Osprey.

I took the opportunity to go to the Grasshopper site when the Osprey headed out to the northern part of the lake. The lake isn´t big but I felt that I would get more opportunities to photo the Osprey than I would with the small Warbler so that was more of a priority to me.

I found the Grasshopper Warbler exactly where I had been told it should be. It acted like a true professional role model for most of the time. The only little downside was that it always sat on a post when it sang. It would have been nicer to have more of the habitat in the picture but I still think the pictures are good.

I went back to the main parking with the mind set on taking some more Osprey photos. I had hope of getting a picture of a successful hunt but I had no luck. Still I had a nice time there and at one moment there were two Ospreys up in the sky calling to each other.

Now I am considering going back there an evening after work when the sun will be in the back because that might bring me some stunning photos. That is at least what I think.

Photo Gallery: In search of the Grasshopper Warbler