November brings gold and rubies!

 It’s past autumn migration for most birds and winter is on the doorstep. It’s dark and at times no less than depressing. But suddenly unbelievable and comforting things happens in the birding world. A mega rarity pops up in the most unexpected and remote corner in the country. In the past few years I can remember fantastic birds showing like American Cliff Swallow, Red-necked Stint, American Tree Sparrow, Pallid Swift, American Black Duck and Isabelline Shrike. All in November. This time we can enjoy a gorgeous male Siberian Rubythroat, and he tops them all.

The Rubythroat sang quietly whilst it was foraging in the gardens of Vargön! How the Rubythroat was named is quite obvious!

The Rubythroat has been on the “most wanted” list for many birders ever since the first record in Sweden a few years ago. On that occasion only a dozen lucky souls got to see it, very briefly…


There was a few hours of waiting before mr Ruby showed this well...

This time the Rubythroat is extremely generous with close-up views, but also have a tendency to vanish and keep out of sight for several hours. At the time of writing the bird has been present for a full week, and we have been to Vargön twice. On the first visit the bird escaped Anita’s eyes, so a second visit was called for. As a side effect a managed to get a few photos.