Short-toed Treecreeper

It has been very spring-like this week with clear skies and light winds. The birds are responding with many of our resident birds now in full song in the early mornings. I was walking through my local park this morning when I heard the distinctive song of the Short-toed Treecreeper. This is a very close relative of the Eurasian Treecreeper we see in the UK. In Denmark the range of the Short-toed and Eurasian overlap, so it is one of the few places where both can be seen. They are notoriously difficult to separate in the field on sight views alone but, luckily, they have distinctive voices. You can hear the Short-toed Treecreeper here and the Eurasian Treecreeper here. Can you tell the difference?

This week has also seen news of another mega owl in southern Sweden - a GREAT GREY OWL. It is very rare for one of these impressive beasts to be seen so far south - normally they are a bird of the northern forests of Scandinavia. You can see a photo here. It is very close to Copenhagen, just across the bridge near Falsterbo, and easily accessible by public transport so I am going to catch a train and a bus tomorrow to try my luck....