After a slow start to the autumn birding scene in Norway things
really kicked off today when a Cape May Warbler was pulled out of a net on the
famous island of Utsira – this is a first for Norway and I believe only the
fourth in the WP. With the winds dying down after westerly storms have pounded
the coast of Norway it won’t be a surprise if more Yanks are uncovered. The
forecast for the coming week is for easterlies so there should also get a good
arrival of sibes. I won’t be able to get to Værøy but maybe I can find something
good locally.
Yesterday I did decide to leave the forests of Oslo and head
south east to Hellesjøvannet and then worked my way back via Nordre Øyeren.
This proved to be a good choice and I had a number of good species. Hellesjøvannet
gave me my first Great Grey Shrike of the autumn plus a flock of 36 Pochard
(this species is surprisingly scarce in Norway and Hellesjøvannet is the best
place for the species in the country). I also got to hear and then see at least
4 Bearded Tits – the species bred here for the first time in 2019 and if we
have some more mild winters could become a regular fixture.
Buzzards were very visible over the stubble fields but I had
no harriers and only a couple of Kestrels. I was hoping for Rough-legged
Buzzard and did eventually find one which gave my probably best ever views of
the species. It was a juvenile and I saw it first on the deck in a stubble
field where it clearly had something in its claws. Two Ravens then gave it grief
before it flew up with a mouse in its beak. The Ravens pursued it and the mouse
was transferred to its claws before it flew away and evaded the Ravens. It
turned up again not too long later and I was able to view it hunting whilst I
used the car as a hide and sometimes it was too close for the 600mm lens. I
also saw it sparring with Common Buzzards, had another one in the distance and
a male Kestrel that caught a vole so it was all good but a Hen or Pallid
Harrier would have topped it off.
Skylarks and Meadow Pipits were numerous on the fields and
the presence of so many Skylarks reminded me of how I haven’t noted this
species in Maridalen since the early summer. There were many singing males in
Maridalen in May and there must have been breeding but during the course of
July they all just seem to have vanished.
I checked out the Svellet area of Nordre Øyeren and did finally
see a harrier with a juvenile Marsh showing well. A pair of White-tailed Eagles
were eating something, probably a goose and looked very majestic. There were
lots of geese during the day but I found nothing unusual amongst the hordes of
Greylags and Barnacles.
I took so many pictures of the Rough-legged Buzzard and have struggled to choose the best ones to bare with me...
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juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard (fjellvåk) with me in its sights
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they hover a lot
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getting grief from a Raven. Here with a mouse in its bill
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which it transferred to its talons
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female Bearded Tit (skjeggmeis) the faint black streaks in the crown make it a 1cy bird I think
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it was quite windy which made it difficult to see them in the reeds but they made a lot of noise
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and flew around occasionally so may be getting ready to irrupt as the species often does in the autumn (which is when they may turn up at Fornebu)
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this Dunlin (myrsnipe) was a surprise at Hellesjøvannet
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first Great Grey Shrike (varsler) of the autumn
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biggest surprise of the day was this eacaped Swan Goose - not a species that turns up very often in Norway
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a late and very warm coloured Wheateat (steinskvett)
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White-tailed Eagles (havørn)
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Comon Buzzards (musvåk) were numerous
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juvenile Marsh Harrier (sivhauk) playing with a bullrush
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some of the Pochards (taffeland) at Hellesjøvannet
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