4th day running

To start where I ended my previous entry: I was not seeing things. Today at Maridalsvannet there were 11 adult Black-throated Divers and the juvenile. There were two groups (of six and three) that were fishing actively and very close to each other and resembled very much Cormorants (storskarv), indeed before I put the scope up I assumed they were. I’ve never seen this type of behaviour before and can only assume that there was a shoal of small fish that they were hunting. As to where they all came from then I guess they are local failed breeders from the lakes north of Oslo. The juvenile was initially sitting on its own close to the bank in Nesbukta. I walked around to it where I got some pictures. It then swan further out before diving and resurfacing about 50 metres away. Its parents later joined it and there was much calling when they did so. Also in Nesbukta a noisy family party of Marsh Warblers (myrsanger) which is a surprising proof of breeding. There was a singing male here in June but as it turned up relatively late I assumed it would remain unpaired.

juvenile Black-throated Diver Maridalsvannet

six adult Black-throated Divers feeding together

a picture of Maridalsvannet with the juvenile BTD in the bottomleft and the six adults top right (for the eagle-eyed)

I also visited Kurefjorden (for the fourth day running) and had little in the way of new birds but nonetheless a good morning. Dunlin (myrsnipe), Greenshank (gluttsnipe) and Ringed Plover (sandlo) were present in similar numbers to yesterday and the Little Stint (dvergsnipe) was still present. There were now two Spotted Redshanks (sotsnipe) but only a single Common Redshank (rødstilk).

The water was very calm and the light good enabling me to scrutinise the ducks. 300 Common Eiders (ærfugl), 11 Velvet Scoter (sjøorre), 40 Red-breasted Mergansers (island), 20 Goldeneye (kvinand), a whopping 102 Great Crested Grebes (toppdykker) and 10 Slavonian Grebes (horndykker) were good counts. Also 217 Mute Swans and many hundreds of geese.

Raptors were again numerous with at least six Ospreys (fiskeørn) including juveniles calling to their parents (begging for food I assume), at least 13 Common Buzzards (musvåk), 3 Honey Buzzards (vepsevåk), 2 Goshawks (hønsehauk) and a male Marsh Harrier (sivhauk).

Also a fair selection of passerines with Marsh Tits (løvmeis), Marsh Warblers (myrsanger) and Icterine Warbler (gulsanger) amongst others.

Marsh Tit

Willow Warbler