Exciting times

You know that the season I hotting up when non birders take pictures of rarities either in or over their gardens. Yesterday began with pictures of a young Pallid Harrier (steppehauk) flying right over someone’s house in Drammen and then in the afternoon mobile photo pictures of a Hoopoe (hærfugl) feeding on a patio in one of Oslo’s suburbs appeared on the net. Clearly my lack of self-found rarities this year is due to me being in the field far too much and I should just be sitting in the garden!

I did go out in the field today though as we are now coming into the most exciting time of the year and both Maridalen and Svellet need regular checking. Going to Svellet first I stopped at nearby Merkja and immediately saw a Spotted Redshank (sotsnipe) and Little Ringed Plover (dverglo). These were alongside 3 Greenshank (gluttsnipe) and all 3 sandpipers so I had very high expectations for Svellet. Clearly though it is still a little too early for Svellet though with some warmer weather needed before the birds appear and there is enough food for the waders. Today there were only 8 Greenshank, 15 Oystercatcher (tjeld) and now just 2 Curlew (storspove). Teal (krikkand) numbers have fallen dramatically to “only” 400. 3 Common Terns (makrellterne) were my first of the year but no raptors here and little sign of active migration although Swallows (låvsevale) and House Martins (taksvale) were to be seen.

In Maridalen there were still no new summer migrants making their presence felt although two different Ospreys (fiskeørn) did, for once, allow themselves to be photographed relatively well. In Maridalen Lapwings (vipe) are only breeding on one field this year. There are 10 birds there so likely 10 pairs although I only saw 3 birds sitting on nests. 5-6 years ago they bred on at least 4 different fields all over the valley so this contraction is very marked and makes them very vunerable to disturbance. Near Nordre Øyeren today I had a group of 12 Lapwing feeding on a newly sown field and they gave the impression of being failed breeders with quite possibly the ploughing and sewing of this and nearby fields having ruined their breeding attempt although it is presumably not too late for them to try again.

 

 

A montage of Osprey 1 in Maridalen

Osprey 2 came bit closer

 

3 Little Ringed Plovers (dverglo) were my first of the year

as was Common Tern (makrellterne) which I saw at 3 locations suggesting a large arrival

Greenshank (gluttsnipe)

this pair were chasing each other around a lot calling and the male clearly had plans

record shot of the Spotted Redshank (sotsnipe)