Oslo guiding Corncrake and Rosefinch

Yesterday I guided Hugh from Surrey around Oslo and with a return to sun and fairly warm temperatures the birds were cooperative.

We started at Østensjøvannet where we were very lucky with the Corncrake(s) (åkerrikse). First we had a had a bird in flight which landed in high grass and didn't sing and then 5 minutes later a bird started singing about 50metres away. We then went towards this bird and it flew up less than 5metres from us allowing me to get a flight photo. Although not possible to prove I am fairly sure these were two separate birds and with only one singing most likely a pair.
Blackcap and Marsh, Icterine, Reed, Wood, Garden and Willow Warblers gave us a very good selection of warblers and over the lake were hundreds of Swifts, Swallows and Martins. I half hoped to find a Red-rumped Swallow but had to settle for an Arctic Tern (rødnebbterne) amongst a few Common Terns. The Slavonian Grebe that has been a while now also eventually showed for me.

In Maridalen a red male Common Rosefinch showed incredibly well and the Goshawks now have at least one youngster in the nest. The Long-tailed Tit nest had fallen down from the tree presumably during the very stong winds of the last couple of days and I opened it up fearing I would find dead youngsters. Luckily though it looks like they fledged in time. The nest construction was fantastic and contained an enormous quantity of feathers from other birds that must have been painstskingly collected.

The Black Woodpeckers have fledged from one nest but a youngster was sticking its head out of another and the Whooper Swans are still sitting on their large nest
I got very excited when I thought I had heard a singing Greenish Warbler but it turned out to be a Treecreeper with what I experienced as a quite rich song - the adrenalin had started rushing before I was cruelly deflated.

I had lugged the ‘scope around with me most of the day but for our last stop when we went out on the fields north of the lake in Maridalen and I said to Hugh that this can be a good place for raptors. As I scanned I thought it would be a real shame if I found a distant raptor as without a scope I might not be able to ID it. And sure enough……I picked up a distant raptor (>3km). I immediately thought Osprey as it looked like it was gliding intowards the lake to fish but this soon seemed unlikely. I took some very distant pictures and can just about declare with confidence that it was a Honey Buzzard…

my best picture of a very elusive species: Corncrake (åkerrikse)

a montage of it in flight

 

a much more photogenic bird:Common Rosefinch (rosefink)



Whinchat (buskskvett) pair in Maridalen. This male has been singing for weeks and looks it has finally got payback

this Wood Warbler sat above me at Østensjøvannet and with the spiders webs I thought it would make a arty photo. Didn't quite succeed on that score but I did capture the bird in a personal moment

the Long-tailed Tit (stjertmeis) nest that had fallen out of the tree - a remarkable construction

here I have opened up the entrance to the nest. I initially first thought the feathers were from dead young but they were much too large and it looks like the young had already fledged before the nest fell

here I've opened up the nest and it is amazing how many feathers the bird have collected to line the nest

there was a single tiny unhatched egg left in the nest

I concluded with Honey Buzzard (vepsevåk)....