In the nick of time

I had a small window of time to check up on some of Oslo's more interesting breeding birds this morning. My window immediately got shortened when I opened the door of the house and heard a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker giving its territorial call in the garden. As usual when this species makes its annual one morning visit to the garden it was in the large willow and it was even looking in the holes that have been partially excavated in previous years - in fact it looks like there are more holes than before so maybe this species visits more often than I am aware. The bird looked to be an adult female (was definitely not an adult male at least and looked too worn to be a juvenile). Is this a bird that has finished with breeding (successful or not) or a bird still searching for a mate?
In Maridalen I failed to find the Blyth’s Reed Warblers although I did not stay too long in the heat but I saw Blackcaps and Willow Warblers feeding fledged young and an agitated pair of Common Sandpipers clearly had young nearby.
I did not see any Wrynecks but heard the young in the nest. At the Goshawk nest only one very large youngster was still in the nest although I heard others nearby - clearly I had misjudged the hatching date and when I thought the females was sitting on eggs she must have been brooding young.

In Sørkedalen I clearly also arrived in just the nick of time as one of the Red-breasted Flycatchers had already fledged and there were 2 other large ones in the nest.
Things happen so fast in the breeding season!!

Crossbills are everywhere at the moment with high flying birds often to be heard and many to be heard in the forests in Maridalen. I have heard trumpet calls but did not seen any wingbars and also saw large billed birds but believe all birds to be Common crossbills with probably a variety of populations/forms (ref. the Sound approach) having arrived in the Oslo area to enjoy the enormous quantity of cones now on the trees.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (adult female?) in garden



Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (dvergspett)

checking out old holes

this female Great Spotted Woodpecker (flaggspett) was in the same tree in the afternoon

the male Red-breasted Flycatcher (dvergfluesnapper)

the female with a big juicy caterpillar

here with something smaller probably a mosquito (no shortage of them!)

the fledged youngster

one still in the nest

and the other from the other side

the see through nest

 

just one Goshawk youngster (hønsehauk) still on the nest

Common Sandpiper (strandsnipe)

a rather large billed crossbill that also had quite a trumpety like call but a Common I believe (grankorsnebb)

juvenile Robin (rødstrupe)

a mobile phone picture of the Robin nest in an old woodpecker hole - now looking much more recognisable as Robins and ready to fledge very soon