We are finally getting
somewhere. A slightly warmer day with southerly winds, low cloud and rain in
the afternoon seems to have done the trick.
I went into Maridalen with
high expectations of finding lots of new birds both on the lake and on the
fields but was initially very disappointed. The lake was dead calm and seemed
birdless other that some Black-throated Divers and a single Greenshank (the
first of the year) sitting on a rock (water levels are very high at the
moment). The fields at Kirkeby held a lot of Meadow Pipits and three Wheatears
but this was no more than to be expected. I carried onto Nes and three Whimbrels
resting on rocks was a nice site and the first of the year in Oslo but there
was still no sign or sound of any other birds. A few Common Sandpipers were
displaying very noisily and I spent some time with them before continuing
further and then things happened! I suddenly saw and then heard resting birds
on the waters edge ahead of me. I tried to avoid being seen but it was too late
and they exploded into the air. 10 Greenshank, over 20 Teal and over 30 Tufteds
and then a pair of Shoveler! As far as I can remember this is only the fourth record
of Shoveler here.
Birds went in all
directions and I saw most of them later but it always gives me a bad conscience
when I disturb resting birds like that.
Further scanning of the
lake revealed 3 Red-breasted Mergansers, the Mute Swan pair, an Osprey, a Pink-footed
Goose, nesting Canada Geese and a pair of Barnacles that have not started
nesting yet but probably will soon. Some interesting behaviour I noted was when
a Black-throated Diver came up right underneath a Red-breasted Merganser
seemingly intentionally and scared the sh*t out of the duck.
The fields also started to
produce with two male Redstarts and a female Whinchat.
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| Shovelers (skjeand) in Maridalen! |
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| displaying Common Sandpipers (strandsnipe) |
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| male Red-breasted Merganser (siland) |
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