Even though we are back
at home it is still summer holidays and we have been cooling off from the heat
(30C) by swimming at Sognsvann lake which also gave me my first Brilliant
Emerald dragonfly (glansmetallibelle). This is my 6th new dragonfly species this
year which is just a result of paying more attention to them and also having
the patience to wait for them to land and get a photo although I have also
managed some flight record shots.
Today saw a complete change in the weather with temperatures
falling to 12C, fresh winds from the east and rain forecast. Surely the type of
weather to produce waders. I encouraged the girls to have a lie in and
headed out early doors to Årnestangen. It had not started to rain whilst I
walked out and there was little to see. When I got to to end it was all a bit
of a disappointment although a Peregrine may just have scared off some birds.
There were +/- 10 each of Ruff, Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, Dunlin,
Greenshank and Wood Sandpiper but no sign of any movement. The rain was
forecast to come a bit later so I decided to hang on although it was starting
to get cold! After a while Stig Johan arrived and casually asked me if I had
seen the Great White Egret,
Curlew Sands and Knots that he had just seen on the way out.
That really got me depressed!
Luckily the rain could be seen to be coming otherwise I think I
would have left to look for these birds.
Before the rain came waders started appearing with
their calls heard first and then they appeared out of the sky. It is fascinating
how there is clearly a steady stream of migrating waders passing high and
unseen over us that only get noticed when bad weather briefly pushes them down.
A flock of 8 Grey Plover accompanied by 2 Knot and
2 Dunlin appeared. I then heard an interesting trill call and eventually 2
Broad-billed Sandpipers appeared! Then another trill call and 4 (later 5)
Temminck's Stints landed close to us. Then 14 Bar-tailed Godwits flew over and
the Grey Plovers and Ruff joined them in flight. A flock of Redshank appeared
and there were more Wood Sands, Ruff, Greenshank and Ringed Plover than before.
The real excitement though was when a flock of
Golden Plover suddenly flew over us. In their midst was a smaller wader that I
couldn't place. It then left the plovers and joined some Ruff om the deck.
Getting the scope on it I was momentarily speechless - it was a Pec Sand!! It
never came close but showed well enough. It left the Ruff after a while and
then joined Dunlins and Ringed Plovers and a Curlew Sand before later flying
low over us calling. There were waders calling all the time and I couldn't
always place the calls but did also pick out Spotted Redshank and Whimbrel to
end up with a very respectable 21 species of wader (in addition to those
mentioned already there were Common Sand, Green Sand, Curlew, Oystercatcher,
Snipe). Pec Sand is a very rare species in the Oslo area and this is the first
since 2009. My record (and I believe also an all time record) for wader species
at Årnestangen is 23 on 29 July 2019 and this time of the year is undoubtedly the best
for variety. Neither of these high counts though included Lapwing or Little Ringed Plover both of which breed locally!
The weather started to clear up and there were
gradually fewer waders to see and I was shivering so I decided to head back to
the car! I couldn't find the GW Egret where Stig had last seen it three hours
previously but checking out Svellet gave me 2 of them!!!
One of those days you
dream about and another day when the backlog of photos and blog posts grows 😊
The Pectoral Sandpiper (alaskasnipe) with a Curlew Sandpiper (tundrasnipe). I did not appreciate how small the bird was whilst watching it in the scope but it is clearly a female with it appearing smaller than the Curlew Sand
with Dunlins (myrsnipe)
I first picked it up flying low overhead with Golden Plovers (heilo) but at this stage had not worked out what it was
We are back in Oslo
where temperatures are well over 30C and it is really quite uncomfortable. A good
excuse then to sit inside with the fan on, the Tour De France on the TV and a
cold beer in the hand. I did go out this morning to Maridalen where the focus
was mostly butterflies and dragonflies but I did look up a few times aswell.
The male Red-backed Shrike which I had assumed was breeding despite not seeing
the female had at least two newly fledged youngsters confirming my suspicions
and I also finally saw the female. The unpaired male was also still present and
still singing! I also had a third male that looked like he was collecting food
for young.
I still have lots to go
through and blog about from the north but will just show some Red-backed Shrike
images today.
The shrike family were
very showy when I first saw them with two youngsters and the male perching
openly and close to the road. They were clearly enjoying the sun and food
was obviously easy to come by with the male coming with food three times whilst I
watched: a bumble, a beetle and a lizard! He obviously wasnæt sure what to do
with the lizard and eventually flew into a bush with it. He later came out and
fed a strip of meat to one of the youngsters so I assume he had impailed it
such that he could pull at the flesh. I should really have stayed longer with
the family but I had little time available and wanted to check other areas.
male Red-backed Shrike (tornskate) with a lizard that is missing the end of his tail from a previous encounter with a predator
no problem flying with it
here it has given some of the lizard to one of the young
a bumblebee is a more easily handled food item
I never saw the female bring food to the young. Breeding obviously takes a lot of energy from the females and they disappear shortly after the young have left the nest and leave responsibility to the male
The drive up from Oslo to Bodø with stops in Røros
and Grong gave few birds other than the Red-necked Phalaropes and Slav Grebes
that I have already shown. One reason for this though was that I “sacrificed”
(for the sake of family harmony) two of my usual bird stops for a new butterfly
stop in Junkerdalen. This valley on the northern edge of Saltfjellet is
renowned for its flora and fauna but for unknown reasons I have never visited
before. A bit of research though had shown the possibility for a number of rare
northern butterfly species and with it being sunny with little wind I thought
the omens were good. Unfortunately, there were few butterflies and the ones
that allowed themselves to be identified were common as.
I have already had two early morning trips to the bird
rich bays at Fauske but have yet to locate Knobby. There are good numbers of
birds and it is interesting to see how species and locations vary from year to
year – for example I have not had any Long-tailed Ducks this year and at
Klungset the seaducks are much closer to land this year but at Røvika much
further out. Best birds so far have been two summer plumaged Great Northern
Divers (the first time I have seen them here), 9 summer plumaged Red-necked
Grebes, Scaup and male King Eider but of course I am still hoping to find
something much rarer amongst the over 1000 moulting seaduck (mostly males
Velvet Scoter and Common Eider) in the area. Perhaps rarest bird I have found
was a Yellow Wagtail that looks to be of the Blue-headed type (subspecies flava)
but these things are never easy and this far north it may well be something
from much further east.
Butterflies continue to
interest me and I have seen my first Purple edged Copper (purpurgullvinge) and
Mountain Argus (sankthansblåvinge). Also by looking at every single Blue in the
area I have found Mazarine, Idas and Cranberry flying together. Orchids are
very plentiful and very variable around the cabin but I still find them
extremely challenging. I'l show the butterflies and maybe orchids in a separate post
Velvet Scoter (sjøorre), Common Scoter (svartand) and Scaup (bergand)
Great Northern Divers (islom)
Red-necked Grebes (gråstrupedykker)
Velvet Scoters and a single female Common Scoter. Velvet Scoters are over 90% male whereas amogst the much smaller numbers of Common Scoter it is females that are in the majority
a single male Common is amongst this flock of Velvets
2 male and a female Scaup
Red-throated Diver (smålom)
male Bluethroat (blåstrupe)
and a female
adult Curlew (storspove) with a worm
and one of 3 youngsters it was guarding over
male Yellow Wagtail (gulerle) of the scandinavian race thunbergi
and a female thunbergi
an early juvenile Yellow Wagtail
and what appears to be a male Blue-headed Wagtail (flava)
A couple of days near Røros
gave disappointingly few birds but a close encounter with breeding Slavonian
Grebes is not to be sniffed at.
Slavonian Grebe (horndykker) pair with three youngters. The right hand youngster was noticeably larger and one of the parents tried to chase it away on a number of occasions. I believe this youngster actually belonged to another pair of Slavs on the lake
here the larger youngster is begging for food
here a close up of the larger youngster
and here with food (not sure what) is one of the birds that I believe to be it true parent
