A decade is drawing to
an end and I reckon 2019 has offered me my best birding ever, or at least in
Norway. This was despite my year list was the lowest since I started entering
my records on Artsobs in 2012 and I only having one new species for my
Norwegian list. Neither did I travel very much BUT I did do more local birding
than ever before and had record years in Maridalen and Oslo.
Maridalen was just
fantastic with Ring-necked Duck, Ortolan, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Pine
Grosbeak and Great Grey Owl. It wasn’t just about the rarities though and there
were some days of awesome migration.
My annual September
Værøy trip did not result in any big rarities but was highly rewarding with
good company and incredible close experiences with Rustic Bunting and
Olive-backed Pipits.
Guiding was OK but the
lack of breeding owls in Southern Scandinavia in 2019 lost me quite a lot of
custom so I hope 2020 sees an upturn in rodent and therefore owl populations.
The Grosbeaks at the back end of the year resulted in some in some unexpected
and welcome business though.
January 2019 did not
have a lot to offer with the Glaucous Gull and obliging Water Rail and Purple
Sandpipers in Oslo being the best of the scarce birds. Trips into the forests
of Hedmark revealed Hawk Owl and Sibe Jay and walks with the Beast in the local
neighbourhood were rewarded with Arctic Redpoll and Blackcap.
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| Purple Sandpipers (fjæreplytt) have become a regular winter bird in Oslo in the last decade |
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| Water Rail (vannriske) may also be a more regular species that previously thought |
February doesn’t often
have much to offer in the way of news birds but Grey-headed Woodpecker, an urban
Hawkie and my first Great Grey Owl of the year stand out.
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| two species for the price of one - a Mallard x Pintail hybrid that I found in Oslo and which was later seen following the Glomma River north |
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| a Siberian Jay (lavskrike) |
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| Great Grey Owl (lappugle) - one of 4 different birds I saw during the year |
March sees the start of migration and it is always a
joy to see the first flocks of geese and Cranes, the first Lapwings and
passerines such as Snow Buntings and Woodlark. This year a Stonechat at Fornebu
(only my second Norway record) was a real highlight and this bird seems to be
of the race hibernans whereas last years bird in April was a rubicola
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| the Purple Sands remained in Oslo |
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| a rare Stonechat (svartstrupe) at Fornebu |
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| Smew (lappfiskand) at Østensjøvannet |
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| an early adder in the snow in Maridalen |
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| the Scottish Taiga Bean Geese are always a focus of my early spring birding |
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| Kingfishers (isfugl) bred for at least the third year running close to Oslo |
Migrations really kicks
off in April and already on the first day there was a quality bird in Maridalen
with only the second Black Redstart and on the 6th I found
Maridalens first Mandarin Duck. A pair of Cranes established themselves in
Maridalen and could be often seen at close range. Easter gave good birding with
Slav Grebe, Lapland Bunting and the first returning Black-throated Divers in Maridalen.
Wader passage started early this year with good numbers of Ruff and a Black-tailed
Godwit in the last week at Årnestangen. An early Grasshopper Warbler showed that Fornebu still has potential despite the continuing “development”.
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| this pair of Cranes (trane) were a near constant fixture in Oslo from April to August |
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| a late migrating Snow Bunting (snøspurv) in Maridalen |
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| Mandarin - a new species for Maridalen |
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| Only the second ever Black Redstart for in Maridalen |
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| I had many close encoutners with photogenic Black-throated Divers this year |
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| and this Grasshopper Warbler also showed well |
May 2019 is be a month I
probably will never forget and all the main action happened on the patch: in Maridalen
😊
4 new species in the
course of 5 days of which I found the first 3 (Bar-tailed Godwit, Ring-necked
Duck and Ortolan) was only tainted by me not seeing the last of these: a Black
Kite. But the rare species were only the half of it. 10 May will go down as the
best day in the Dale ever. On top of the Ring-necked Duck which I had found the
day before and the Ortolan which I discovered that day we had an amazing
migration of waders: 125+ Golden Plovers, 40 Greenshank, 50 Wood Sandpipers, 4
Great Snipe plus Whimbrel, Common Snipe, Redshank, Lapwing and Common
Sandpiper.
We ended up with both a
male and a female Ortolan and briefly wondered whether breeding could be on the
cards but they soon disappeared.
19 May was also a great
day and this time at Årnestangen with Black Tern and Rt Pipit amongst others. On
24 May an unprecedented passage of hrota Brent Goose took place over
Oslo with the birds ending up circling around and around and unsure where to go
next.
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| more Black-throated Divers :-) |
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| Maridalen's first Bar-tailed Godwit arrived with some Whimbrels (småspove) |
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| my only Norwegian tick of the year was of course a new species for Maridalen and Oslo - a Ring-necked Duck (ringand) |
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| first this male Ortolan turned up in Maridalen |
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| and then this female. |
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| Black Tern at Årnestangen - the first record for Norway in 2019 and only record in Akershus |
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| was nice to see a Red-throated Pipit (lappiplerke) and not jsut hear one flying over |
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| a rare red morph female Cuckoo (gjøk) |
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| it is difficult to tire of Slavonian Grebes (hornydykker) |
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| this Hazel Grouse (jerpe) in Maridalen was good for guiding |
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| as were Three-toed Woodpeckers |
June is always quieter
than May but still offers much good birding. Close to Oslo a singing River
Warbler was a rare but now expected guest and after arriving late Red-backed
Shrikes were locally common. A trip to the mountains gave me my annual and much
needed dose of. Dotterel and Great Snipe. I also finally saw Nightjar in
Norway and although there was no breeding by Red-breasted Flycatchers in
Maridalen this year a 2cy male male sang for a single day in the middle of the
month.
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| singing River Warbler |
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| an old female Red-backed Shrike |
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| Dotterel (boltit) |
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| not often I see Snow Buntings in this plumage |
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| lekking Great Snipe (dobbeltbekkasin) |
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| Nightjar (nattravn) |
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| a singing 2cy Red-breasted Flycatcher (dvergfluesnapper) was just a one day guest in Maridalen this year |
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| Maridalen's Whooper Swans (sangsvane) failed with their breeding in 2019 |
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| this Common Rosefinch (rosenfink) probably also failed in its breeding after a hedge row was destroyed in the middle of June |
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| Thrush Nightingales (nattergal) bred successfully at Fornebu and seem to be thriving there |
