OSLO BIRDER: 2019 The Year That Was part II

July is holiday month and birding takes a (bit of) a back seat. As usual we spent some time at a summer house to the south of Oslo and then went to our cabin near Bodø in the north of the country. Butterflies also take up more of my time in July and I saw 8 new species.

A real birding highlight not just for me but Norway in general was the discovery of breeding Firecrests in Oslo and I got to enjoy these early one morning as we had a day back at home before heading to Bodø.

I found no rare birds at the cabin this summer with the Siberian White-winged Scoter not reappearing but close encounters with summer plumaged Red-necked Phalarope, Great Northern Divers and Red-necked Grebes is not to be sniffed at.

We were back in Oslo at the end of the month which allowed me to discover that Red-backed Shrikes had successfully bred in Maridalen.

30 July was probably my second best day of birding in 2019 with a trip to Årnestangen paying off big time. I had hoped for waders due to a real change in the weather and rain being forecast and waders there were – in fact it was cooking with them! 21 species including a real local rarity in the form of a Pectoral Sandpiper plus a couple of Broad-billed Sandpipers. Finding two different Great White Egrets on the way home was just a bonus.

the male from Norway's first (known) breeding Firecrests (rødtoppfuglekonge)

Red-necked Phalarope (svømmesnipe)

Great Northern Divers (islom)

Long-tailed Skua (fjelljo)

Red-necked Grebes (gråstrupedykker)

only my second Pectoral Sandpiper (alaskasnipe) in Norway

August also involves many non-bird experiences with butterflies still on the wing, new dragonflies to discover (8 new species during the year) and a large pod of Atlantic White-sided Dolphins cruising offshore from downtown Oslo for a few days.

August is also the best time to see Honey Buzzards with many sighting of adults collecting food in Maridalen. Årnestangen and Nordre Øyeren deserves attention in August and a visit on 30 August gave fantastic views of Great White Egret and a juvenile Honey Buzzard.

my first Northern Emerald

Atlantic White-sided Dolphins

Red-backed Shrikes (tornskate) - dad and son(?)

migrating young Bluethroat (blåstrupe) in Maridalen

adult male Honey Buzzard (vepsevåk) - I saw this individual a number of times as it took food to its nest

an unusual sighting of a juvenile Honey Buzzard at the end of the month

Great White Egrets (egretthegre) have become an expected autumn sighting now

September is primarily about two events: the Taiga Bean Geese autumn migration and Værøy although migration is obviously in full swing and there are plenty of birds to see.

September 2019 also gave me my third encounter with Great Grey Owl of the year and a rather special one as this bird was hunting in the rough of a golf course.

Værøy was fun (as always) even if the bird gods were not particularly pleased with us. The island’s first Rustic Bunting and some Killer Whales will long be remember though.

Great Grey Owl (lappugle)

Rustic Bunting (vierspurv)

Olive-backed Pipit (sibirpiplerke)

bad picture, good bird. This Spotted Crake (myrrikse) at Fornebu was a rare sighting of a species that is normally only heard

Killer Whales from Værøy

October started with point blank views of a young Black-throated Diver getting hunting lessons in Maridalen. Two pairs bred on the lake this year but only one pair was successful and raised two young. Something seemed to be wrong with one of the youngsters though and it didn’t leave the lake with the rest of the family which resulted in one adult returning to try to help it.

The month ended on a real high with the forests full of birds. Crossbills of all three species were present in good numbers but best of all Pine Grosbeaks arrived in what turned out to be the largest invasion for many decades. The Grosbeaks would remain for the rest of the year and moved from the forests into the city where they fed on berries right over your head and became the most photographed of the species if not decade.

Black-throated Divers (storlom)

Shoveler (skjeand)

Siberian (tristis) Chiffchaffs are annual at Fornebu in late autumn. This was a particularly striking individual

only my second Kingfisher (isfugl) in Maridalen

there was hardly any seabird action this autumn except for good numbers of Little Auks (alkekonge)

Pine Grosbeaks (konglebit) rather saved the autumn though

and Two-barred Crossbills (båndkorsnebb) were also nice to see

all my excursions in the forest also resulted in my best ever views of Hazel Grouse (jerpe)

November mainly revolved around getting better and better photos of Grosbeaks – and I took many thousands of pictures of the species. By the end of the month I was more interested in getting a new and interesting background for the photo than the bird itself... These birds also involved me getting my 15 minutes of fame with interviews on Norwegian radio and an article in Birdguides resulted in people coming over to see them with me.

more Grosbeak

Markus from P3 Morgen even got to see them

this shot wo the acolade of Birdguides Photo of the Week

The Whooper Swan (sangsvane) pair in Maridalen failed in their breeding this year but still remained faithful to the valley until late in the autumn

In December I tried to observe birds other than Grosbeak which I did partially succeed in and I was greatly helped in that quest by finding a Great Grey Owl in Maridalen 😊 and then when Halvard Hauer gave me a White-billed Diver as an xmas present.