Wryneck

Spring migration is coming to an end although not all expected species are back yet. Many of the nocturnal species such as Nightjar, Corncrake and Quail are not back whilst of the night singing warblers there are only a few Marsh Warblers back yet and none of the scarcer species have been recorded.

In Maridalen I have had my first Red-backed Shrike, Icterine Warbler and Common Rosefinch (after hearing lots of mimicking Whinchats) and Marsh Warber is now the only the regular breeding species that is missing. The vegetation along the stream that is likes has yet to grow up so it could still be a week or two before they appear. An unpaid male Wryneck is singing his heart out but it is now getting late for him to find a mate. This species is not listed on the current Norwegian Red List but I expect that to change in the next edition. Wrynecks have never been a common species but were widespread and a species that I felt confident in finding when guiding. In the last few years though it has become very difficult to find and I feel happy to have a handful of sightings in a year.

Two firsts today were screaming Swifts (and also the first sighting over the house) and my first dragonflies and damselflies which will take up a lot of my time in the coming weeks and will mean I have to remind myself how to identify them… I will post the pictures I managed to take (they were very flighty despite being newly emerged) and add the ID later when I have worked them out but if anyone reading this knows what they are then please comment and let me know 😊

Wryneck (vendehals)

Icterine Warbler (gulsanger)

male Red-backed Shrike 

a wet Tawny Owl (kattugle)

the Whooper Swans (sangsvane) have once again hatched 8 young despite the books saying they don't have more than 7

Common Rosefinch (rosenfink)

Whinchat (buskskvett) - this bird mimicked Rosefinch and what sounded like some sort of cricket or grasshopper that I assume it picked up in Africa

(currently) unidentified damselfly - Finn Mosti has helped me and it is northern damselfly / spydblåvannymfe / coenagrion hastulatum

and a dragonfly

and another dragonfly. The body marking looks the same as the previous one but this one has a white face whereas the other looks to have dark (although can we see the front of the face?). Based on previous records from the locality I assume this is a ruby whiteface / northern white-faced darter /østtorvlibelle/ Leucorrhinia rubicunda