Divers

I had understood from the weather forecast that it would be sunny today but it seems I misunderstood again... In Maridalen this morning it was overcast with some drizzle. This was bad for pretty much all things that fly although my two-hour Beast walking did reveal quite a bit with divers providing the excitement. Black-throated Divers breed annually (although not always successfully) on the lake and Red-throated Divers use the lake as a feeding ground and fly away with fish to small lakes many kilometres away in the forest where they breed. In addition to these breeding birds small numbers congregate on the lake in migration periods.

This year two pairs of Black-throated Divers nested in May but only one pair was successful after changing waters levels caused problems. The two young they have are still downy and are I suspect from a second attempt. Today the pair and their two young were present close to their breeding island and in addition there was a group of 7 adults in a tight group which may have been a number of failed breeders from other lakes in the area.

Red-throated Divers have only started breeding just north of Oslo in the last decade and observations  during the spring and early summer have suggested at least two pairs (but perhaps more) are using the lake for feeding – one would frequently hear them calling and see them flying away from the lake with a fish in their bill. Today there was a lot of noise from Red-throated Divers - both flight calls and “song”. They were scattered over the lake in groups of up to 6 birds and there were 14 adults in total with much display being seen when they almost look like sea serpents. The big surprise though was that an adult was accompanied by a far from full-grown juvenile. This bird has come from perhaps 10km away and it is surprising that it was able to fly so far given that it is still significantly smaller than its parent.

Other signs of autumn were my first Brambling and Wheatear (neither of which breed in Maridalen) and flocks of Siskins and Fieldfares.

My full list can be seen here https://ebird.org/checklist/S72151952

A far from full grown juvenile Red-throated Diver (smålom) with a parent

Three adults in their sea serpent display

birds were frequently flying around calling

in flight Red-throated Divers are quite distinctive with their head and neck pointing down

The two still downy Black-throated Diver (storlom) young with one parent

and the group of 7 adults

my first Brambling (bjørkefink) of the autumn

this young male Goshawk was not my botherned my the presence of either me or the Beast

I took this picture just to remind myself to record this relatively late breeding of Mallard (stokkand). It was only when I looked at the picture that I realised there was only one young Mallard pus a young Teal (krikkand)!

This Roe Deer mother has done well to raise three young

white butterflies were pretty much the only ones on the wing but were quite numerous - here both Green-veined White (rapssommerfugl) and Small White (liten kålsommerfugl)