Yesterday, I had to deliver Jr Jr to a friend who lives close to Lillestrøm which gave me a chance to visit Nordre Øyeren. It was a really hot, sunny day so I didn’t even consider walking out to Årnestangen where heat haze would have made viewing very difficult. I did check out one wader place where I had my first juvenile Dunlin of the year and then I spotted some raptors from the car. I  stopped and eventually had 10 Common Buzzards together in a thermal. I think this is the largest “flock” I have seen in Norway and there were a number of young birds suggesting a good breeding season. When one sees a number of Buzzards of different ages together then the variability in plumage and jizz of this species becomes obvious and it is easy to understand why there are often reports of Honey or Rough-legged Buzzards at strange times of the year or in unexpected locations.

After seeing all the Buzzards and with it being so hot I thought that a little sky gazing session might pay dividends in Oslo. I did not have single sighting of Common Buzzard but did have multiple sightings of Honey Buzzard with at least 4 different individuals being noted. One looked to be heading south and I had three other birds together, one of which landed in a tree. It was not so long ago that I wrote about the absence of Honey Buzzards in Maridalen this summer but yesterday’s sighting suggests that birds have bred, or at least tried to, this year. If breeding has been successful then there will be large young in the nest (it is still too early for them to have fledged) and these young will need food. None of my sightings involved birds flying to and from a potentila nest site with food in the talons so I fear that breeding has failed but further sightings will hopefully confirm this one way or the other.

In Maridalen a sighting of a Beaver crossing theroad (could be the start of a joke) has led to an “expert” (that is at least what the press call him) saying it is a Muskrat which is a North American species that of course shouldn’t be here and is a black listed species. Seeing how an incorrect ID has grown out of proportion (national Radio are going to do a story on it) and how facts can so easily be ignored is rather worrying.

8 Common Buzzards (musvåk) in a thermal. I couldn't fit all 10 into the same shot

a Honey Buzzard (vepsevåk) in Maridalen. This one is a female

and a perched bird at some distance... It may well have found a wasps nest close by. I twice saw birds sky dancing over this area which is something they do to advertise a food source

2 Honeys flying  together. The birds flew along flight paths that I have seen them use in previous years and I really should go up to some of the hill tops that they regularly fly over. Then I could stop complaining about how they are always so distant and I never get good photos....