Yesterday I didn’t really have any time for birding
but when I heard that 8 Black-tailed Godwits had been seen at Østensjøvannet I started
to twitch. This would be a new Oslo species for me and would take me joint
first in the all-time Oslo listings. In addition I knew the first placed Èric
was at Lista this weekend so would be unlikely to also see them…..
Unfortunately by the time I got there they had flown on but once I was out of
the house I used the opportunity to head for Fornebu where an adult Rose-coloured
Starling (although I suspect it is no longer called that) had been found the
day before.
It took a bit of time to track down as the Starling
flock it was with would often perch quietly in dense foliage but in the end showed
very well and what a bird it was. I have seen an adult before but that was when
I visited the Isle of Scilly in 1993 (or thereabouts) and have only seen a
single juvenile (badly) since so it was great to actually see this bird very
well. The bird was probably a 1st summer (male?) and was more white
and dark brown than pink and black and the bill and legs were not particularly
pink in colour so I can still look forward to a fine adult male.
Other than that I do not have too much to report for
the last week although I did hear a Kingfisher in Maridalen – just need to see
it now.
Rose-coloured Starling (rosenstær). Probably a 1st summer bird with lots of brown instead of black, white instead of pink and white edges to the undertail coverts.
the gelled back quiff can be seen well
it looked quite Magpie like at times
this migrant Redstart (rødstjert) was nice to see as it gives a real feeling of autumn
a Ruff (brushane) on the floating vegetation at Østensjøvannet which an hour before my arrival had also hosted 8 Black-tailed Godwits
And some pictures from the previous week, all from Maridalen
an adult Black-throated Diver (storlom) - I have not seen any young this year
Osprey (fiskeørn)
Sparrowhawk (spurvehauk) and Swallow (låvesvale)
juv and adult Swallow
my first Queen of Spain Fritilary (sølvkåpe) of the year - a species which has been much scarcer this year than in the last couple of years although it is still a new colonist around Oslo
Long gone are the days when I updated this blog on a
daily basis. It has nothing to do with my interest in blogging or birding but
more that family commitments taking a lot of my time and sitting down in front
of the PC is difficult.
Since my last update I have spent time checking up
on local rare breeders (will come back to all of these in the winter) all of
whom seem to be doing well despite all the pressure us humans put on wildlife
and habitats.
The forests and fields often give the impression of
being empty of birds at the moment. The birds are still there but many are
moulting and become incredibly secretive at this time. I had my first Brambling
of the autumn on Thursday though so the flood gates are probably about to open.
Raptor passage is slowly beginning with some
Kestrels moving through and the local breeding birds show themselves every now
again. Surprisingly I hardly see any Goshawks at the moment despite them being
the commonest local breeding species but I do see a few Sparrowhawks so obviously
some avoided the talons of the Gozzas. Hobbies are showing regularly but I have
still to locate where they are breeding but Honey Buzzards are only noticeable
by their absence.
my first Brambling (bjørkefink) of the autumn - an early record
a dark Common Buzzard (musvåk) which gave a bit of a Honey Buzzard vibe at distance
a sinensis Cormorant
migrant Kestrel (tårnfalk)
thing must be slow when I photograph Mallards (stokkand)
migrant Wheatear (steinskvett) in Maridalen
adult Hobby (lerkefalk) in Maridalen - They must be breeding locally (probably the pair I saw in June)
It is perhaps time to have an update to this birding
blog although I was so happy with my butterflies that I thought I would let
them hog the spotlight for a bit.
There hasn’t been too much birding over the last
week although I did have a fun time guiding Heidi again on Wednesday when we
went out east to Kallaksjøen and Hellesjøvannet. We had a good mix of birds
with flocks of Cranes and Greylag Geese showing that autumn is upon us, a
variety of migrating waders and 4 juvenile Marsh Harriers amongst others.
On Tuesday I treated myself to a birthday present by
standing for 3 and a half hours on the top of a ski jump (the highest point I could
find) hoping to see raptors and work out where they were nesting. I did see six
different species including Honey Buzzard but only a pair of Hobbies gave me a
clue as to where their nest is (which reminds me I need to follow up on that).
In Maridalen the first fields have already been
harvested and these have attracted pipits, Yellow Wagtails and Whinchats
although I am yet to find a Bluethroat. A few Red-backed Shrikes are still to
be seen. An interesting sighting was of a juvenile Goshawk that flew up from a
field edge and then flew slowly low over the lake before suddenly splash
landing in the water and swimming ashore. I have no idea as to why this
happened – I do not think it was going after anything in the water and although
it did look worse for where when it had come out of the water it had looked strong
and healthy when taking off.
juvenile Goshawk (hønsehauk) after crashing landing in Maridalsvannet
and a video of it once it had clambered out of the water
a flock of Golden Plover (heilo) heading south
3 juvenile Ruff (brushane)
juvenile Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)
Whinchats (buskskvett) and a single Tree Sparrow (pilfink)
Whinchat
I have of course not just been looking at birds:
a male Vagrant Darter (sørhøstlibelle)
my first Migrant Hawker (septemberlibelle) of the year
Red Admiral (admiral)
and a Painted Lady (tistelsommerfugl) which has been scarce this year
As my more regular readers will know I have a
growing interest in butterflies which has really taken off in the last 3 years.
Many birders develop this interest plus one for dragonflies as the hot summer
months are a quiet time on the birding front yet a good time for insects so our
interest is drawn to the most bird like insects there are.
I have confined my interest in butterflies to just
recording the ones I see on my regular birding trips and have only once
travelled to specifically look for new butterfly species which was a complete
flop as can be read here. Never-the-less I have now seen (and all are self-found)
60 species in Norway out of what would be appear to be a total list of 100
species. This compares to my bird list of 316 species (281 self-found) out of 505
species. The stats therefore quite clearly make me a far more competent
butterflyer than birder! 😊
This year I have had a bit of a focus on finding
Hairstreaks in and around Oslo and have had quite a few sightings of
White-letter (alme-), Purple (eike-) and Brown (slåpetornstjertvinge). The
Brown Hairstreaks have been particularly photogenic whilst nectaring whilst the
other two have always been annoyingly high up in trees. I have therefore been
drawn back to the Brown Hairstreaks a few times. As I am seeing them at Fornebu
which in addition to being good for birds also has a dog park I was able to persuade
Mrs OB that we should make a trip there with the Beast on Saturday. It was
initially a bit cloudy but after the sun came out I spent some time looking
downwards whilst my better half power walked the dog.
I was a bit distracted from butterflies by a Great
Snipe which I disturbed from long grass and managed some good flight shots of
this scarce local passage bird.
My target butterfly species showed well though and I
got to see 3 female and 2 male Brown Hairstreaks which allowed me to appreciate
that they can be separated on the underwing and not just the upperwing. I also
saw Small Blues (dvergblåvinge) from what in Norway is a very rarely recorded
second generation. The only other blues were Common Blues (tiriltungeblåvinge)
which were common but came in such a variety of sizes and hues that I found
myself looking at each one to confirm identity.
A particularly large blue butterfly caught my
attention and I followed it until it landed. Through the camera I saw it had
tails! My initial thought was that maybe I was looking at a strange colour aberration
of a hairstreak but I then saw its underwing and realised that was not the case
at all and this was something new and different. The tails were VERY long and
the pattern of the underwing just screemed exotic! I only know of a single
species of blue butterfly with a tail and remembered seeing pictures here on Peter Law's excellent blog. A
quick google search confirmed that I had indeed found a female Long-tailed
Blue! And a further search revealed no other published Norwegian records and
also that it had no official Norwegian name!
The pictures I got were rather good and the
butterfly was in pristine condition. The species is a long distance wanderer
and is appearing in the UK in greater and greater numbers. Oslo is however a
lot further north than any other records and the possibility of it having
arrived “unnaturally” has to be considered. Apparently caterpillars of this
species are known to be found in peas (mangetout) imported from Kenya so there
is the possibility that someone has found a caterpillar and thrown it out into
their garden and it has then pupated and emerged? I don’t know whether a
genuine migrant or an imported caterpillar is more likely but have I enjoyed in
bathing in all the congratulations I have received on Facebook for finding a
new species for the country 😊
I have read that butterflies develop tails as a
defence mechanism against birds. Birds think that the wings are the head of the
butterfly and therefore try to grab at that end. As they are part of the wing
they easily break off allowing the butterfly to escape. This explains why lots
of hairstreaks are missing their tails but of course it is a defence strategy
than can only be used once. My pictures of the Long-tailed Blue whose tails were
still intact (which suggests she emerged recently) show that she was moving
them around a lot presumably all as part of the act to fool predators.
female Long-tailed Blue - just look at those "tails"
and looks how the tails can be moved around
Brown Hairstreak (slåptornstjertvinge) this female has lot its "tails" and a lot of tis wing to a bird but has escaped alive
another and immaculate female
and here a video grab showing the upperwing. Females have the red mark which is lacking in the males I have previously pictured
and a third female. Compare to the male in the next shot. The underwing of the female is more brightly coloured and the tails perhaps slightly longer
a male Brown Hairstreak (sex confirmed by seeing upperwing)
Small Blue (dvergblåvinge) is not a species I see often but a number of my records have been of the rarely recorded second generation
mating Common Blues (tiriltungblåvinge) taken with the bazooka from 2.5m away
and with an iphone 8 at about 10cm
a noticeably pale male Common Blue
it is not often that a Great Snipe (dobbeltbekkasin) is relegated to last place in a blog post ;-)
