2021 The Birding Year That Was part I

Corona and the travelling restrictions that followed had a big impact on 2022. I had very little guiding as there were no overseas visitors until the autumn and I also travelled very little myself so my birding activity was fittingly enough mostly restricted to the Oslo area. This resulted in my lowest year list in Norway since I started recording such things – only 214 species - and I missed out on some species that I would normally see lots of such as Slavonian Grebe (horndykker) and Arctic Skua! My Oslo life list though grew by a very unexpected three species to 243 in total: Stonechat (svartstrupe), Long-eared Owl (hornugle) and Puffin (lunde). There is one list that is even more important than my Oslo list and that is of course my Maridalen (local patch) list  which grew by four species: Tengmalm’s Owl, Stonechat, White-fronted Goose & Kittiwake list and reached the milestone of 200 species.

Birding was good though and my ever growing interest in butterflies and dragonflies gave me some good records including a Long-tailed Blue which was a first for the country (although provenance is perhaps questionable) and I even started noting moths although mainly of the larger day flying varieties. With no trip to the cabin in Bodø this year I missed out on my normal orchid headache but a trip to a local location did give me Marsh Helleborine (myrflangre) which is a species I have long wanted to see and was anything but a headache.

 

January

January started where December had finished with the Hawk Owls in Maridalen providing much entertainment and I revisited the Capercaille this time in gorgeous sunny weather. The Purple Sandpipers at Bygdøy and Pygmy Owls and overwintering Buzzards in Maridalen were also regularly visited. 

Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)

Hawk Owl (haukugle)

Sparrowhawk (spurvehauk) with a freshly caught Fieldfare (gråtrost)

one of the Buzzards (musvåk) that wintered in Maridalen -  a strikingly pale individual

Water Rail (vannrikse)

not often one can see Capercaille (storfugl) like this

February

The forest around Maridalen proved very productive at the start of the month with Grey-headed and Three-toed Woodpeckers, Pygmy and Hawk Owl and Hazel Grouse showing regularly. Østensjøvannet had a good period with up to 3 Water Rails and a Jack Snipe showing very well on the very limited areas of open water in a couple of stream. The Jack Snipe (I write “the” but there may have been more than one) was, as is typical for the species, difficult to find but once you did then it could be seen very well although it was important to not spend too long close to it as it would freeze and stop feeding when it felt threatened.

 

Hazel Grouse (jerpe)

Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett)

Grey-headed Woodpecker (gråspett)

Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin)

hybrid Mallard x Wigeon

and hybrid Mallard x Pintail

March

March was a good month. I had some amazing experiences with Pygmy and Tengmalm’s Owls, so good in fact that I titled one post “Best OWL day in Oslo EVER!”.

An annual feature of March is a visit or two to monitor the Taiga Bean Geese which is always a joy and a number of colour ringed birds were observed and reported.

Halvard H was responsible for my first new Oslo species of the year with a Stonechat in Maridalen that was a long awaited addition and a bird later in the month at Fornebu was my third there.

At the end of the month a White-fronted Goose was my third Maridalen (local patch) tick for the year (a Tengmalms’s Owl heard in February being the first).

 

A very rare daytime encounter with a Tengmalm's Owl (perlueugle)

mating Pygmy Owls (spurveugle)

Maridalen and Oslo X courtesy of Halvard H - Stonechat (svartstrupe)

Taiga Bean Geese (taigasædgås)

April

April saw some more fantastic owl encounters but this time with breeding Long-eared. Hazel Grouse also showed incredibly well with a newly found pair that provided much entertainment the whole spring.

Birds of Prey were a real highlight in Maridalen and although there were no rarities I had both Golden and White-tailed Eagles.

A close encounter with a male Garganey on a golf course was a memorable experience and I twitched local Med Gull and Green-winged Teal.

The month ended with Shore Larks in Maridalen.

 

another Maridalen X - White-fronted Goose (tundragås)

Long-eared Owl (hornugle)

and in colour

one of many very close encounters with Hazel Grouse (jerpe) this year

Golden Ealge (kongeørn) over Maridalen

Glaucous Gull (polarmåke) twitched on a dump in Oslo

adult White-tailed Eagle (havørn) over Oslo - one of many sighting of an adult around Oslo in the spring suggesting the species may establish itself as a breeder soon

male Garganey (knekkand)

and a male american Green-winged Teal with normal Teal

adult Med Gull (svartehavsmåke) with Black-headed and Common Gulls

Shore Larks (fjellerke) in Maridalen - surprisingly enough only the 3rd ever record

May

On Maridalsvannet a pair of Mute Swans attempted to breed for the second year running and yet again got no peace from the local Whooper Swans. On an almost daily basis they fought and it was the Whoopers that had the upper hand. The Mutes gave up whilst still on eggs and retreated to the fjord where the male was found dead possibly as a result of his over excertions attempting to defend his mate from the aggressive Whoopers.

Raptors continued to feature in Maridalen with Marsh Harrier having a record showing with up to 3 birds in a day.

A special day was spent watching two nests of Great Grey Owls.

Seawatching from the cabin we are lucky enough to use at Hulvik at the end of the month gave adult White-billed Diver and Pomarine Skua and then the month finished with 3 very memorable days in the mountains with Long-tailed Skua, Bluethroats everywhere, Great Snipe etc.

 

fighting Whooper (sangsvane) and Mute Swans (knoppsvane)

closeup of my male Hazel Grouse

male Marsh Harrier (sivhauk) and Rough-legged Buzzard (fjellvåk) in Maridalen

and Black-throated Diver (storlom) and Pintail (stjertand) also in Maridalen

Wryneck (vendehals) - one a pair that bred in Maridalen

and Great Grey Owl (lappugle) NOT in Maridalen

Long-eared Owl (hornugle) again NOT in Maridalen although this species should breed there

young LEO

Tawny Owl (kattugle)

Bluethroat (blåstrupe)

Lapland Bunting (lappspurv)

Long-tailed Skua (fjelljo)

June

In June birds started playing a back seat and butterflies an dragonflies took over with a number of new species bagged.

A pair of Hobbies in Maridalen were prospecting for a nest site and showed well and another trip to the Hulvik cabin gave my best ever views of Nightjar.

The summer holidays started back in the mountains again at end of month where Dotterel showed really well this time. 

one of a pair of Hobbies (lerkefalk) that were prospecting for nest sites in Maridalen at the start of the month

Nightjar (nattravn)

Dotterel (boltit)