2021 The Birding Year That Was part II

July

We visited the mountains both at the start and end of the month and a real surprise was finding young Hawk Owls and Merlins but never seeing the adults (had not noted any on our May visit either) and also seeing Siberian Jays very well which have also eluded me in the area previously. Butterflies were also incredibly numerous especially Mountain Fritillaries and a special trip gave me my first Alpine Argus.

Back in Oslo I saw my first Marsh Helleborines and special searches in areas close to the house revealed White-letter and Purple Hairstreaks.

Siberian Jay (lavskrike)

young Hawk Owl

 

a new species of Orchid: Marsh Helleborine (myrflangre)

juvenile Goshawk (hønsehauk)

Red-throated Divers (smålom)

juvenile Merlin (dvergfalk)

the Whooper Swans (sangsvane) in Maridalen had another good year with 6 young

August

Many dog walking trips were made to Fornebu where butterflies were the target. Brown Hairstreaks which are very scarce in Norway have a newly established stronghold here on planted blackthorn and allowed themselves to be well studied nectaring. Whilst searching for them I stumbled upon an a female Long-tailed Blue. This is a new species for Norway and doesn’t even have a Norwegian name. It has been suggested that it has arrived in the country in larva form in imported vegetables but it is also a long distance migrant so who knows how it arrived at Fornebu.

Breeding Red-throated Divers, Honey Buzzards and Goshawks were fun to watch and at the end of the month a twitch to Fornebu gave me only my second Rose-coloured Starling in Norway. 

Red-backed Shrikes (tornskate) also seemed ot have a good year

Long-tailed Blue - a new species of butterfly for Norway

local twitching for an adult Rosy Starling (rosenstær)

and a teezer of the Honey Buzzards which I have still to write about

September

A group of 3 juvenile Hobbies begging for food in Maridalen at the beginning of the month must mean breeding occurred nearby and it yet again amazes me how many species can breed right under our noses and it is only when they have loud young that we discover them.

I was unable to visit Værøy for the second year running but Østensjøvannet, Fornebu and Nordre Øyeren had some good birds and I paid these sites many visits. 

juvenile Hobby (lerkefalk) in Maridalen

2 Great Egrets (egretthegre) at Nordre Øyeren. Later in the autumn I saw 6 together

I had few sightings of Kingfisher (isfugl) this year with the breeding pair at Sandvika absent

the autumn was good at Østensjøvannet including this locally rare female Gadwall (snadderand)

and a Shoveler (skjeand)

October

The autumn half term holiday gave us a chance for our fourth family trip to the mountains and it was a good trip. We rented a new cabin which was by forest and this gave Grey-headed Woodpecker and amazingly enough a Yellow-browed Warbler! Who needs wind swept islands?!?

Back at home there were no wingbards but tristis Chiffchaffs made there now annual late autumn appearance at Fornebu.

Trips in the forest gave Hazel Grouse and Pygmy Owl and then from the 23^rd the first Pine Grosbeaks arrived and set the tone for the rest of the year.

Southerly winds caused a major arrival of weakened Guillemots and Kittiwakes in the fjord but a Kittiwake flying over the forest in Maridalen was a very unexpected patch tick and my 200^th species. I spent some time looking for other seabirds in the fjord and was rewarded with a couple of Puffins but nothing else of note. 

large numbers of juvenile Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits (svarthalespove) were a feature of the autumn in southern Norway and thesebirds stayed a long time at Fornebu where they were relatively unafraid of people

even though I did not visit Værøy I found that the mountains are also a good place to find Yellow-browed Warblers!

there was little to see on the high lakes but these two juvenile male Scaup (bergand) with a male Tufted Duck (toppand) showed well

a Siberian (tristis) Chiffchaff (gransanger) at Fornebu

some Waxwings arrived in mid October but were then largely absent until the end of December becuase there were enormous quantities of rowan berries in the north so they did not need to come south

Pine Grosbeaks (konglebit) however did irrupt as far south as southern Norway and only two year after the last very large irruption we were again treated to lots of these facinating birds in Oslo

Puffin (lundefugl) off Fornebu - a far from annual occurence

November

 The month was about Pine Grosbeaks and more Pine Grosbeaks although I did also have a number of very close encounters with Hazel Grouse and Pygmy Owl and all three of these also showed well whilst guiding.

Smew (lappfiskand) have become an expected late autumn visitor at Østensjøvannet although don't often show this well

there were VERY few adult male Pine Grosbeaks this year so it was always a joy to see one

Hazel Grouse (jerpe)

Long-tailed Tits (stjertmeis) were more numerous than usual this autumn and are always a joy to see

Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett) was never easy to find this year in stark contrast to 2020 when they seemed to be everywhere

Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)

December

 Was just about Grosbeaks!

this picture of a male Pine Grosbeak was chosen as a Notable Photo by Birdguides