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 23rd 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 200th 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
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
