Ears, chats and starts

Spring seems to be catching up on itself now and in Maridalen the lake is now ice free and the farmer has started ploughing. Even though most vegetation is still brown and leaves are only just opening up there was by this evening a noticeable arrival of migrants and I have high hopes for the coming days. Today I racked up 7 Wheatears, 8 Whinchat, 2 Redstart and Pied Flycatcher all of which were not seen yesterday. A Wood Sandpiper also flew around calling but the water level is so high that we will have very few migrant waders on the deck this year.

I also checked in at Svellet where the water level continues to fall and Greenshank numbers had risen to 27 and again I have very high hopes for the coming days here – just need some rain.

A pleasant surprise today was finding an adult Tawny Owl. I heard the sound of scolding Blackbirds whilst driving the car (with the windows up!) and suspected an owl. I stopped the car and it was easy to find the Blackbirds that were clearly angry with something high up in a spruce tree but it took a while to find the source of their anger which was a very well hidden Tawny Owl. I have in previous years heard both adult and young Tawny Owls in the same area but do not know of a nest box in the area and could not find one today either.

Common Redstart (rødstjert), a 1st summer by my reckoning

same bird

a much more boldly coloured bird and therefore an older male by my reckoning

the first bird

male Whinchat (buskskvett) - my first of the year

2 male Wheatears (steinskvett). I had seen noen early afternoon in Maridalen but a visit at 7pm revealed 7 birds, all males

male Pied Flycatcher (svarthvit fluesnapper) also new for the year

the Wrynecks (vendehals) are still around

a male Yellowhammer (gulspurv)

the Tawny Owl (kattugle) pearing down at me

a pair of Long-tailed Tits (stjertmeis) showed very nicely