We are following a much liked and well trodden path and spending the first week of the (school) summer holiday at the cabin at Hulvik south of Oslo. I’ve done a bit of butterflying without seeing anything too exciting and the only birding has been a couple of nocturnal trips. We have been coming here almost annually for around 15 years and I have engaged in nocturnal trips for at least 10. Nightjars were always a species I was listening for but it was only 2 years ago that I discovered them here for the first time. Last year we also had them so I was of course expecting to find them again this year and as always I was hoping to see them before it gets too dark although that never happens as I hope.
The reason for the sudden appearance of Nightjars in the area must be because of extensive recent forestry work clearing away large areas of planted spruce and revealing more natural scattered pine trees on sandy soil which is a great habitat for Nightjars. Hotter, drier summers are probably also helping the species in Norway which is right on the northern edge of the species range.
This year my first trip with Jr on Sunday evening started off disappointingly with only a distant singing bird when we checked the area from the last two years. Finishing our trip though and not too far from the cabin we saw a female hunting along the road and stopping heard a male churrring nearby. We then had good views of the male wing clapping over us although by this time it was gone midnight and rather dark (or at least as dark as it gets in mid summer here).
Monday night it poured down with rain but I was ready to go on Tuesday night at 10pm. I was hoping that the poor conditions the previous night may have left them hungry and would increase the chance of early activity. For once I was right with a bird hesitantly churring already at 22:15 and before sunset! I managed to get my best pictures to date of the species (helped in no small part to the fact that Conor C has very kindly lent me his Canon 5D IV). I was aware that there could be a nest on the ground in the area and scanned with the thermal imager to see if I could locate the female. I didn’t but suddenly I saw an animal and there was badger walking right towards me! Unfortunately it sensed me as I raised my camera but seeing it walking along sniffing the ground highlighted the threats that ground nesting birds expose themselves to. Of course if we didn’t remove all of the apex predators (wolves and lynx) then there would be fewer badgers and foxes and more balance in nature but humans aren’t good at natural balance.
I was a happy man as I headed back to the cabin at 11pm (very early by nocturnal birding standards) but things then got even better. Getting out of the car there were juvenile Tawny Owls begging for food right by the cabin. There were 3 and their begging just got louder and louder during the course of the next hour when they didn’t seem to be fed at all. But that was not the best of it - a Nightjar flew over and then one started churring nearby!! Plus Woodcock and barking Roe Deer (which set the Beast off) and I now realise that tonight I can do my nocturnal birding from the cabin veranda with a glass of wine in hand #glambirding
First the video with Nightjars wing clapping and calling (courtesy of Jr) and churring and then the sights and sounds around the cabin with begging Tawny Owls, barking Roe Deer and Beast, flyover Nightjar (courtesy of Mrs. OB) and moonlight on the water.
Nightjar (nattravn) in silhouette
the light was still good at 22:40 (the sun was still hitting the top of the trees) and these are without doubt my best views of this enigmtic species
Nightjar flying over cabin
Badger (grevling) after seeing me and turning away
Juvenile Tawny Owl (kattugle) at 23:50 using ISO 12800
High Brown Fritillary (adippeperlemorvinge)
A White-letter Hairstreak (almestjertvinge) from Oslo just before we left. It seems to be a very good and very early year for this species
Male Linnet (tornirisk) with a tick
Heath Fritillary (Marimjellerutevinge) which are very numerous this year
Time now for the first instalment of my 24 hour birding
and butterflying trip to the mountains and forests north of Oslo last week. The
spur of the moment trip was spurred by the seemingly easy chance of seeing
displaying Broad-billed Sandpipers accompanied by warm, sunny weather. I have
seen quite a few BBS on passage and have seen them twice on their breeding
grounds including once very closely but I have never seen or heard them displaying
and it was almost bucket list desire. They normally breed on quite large and inaccessible
bogs but evidence I had been sent to my phone suggested that the birds Per
Christian had seen was anything but inaccessible. The location was a marsh at
over 1100m and consequently way above the treeline which was not how I have
pictured the preferred habitat for this species. The area is known to hold a
number of other birds including Red-necked Phalaropes and my plan was to spend
the night and experience lots of activity very early in the morning. I arrived
in the early evening though and with it never getting truly dark I was able to
bird straight away and to be honest hit the jackpot before bedtime.
The BBS did not quite live up to my expectations but
I had it in its display flight on a number of occasions including low over my
head but I never got to see it properly on the ground. Every time it finished a
display flight it would plummet down into the marsh only about 20m from where I
stood but then it would just vanish. Only once did I glimpse it on the ground
and I think it was living up to its Norwegian name of Mountain Marsh Runner (fjellmyrløper).
This video has a bit of its display flight including song.
Broad-billed Sandpiper (fjellmyrløper) in display flight
flight shots aren't getting any easier
Red-necked Phalaropes showed a lot better although
it took me a long time to see them closely although they then performed very
well. Although I think some birds had settled down to nest there was a group of
females flying around, calling and seemingly looking for unpaired males.
female Red-necked Phalaropes (svømmesnipe)
at sunrise
do you see it?
Lapland Buntings were also present and 4 singing
males makes this one of the best localities in southern Norway of a species that
is declining fast. A lack of rodents meant that a single Kestrel was the ONLY
raptor or owl I saw.
male Lapland Bunting (lappspurv)
male Willow Grouse (lirype) in a place where the white feathers really help it blend in
Wood Sandpiper (grønnstilk)
male Grey-headed (Yellow) Wagtail
even this bird has a hint of a white supercilium
trying to be arty
on a lake on the tree line at 965m a pair of Slavonian Grebes showed well
It is time for yet another butterfly (and one moth)
update from recent days in Oslo. After finally seeing Poplar Admiral well at a
site east of the city I have now seen one in Maridalen 😊
It seemed to be a very fresh individual but with (bird) damage to its wing and
it was frequently landing on a forest road. It showed incredibly well but I do
not think that the photos I took do justice to the brilliance of this creature.
A number of new species are now on the wing in
Maridalen and I have seen my first Lesser Marbled Fritillary (engperlemorvinge),
Dark Green Fritillary (aglajaperlemorvinge), Red Admiral, Ringlet (gullringvinge)
and Northern Brown Argus (sankthansblåvinge). Today I made a trip to Sørkedalen,
the valley to the west, as I had a desire to add Geranium Argus to my Oslo
list. It is not a particularly scarce species but for some reason does not seem
to occur in Maridalen so a little twitch was needed. It was probably just
aswell I did not wait much longer as the individuals I saw were very faded and
ragged. This trip also resulted in a special moth and one that I even I notice:
a Green Forester (grønn metallsvermer). I have seen pictures of it before and
was aware it was quite scarce but in Oslo it appears to be a genuine rarity
with just 7 previous records and 5 of these were collected more than one
hundred years ago!
Last night I had agreed to pick up Jr Jr from a
friend at midnight (school is now finished for the summer) and used the opportunity
to drive around Maridalen. Bird wise I had to make do with a begging Tawny Owl
chick, 3 Marsh Warblers and a Woodcock but a female Moose with 2 very small calves
and another single roadside Moose were exciting observations of a species I normally
expect to encounter here in the winter.
Poplar Admiral (ospesommerfugl) - this picture is actually quite acceptable!
looks like a bird had a bite at it
Dark Green Fritillary (aglajaperlemorvinge) from below
and from above
Lesser Marbled Fritillary (engperlemorvinge) from above
and below
a Moorland Clouded Yellow (myrgulvinge) my 4th record in Oslo of a species that may be expanding
Northern Brown Argus (sankthansblåvinge)
and a Geranium Argus (brun blåvinge) showing the characteristic white like on the lower wing from the edge to the spot in the middle
