OSLO BIRDER: Norway’s rarest breeders

I have previously had two blog posts about my 24 hour trip in mid June which resulted in a number of very exciting birds and butterflies and I also wrote that “I literally stumbled on nesting pairs of what must be Norway’s two rarest species of breeding birds”.

Those of you who have followed this blog for a while may well have guessed that the two species were Ortolan and Rustic Bunting. Both species have been on a steep and long decline in Norway with trapping for food in passage and wintering areas being blamed. The official survey of Ortolan resulted in only 3 singing males at 3 different sites this year so obviously things do not look good for the future survival of the species. Things have got so bad for Rustic Bunting that there is no longer any official survey and the last breeding that I am aware of in the southern breeding grounds is from 2016. However (and something I forgot when I made my bold claim), in the last few years Rustic has started breeding in the far north of Norway in Pasvik on the border with Finland and Russia so my claim only relates to the historic southern breeding range.

I found the Rustic whilst searching for butterflies in a forest bog. I was in the middle of the bog getting wet feet when I heard what I was sure was the song of a Rustic from the woodland at the edge of the bog. I forgot about butterflies and made my way to the woodland. The song was coming from something like 30 metres into the woodland and as I made my way towards it I was suddenly aware of intense ”ticking” which is a noise I have heard before and knew straight away was from an angry Rustic Bunting. Quite soon I saw the source of the noise and a female Rustic was in a tree by me and then suddenly a male appeared. The intensity of their annoyance at my presence meant either a nest or young nearby. As I did not hear any other birds (young) calling then I think it was the nest (when I previously came across a young only just outof the nest it made a lot of noise) and I therefore made sure to check where I was walking as I tried to put a bit more distance between me and the birds. They calmed down but did not reveal where the nest was so I returned to the marsh.

It was a bit strange that the male was singing when he should have had his focus purely on feeding young. Either he was thinking of a second brood and trying to get the female in the mood or it was a different, and unmated, male that was singing. I heard a bird singing again later and I would actually think it more likely that it was an additional male but cannot say either way. What I can say was that it was an unexpected and fantastic experience and one that I had never thought I would again witness in Norway. Finding these beautiful birds on their taiga breeding grounds is really special 😊. This video has the sound of the singing male and ticking pair.

The female Rustic Bunting (vierspurv)

and the male when he suddenly announced his presence right over my shoulder

I looked for Ortolans where I have always done so. After a bit of waiting I thought I had heard a distant singing bird but was not convinced. I cupped my ears hoping to hear better when a much closer bird flew past me and made a call that I was quite sure was Ortolan. It landed in nearby trees and as I went closer it started alarm calling. I walked back trying to give enough distance that I would not be viewed as a threat but also allowing me to see what was going on. Another bird suddenly appeared and also called and I could see that both had caterpillars in their bills – clearly there were young that needed feeding! After a little wait the female dropped down before perching in a birch sapling and then dropping to the ground right by a regularly used farm track. I was able to reposition myself and saw the approximate area she flew up from. Walking along the track it was quite easy to find the nest which was only half a metre from the track! There were 4 young in the nest and all looked healthy but you have to wonder why they chose to nest there when there are piles of branches nearby which I believe are left specifically to offer protection for nesting Ortolans. I decided to contact the relevant people to inform them of the good news of breeding and also to share my worry for the nest given how close it was to where people, tractors and animals regularly passed. The information was received with enthusiasm and I felt good for my discovery. About a week later though it was reported on social media that an Ortolan nest had been “destroyed” and the blame was laid at the feet of “photographers”. Contacting the poster it was clear that he was referring to the nest I had found and I felt very much that I was somehow being blamed. It was also clear though that the use of the word “destroyed” was something that the poster had himself chosen to use in an attempt provoke as he himself had not seen the nest and had only received some information from the person I had informed about the nest. Contacting him I heard a very different story – he had checked the nest first 5 days after I had found it and he then found an empty nest with absolutely no sign of either predation or destruction. As Ortolan young are only in the nest for ca.12 days and the female broods them for 3-5 days then the young I saw could very easily have been (and indeed their appearance I think confirms it) more than 7 days old when I found them meaning that 5 days later they would have left the nest and of course the nest would be empty. My attempts to explain this to people who should know better fell unfortunately on deaf ears but let us hope I am right and at least one brood of Norwegian bred Ortolans made it in 2023.