Some medium sized raptors at last

The last two days have started with low cloud and then ended up being gloriously sunny and the birdlife really changes with the weather. I have visited Østensjøvannet both days following the ducky bonanza on Tuesday but the variety of ducks has declined inversely with the amount of ice cover. On Tuesday there was 75% ice, yesterday 50% and today none. Yesterday I found a new, female, Pochard who was choosing to keep the company of displaying Tufted Ducks instead of the male who was only 100m away. Today I had really high expectations as last night had seen clear skies and southerly winds until 2am when it started raining and I felt certain there would be big arrival of waterfowl. Well, all this weather had done was to cause a big clear out and there was nothing of interest and very few birds generally on the lake.

Yesterday I spent a long period staring skyward in Maridalen and finally saw those larger raptors I was longing for with first Rough-legged Buzzard, Oslo #129, and then Osprey, Oslo #130. Today in a short visit in the morning #131 came in the form of Black-throated Diver and I am now a bit unsure as to whether I will see any new species for a few days.

Today I gave up on Maridalen quickly as it was too foggy and decided to head for Nordre Øyeren. Here there was no fog but disappointingly few birds. Water levels are unusually high for the time of year but there was still a good amount exposed at Svellet. 24 Oystercatchers and 2 Curlew were the only waders though. Snekkervika also had mud and shallow water but only moderate amounts of dabbling duck.

I then decided to head south east and do Aurskog-Høland again with the hope that raptors would finally show. They did show but there wasn’t the variety I hoped for. 16 Marsh Harriers was undoubtedly a record count for me with seven showing simultaneously as one spot but where were the Hen or Pallid Harriers or Red Kites?

A single adult Bewick’s Swan was not one of the birds I had seen previously and I thought I had found a new bird but I now see that it has been seen on and off at the same time as the pair were being seen regularly.

There is still lots of flood water at Kjelle but maybe too much as it was almost birdless. Hopefully though there will be very good conditions there later in the month.

adult male Rough-legged Buzzard (fjellvåk). These dark birds can be tricky to tell apart from Common Buzzards

male Marsh Harrier (sivhauk)

adult Peregrine (vandrefalk) stooping

male Kestrel (tårnfalk) hovering

female Pochard (taffeland) at Østensjøvannet

the male

the female again who seemed to like the male Tufteds (toppand)

yesterday in Maridalen there were three species of corvids together when 2 Rooks (kornkråke) dropped in and briefly perched with Hooded Crow (kråke) and Jackdaw (kaie)

this Rook was at Østensjøvannet today in what must already be a record year for the species in Oslo

adult Bewick's Swan (dvergsvane)

these Curlew (storspove) flying over Østensjøvannet this morning had me thinking there would be lots to find at Nordre Øyeren, but there wasn't.

an unusually photogenic male Teal (krikkand)

female

my first frog and spawn of 2024