A quietness that cannot be explained (by me at least)

Sunday came and went but where were the birds. The weather forecast was correct with cloudy skies, no wind and some showers – surely the sort of stuff to make May 5^th a dreamy day. Well clearly not. There must be something blocking northward passage further south because this lack of birds doesn’t make sense. Today was equally quiet so I am now pinning all my hopes on Thursday when cloud and southerly winds are forecast and surely the dam will break.

Yesterday I was in the Dale by 0530 and a migrating and calling Red-throated Diver from the doorstep at home had me expecting great things. Well that was just a cruel tease and I had left Maridalen already by 0700 to go to Østensjøvannet which was if anything even worse with just a pitiful collection of the expected birds and nothing of any interest on either the lake, the fields or in the sky. My day was sort of saved by then going to Huk, Bygdøy to twitch a Red-necked Grebe that Andreas G had found from his boat but even here the view was so distant that it gave no real satisfaction. New Oslo year species did arrive during the day though with the following added: #152 Yellow Wag, #153 Spotted Fly, #154 Black Grouse (a very distant bird heard displaying), #155 House Martin and #156 the grebe.

An update on the swan saga is that the Whoopers continue to sit on the Mutes nest (and eggs?) and there were still two pairs of Mutes yesterday although only one today. Yesterday the male Whooper flew around the lake and attacked both sets of Mutes. He sent the original pair packing and they decamped to the other side of the lake (and are the ones who seem to have left today) but the new pair put up a much better fight. The female managed to hide (see photos) and the male did have to flee but he soon returned acting quite triumphantly. The male Whooper was joined by his female who flew across the lake calling and the two then celebrated their supremacy with whooping and wing flapping. I have managed to read the rings of the new Mute pair but the ringing website is currently down so have yet to find out their stories.

Further checks of the Three-toed pecker wood have drawn a blank so it definitely looks like something fatal has happened.

my first Spotted Flycatcher (gråfluesnapper) of the year

a female White Wagtail (linerle) at Maridalen's best birding spot

the male Whooper Swan (sangsvane) on his way to beat up the second Mute Swan (knoppsvane) pair

the male Mute did initially adopt his territorial posture and looked like he was going to put up a serious fight

but was soon fleeing

and the female Mute hid

the male Mute returns

he acted very tough although I believe had not seen the female and she did not immediately leave the safety of her retreat. He was ringed at Frognerkilen in March 2023 as 3cy so making him a 4cy now.

he had a good wing flap

here the head of the hiding female is visibly as the male cruises past

the female Whooper had come to join her mate and here they are noisily, and triumphantly returning to the nest as the undisputed heavy wight swan champions of Maridalen

the female ring on the female Mute who appears to be a young bird due to her pale orange bill. She was ringed as a chick at Smestaddammen in Sept 2020 making her a 5cy and a year older than her mate. Previous ring readings do not suggest that either her of her mate have tried to breed before.

05:45 on May 5th looking from Kirkeby over the lake to Skjerven