Emergency stopping for a bug

This year hasn’t been that good for butterflies yet with lots of rain and when there is sun it is often windy. I have consequently not spent much time searching for them but as with all things with wings sometimes they come to you. Yesterday whilst driving in Maridalen I saw a large black and white butterfly flutter in front of the car. For the first time (that I can remember at least) I emergency stopped for an insect although it soon transpired I had all the time in the world. The butterfly, which was a Poplar Admiral (ospesommerfugl) was attracted to the road and was clearly finding something good, probably salt, on the tarmac. It managed to avoid death at the hands of passing cars, although all slowed down as they were clearly interested to see what I was up to, and it kept landing and showing itself off from all angles. Whilst this was happening a Swallowtail flew over although unfortunately did not stop. So arguably the two most spectacular Norwegian butterflies at the same time and in the Dale 😊

 

Poplar Admiral (ospesommerfugl). Only the fourth time I've seen one and by far and away the most cooperative. They are famous for being attracted to dog sh*t but seems tarmac roads are just as attractive

I paid a visit to Østensjøvannet yesterday hoping that the rainy weather might have produced something (a Black Tern turned up at Årnestangen at the weekend) but as with all my rain fuelled visits this spring there was not even a Swallow to see. Something is clearly up with the lake with there being no insects hatching and therefore no Swallows, terns or most importantly gulls to feed off them. I reckon that this is the reason that Black-headed Gulls, which used to breed here in a colony of many hundreds of pairs, have now more or less completely abandoned the lake for breeding. It did look like there were two nesting pairs though which was a surprise although whether they can raise young is another thing.

Even if there were no insect eaters, a couple of male Gadwall in eclipse plumage were most unexpected.

male Gadwalls (snadderand) in eclispe

Coot (sothøne) parent and young

when at Østensjøvannet it is rude not to take a picture of a Great Crested Grebe (toppdykker)

Maridalsvannet has been having lots of hatching insects over the last few weeks with many Common and a few Black-headed Gulls hawking them. There have also been Common Tern which today peaked at 6 birds which I am sure is a record here. There have also been lots of Swifts, Swallows and House Martins and the odd sighting of Sand Martin. Today there three birds including a pair mating on wires right above my head. I never saw them visiting potential nest holes although they have previously bred in holes between stones on a nearby bridge.

I did foolishly have another nocturnal outing last night but with nothing to show for it I think this must be my last of the year, in Maridalen at least.

mating Sand Martins (sandsvale)

Swallows (låvesvale) collecting nesting material. The bird on the left is ringed. It is quite late to be nest building

I haven't been able to make much out of the ring not even which country 

Marsh Warblers (myrsanger) have become quiet as they pair off

there are now two Pink-footed Geese (kortnebbgås) at Maridalsvannet. At least one of them is paired to a Greylag and maybe both

These two Mallard (stokkand) chicks are very different

the Great Northern Diver (islom) is going strong

and yet another video of it

Nesting raptors

In my last post I wrote that I felt I must have found the Hobby nest – well today I am less sure. Per Christian and I joined forces to try to locate it once and for all but left just as confused as before. We located four different old Hooded Crows nests in a very small area without seeing any bird on any of the nests. Then we heard the male calling and he appeared overhead with prey in his talons. The female then called and flew out of the trees towards him. There was lots of calling but we couldn’t exactly what happened but there was clearly a food pass. The male then sat openly calling whilst the female must have been more hidden whilst presumably eating the prey item brought to her. The male kept calling and flew around a bit before the female then flew out of a tree and calling and disappeared amongst the trees. During all this time we had been keeping an eye on the old crows nests but did not see the female coming or going to any of them. So, either we are not observant enough or else there is a 5^th nest that we have yet to find.

this is the old Hooded Crows nest that I felt certain was being used by the Hobbies but I am now less certain

here, what I think is the male, was perched in the next door tree

A check of the Honey Buzzard nest from last year revealed fresh green branches on it although in nearly 4 hours of watching the nest and skies about I failed to see a bird. So here I have found the nest but not seen the birds…. I do not know whether adding of new material of nest means that there has to be a pair of if just a single adult will add material whilst waiting for their mate to return but this does give high hopes for yet another chance to follow a breeding pair.

a branch with fresh green leaves can be seen on the right hand side of the nest. It is possible that a bird could have been on the nest unseen to me but I think observed the nest long enough that I would have seen some movement

Even though I failed to see any Honey Buzzards I did have good views of a female Three-toed Woodpecker whilst waiting.

female Three-toed Woodpecker

here it has got hold of a larve

and here it is swallowing it

The Great Northern Divers remains and has now been frequenting the northern end of the lake in the last few days.

the Great Northern Diver (islom) is always close to the shore

 There are now two Common Rosefinches in Maridalen, both brown, 2cy males and both seemingly unpaired.

2cy male Common Rosefinch (rosenfink)

The Lapwings are now disappearing in the high vegetation and yesterday I saw none but today the male of the family was clearly keeping guard so I assume there are still some young although I have no idea whether there is still a bird sitting on a nest.

A new Marsh Warbler reminded me that “night singers” can still turn up but I really don’t think I am motivated for any more nocturnal trips.

I bagged a Blyth’s on a night of acro

My negativity towards nocturnal outings didn’t even last a day and Wednesday night saw me out for more pain. It all started when a Great Reed Warbler turned up in a «what is this?» posting on Facebook. It was not in Oslo although it was close to Oslo Airport and normally I would not have gone for it. However, as it happened Mrs OB was landing there in the evening and Jr wanted to surprise her by picking her up and getting some driving practice in. So a little «5 minute» detour on the way home was in order?

 The bird could be heard from the car park and when I walked the 100m to where it was the song was so loud and so constant that I seriously considered the whole thing was a wind up and someone had placed a loud speaker in the reeds! This thought was only strengthened when I was able to walk to what must have been only 5 metres from the bird and it just carried on singing and remained invisible! Eventually though it did clearly change position and then finally flew into a bush where it could just about be seen.

It is a while since I have heard a GRW (this is my third in Norway) and I had forgotten just how loud their song is. In the video you first hear the song and then get a glimpse of the bird

Great Reed Warbler (trostesanger) - a screen shot from the video

Buoyed by this I then decided to do just one more Oslo night singer trip. Maridalen had nothing new to offer but in Sørkedalen the Blyth’s Reed, Oslo #186, that had been quiet in the afternoon was now singing his heart out in the garden of a farm at midnight. Add to that multiple Marsh Warblers and a Reed Warbler and I had a four acro night. I do think this will be my last trip though unless of course someone else finds something for me to twitch. 

 

the Reed Warbler (rørsanger) that is singing in the video above. As can be heard teh bird had a very varied song and I also do not think it looks completely right for a Reed. Could it have some Marsh genes?

In Maridalen I feel I must have found the Hobby nest although am still to see a bird on it (this was also the case for a long time last year).

Hobby (lerkefalk) presumably the male

I could only find two Lapwing young with their parents yesterday and saw no other birds although the crop has become so high that the incubating bird would be hidden if it still present.

mum Lapwing (vipe) on the left and what seem to be now the only two remaining young which as can be seen are soon fully grown and were both frequently flapping their wings