Arctic Tern

Since my last post I am proud to say that I have NOT been on a ferry or visited an island. Instead I have concentrated my nature observing on raptors, butterflies and although Maridalen does not get much attention at the moment an adult Arctic Tern was a good find.

The Hobby family has revealed itself to be three young and they are fast losing their downy feathers and exploring branches away from the nest. The Honey Buzzards have finally had an egg hatch and in 6 weeks time these will be leaving the nest and wondering why their parents took so long getting it on!

adult Arctic Tern (rødnebbterne) Maridalsvannet. A very scarce species in Oslo but in recent years has proved ot be regular at Maridalsvannet in early autumn

note the tail that is longer than the wings, all red bill and short legs which seperate resting birds from Common Tern

this year has been VERY good for Arran Browns (fløyelsringvinge) and there are many hundreds to be seen on short walks in the forest

and here with company of a Silver-washed Fritillary (keiserkåpe)

a montage of an Osprey on an unsuccessful fishing trip

a Purple Fritillary (eikestjertvinge)

and a male Brown Fritillary (slåpetornstjertvinge)

three juvenile Hobbies (lerkefalk). The bottom one is the youngest and is still quite downy and has yet to wander away from the nest

a terrible photo but this is the male Honey Buzzard (vepsevåk) that was feeding an unseen youngster with wasp grubs

Turnstone voyeurism

Forget the idea of threesomes I can just be a voyeur!

Today was wet and windy and this is the sort of mid summer weather I look forward to. I checked the tide tables and with low tide at 4pm decided to give Fru G some more of my love. She can just be how she likes, I don’t care… 

Low tide at the moment is clearly a lot higher than it was earlier in the month because there was very little mud and surprise, surprise very few waders. One Redshank was the only migrant😂. My twitter feed is full of pictures and videos from the north Norfolk coast in GB showing many thousands of waders currently. Many of these have surely flown over Norway but why don’t they stop in Oslo??

I left Gressholmen feeling very dejected and considering how I could keep this up but then found there are other ways to get your birding rocks off. If a muddy bay doesn’t attract waders then maybe a rock can? Galteskjær is responsible for my only Oslo sightings of Little Stint and Turnstone so is actually more productive in that respect than Gressholmen which is only responsible for one species - Broad-billed Sandpiper.

The other advantage with Galteskjær is that she can (must) be viewed fleetingly from afar and with a lack of physical contact she hopefully offers the chance of a healthier and less dependent relationship.

As the ferry approached I saw a wader but it was nothing more exciting than a Common Sandpiper. As we sped past I saw two more – a Dunlin and a TURNSTONE!! Only my second in Oslo and of course a new species for #oslo2024. Currently my 189th species (before accounting for the redpoll lumping) and this is all all I need to continue going out on the ferry. It is a fools game though - I have now had 7 visits to Gressholmen (and Galteskjær) this July and only 3 new species to #oslo2024 to show for it.

Dunlin (myrsnipe) and Turnstone (steinvender) on Galtesjkjær as the ferry speeds by

and two Common Sandpipers (strandsnipe)

an eveing Beast walking trip in sunshine to Fornebu yesterday gave great views of a Swallowtail

Losing species

I had decided to keep things cool with Fru G and maybe see if she was more interested in forming a relationship with someone else that I could perhaps turn into a threesome (i.e let someone else do the hard work and I could jump on at the end when something good was found). Well, my coolness didn’t last long when the International Ornithological Conference (IOC) published its latest update to the birds of the world. They announced that Redpolls would now be lumped into one species which would mean that I would lose two species from #Oslo2024 as Arctic and Lesser Redpoll would cease to be species but rather sub-species. I don’t know how quickly this will be adopted by eBird but I expect it will happen before year end. I am therefore now on 186 species and 200 becomes a more distant dream.

A singing Savi’s Warbler was reported from Østensjøvannet yesterday and although it seemed a most improbable record I decided to be in it and headed straight down. A grasshopper (the insect) was all I could hear.

 

When I awoke this morning to hear heavy rain I suddenly found myself in it again and was on my way to Gressholmen faster than a Hobby hunting a Swift. It was mid way between high and low tide but there was not much mud showing and not a single migrant wader. Luckily at mid-day there are 4 boats an hour so I could leave quickly and not let Fru G see how much she is hurting me.

this is what rejection looks like - a waderless tidal bay

Life choices under review

Just when you think you are happy with how your relationship is you discover that maybe you are just fooling yourself. I gave Fru. Gressholmen the best of me this morning. I thought the early morning rain and a gentle south easterly wind was a sign from the Bird Gods and I boarded the 07:30 ferry full of expectation. Getting off the boat 3 Ringed Plovers on a rock by the quay made me think I had hit gold but getting to the bay an extremely high tide (I had checked the tide tables so knew it would be high tide but not this high..) meant no mud was exposed. I searched all the offshore skerries and islets for roosting birds but only found a handful more Ringed Plovers. A flyover Redshank briefly got my hopes up but I soon had to accept that this relationship is stuck and I unless the other party wants to make changes then I think I need to reassess my life choices.

 

With no pictures from today here are some raptors and the like from the last few days.

male Hobby (lerkefalk) with prey (a bird) in his bill and the female about to take it from him

the female with the prey in her talons. She then removed the feathers before taking to the nest and feeding the young

this years nest is viewable in the telescope but is too distant to  satisfactorily record the comings and goings digitally

a quasi raptor - male Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)

Sparrowhawk (spurvehauk). This bird was calling like it was one of the juveniles but from this angle looks more like it is mum

I can see you

Sun and absence

Fru Gressholmen has clearly chosen the treat them mean, keep them keen strategy but now I have chosen to follow the absence makes the heart grow fonder strategy and see if she will show me some kindness when I next give her some loving.

 

We have 4 days of sun now so I feel can ignore her and shift my focus away from waders and #Oslo2024 to butterflies and breeding raptors, but only until Monday…when I will undoubtedly be rejected and wet but stronger for it😇

The Honey Buzzards continue to incubate and will not be finished for about another 10 days. At the same time Goshawk young have already left the nest - why would a species that migrates to equatorial Africa nest so late whilst one that is a resident species breed so early? I have also finally found the Hobby nest which had at least one large although still downy young and also found a Sparrowhawk nest (my first ever!).

Butterflies have been dominated by hairstreaks with all three of the Norwegian autumn species showing very well nectaring which for Purple is the first time I have seen this. I had 3 Purple and 4 Brown at Fornebu today.

White-letter Hairstreak (almestjertvinge) - my second nectaring individual

my first Brown Hairstreak (slåpetornstjertvinge) of the year and my earliest ver by 10 days. Even though it can only be a day or two old it has already survived a bird attack

another freah individual

and another

a Purple Hairstreak (eikestjertvinge) - the first time I have seen one nectaring. Unfortunately none of the ones I saw opened their wings

this individual has been attacked by a bird and lost its tails

Swallowtail (svalestjert)

Brimstone (sitronsomerfugl)

Comma (hvit-C)

not often Ringlets (gullringvinge) show their upperside

my firt, and a very early, Brambling (bjørkefink) of the year

and this juvenile Wood Sandpiper (grønnstilk) is the first migrating juvenile wader I have noted