Still no YbW

Many kilometres have been walked since my last post and many a time have I stopped to listen to a distant call that I thought heard interesting but I am still to hear a Yellow-browed Warbler and my autumn is still missing something vital. Were I to have travelled to a wind blown island then I would have filled that hole but this autumn has so far not been very productive at all in Norway so I wouldn’t have seen very much at all and the would probably just have got very wet and pissed off.

Things have been so quiet here that I have found myself leaving Oslo in a last ditch effort to at least get some good raptor experiences before winter comes. A trip to Årnestangen did result in two Hen Harriers but not quite the views I was hoping for and a trip out to Aurskog Høland gave many Common Buzzards and Kestrels but nothing more interesting. An upswing in rodent numbers is happening further north which probably explains why Rough-legged Buzzards haven’t started coming through yet as they must be finding enough to eat in the mountains although the first snow which will come soon may well push them south. A couple of records of Great Grey and Hawk Owl in south eastern Norway does give some hope that these species are also moving around and the coming months will be interesting.

my first Hen Harrier (myrhauk) of the autumn and as usual I fail to get a decent photo

a juvenile Buzzard (musvåk) showed slightly better

and an adult male Kestrel (tårnfalk) even better

I got very close to this Kingfisher (isfugl) which was I believe I quite recently fledged juvenile (from a third brood?) but it was always well hidden in the riverside bushes

another collared Greylag Goose (grågås)

Also from Trøndelag in mid Norway, my sighting at Årnestangen was the first reading since it was rung. The population of Greylag Geese that goes through the south east of Norway every autumn has now become enormous

the tagged Taiga Bean Goose has now left Norway. Look at the straight line it is flying in although the kink at the end suggests it has realised it was heading too far to the south

it is not often I see a bull Moose with such large antlers as selective hunting means that there are hardly any older bulls to be seen

a farmer was cutting silage and attracted lots of covids as there were clearly lots of rodents being exposed (and perhaps killed). This Raven found something

Jack Snipe and Great Grey Shrike

I have been walking around the last few days waiting and expecting to hear a Yellow-browed Warbler and I can hear the call every time I close my eyes but it is all in my mind as one has not revealed itself to me in the living flesh….. yet. I would really like this to be my 200^th species for #Oslo2024.

Two classic autumn species has turned up though in the form of my first Jack Snipe of the year although unfortunately not in Oslo and Great Grey Shrike. There has also been a good influx of Common Snipes and with very damp fields at the moment there are lots of places for them to hide away.

Bramblings have started flocking in huge numbers on rape seed oil fields in Maridalen and there could well have been in excess of 5000 birds in one flock. There are also good numbers of geese with 250 Greylag and 150 Pink-footed feeding on oats.

Two surprises have come from the Dales largest and usually most obvious birds.

First, a family of 4 Common Cranes has appeared on one of the species favoured fields and I am sure this is the pair that has been hanging around every summer since 2018 but which have never previously successfully raised young. They are around in the spring and then normally disappear before turning up again late summer and I have assumed they have bred further in the forest but probably not that far from Maridalen.

Secondly, there were three juvenile Whooper Swans on this species favoured field. They were accompanied by a lone adult and nearby were a pair. I am quite sure that these are not the same young as I saw on 6 June (but not since) and if they are then they have done an amazing hiding job. Instead, I think they must come from another breeding site in the forest and the parents will be one of the pairs that are always chased off by the valley’s breeding pair who may well also be grandparents to these young. The young looked to be just accompanied by one parent so may have lost the other and the pair I saw were, I believe, the valley’s long reigning masters but who may well have realised that their days are over due to their old age and uncharacteristically were happy to allow the presence of other birds (although their typical territorial behaviour is probably more of a spring thing).

Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) found with the use of the thermal imager

and a Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin) that was some what easier to find

there are 6 Common Snipe in this shot

Great Grey Shrike (varsler)

the thin wing bar shows this to be a 1cy bird

Meadow Pipit (heipiplerke)

a Merlin (dvergfalk) eating what may well be a Mipit

a close view of a Brambling (bjørkefink)

capturing the thousand strong flocks though is not so easy

geese flocking on a partially harvested field of oats (havre)

here Pink-footed (kortnebbgås)

a Crane (trane) family in Maridalen which most likely represents the first successfully local breeding

and three juvenile Whooper Swans (sangsvane) which also represent local breeding although I am not sure how local

this female duck was noticeably smaller than the Mallards (stokkand) it was with and I wondered whether it was a hybrid with Teal (krikkand) but can't find anything in the plumage that confirms that

Male Pallid

Very high up on my list of birds to find is an adult male Pallid Harrier. I have seen adult males both in Norway and abroad and have twice found 2cy Pallids in Norway but the self-found adult male, ideally in Maridalen, remains up there.

Yesterday, Jack and I went out to Nordre Øyeren hoping for some good birding and raptors and harriers were definitely on the wish list. It was a bit foggy but definitely birdy with lots of finches, especially Bramblings and hundreds of Greylags and Mallards at our first stop along with a few Pintail.

From the tower at Monsrudvika we were initially a bit disappointed with no egrets, no raptors and few duck to see. After not too long though I picked up a BOP perched in a dead bush at quite a long range. My initial call was male Hen Harrier but the more we looked at (it was preening facing us) the more we wondered how large it was and started thinking it may be an exceptionally pale (its underside looked white) Sparrowhawk. Thankfully it flew though and then its identity as a male harrier was clear and the long, narrow wings with a wedge of black left no doubt it was a male Pallid! In the scope the views were good enough, although the ability to count the number of primaries making up the “hand” is impossible on these, and most field, views and requires good photos. My photos are not good at all but I will suggest can be filed in the record shot category and as such I can skip having to write a description for the locals records committee.

My views (and photos) of self-found Pallid Harriers are following the same trend as for Red Kite and the next one will be so distant as to be unidentifiable which will hopefully mean that the cycle will start afresh and I will have views to die for.

 

Were I to find one, a male Pallid Harrier won’t be a new species for Maridalen as one was photographed there this spring although believed to be a Hen at the time. These sort of records keep my motivation up as does the pluckings of a ringer from his garden in the forest just outside of Oslo. Today he plucked Red-flanked Bluetail and Yellow-browed Warbler from his nets and on Friday a Firecrest so there must be lots of good birds just waiting to be found out there.

On Friday I paid a trip to the islands and a notable increase in numbers of Goldcrests and Chiffchaffs had me hoping for their rare cousins but I had to consent myself with a couple of Shags.

male Pallid Harrier (steppehauk)

here the black wedge can be clearly seen.....

Shag (toppskarv) and Cormorant (storskarv) gracing Fru. Galteskjær with their presence

2bC invasion brewing

It looks like an invasion of Two-barred Crosbills is brewing. After my sighting on Monday of a bird with Common Crossbills in a spruce forest I was rather surprised to find a lone bird today in birch trees by Nordre Øyeren wetland. It was calling a lot and I managed to record it both the trumpet call and more generic crossbill call. This bird was also a juvenile but hopefully some adult males will arrive soon.

 I left Oslo to go to Øyeren as I hoped for some raptors specifically harriers but a single Marsh was the only one. Common Buzzards were numerous though and the local White-tailed Eagle family showed well. A single Great White Egret was a now to be expected bird but less than 10 years ago would have been quite the mega.

a streaky juvenile Two-barred Crossbill (båndkorsnebb)

I got fairly close but unfortunately it was high above me

this Little Grebe (dvergdykker) is my first ever at Nordre Øyeren and seems to be a surprisingly rare species there

Great White Egret (egretthegre) AND White-tailed Eagle (havørn)

with such a large bill this must be the adult female eagle

dwarfing a Hooded Crow 

hunting like a harrier

the juvenile

and the adults trying to get cosy

a Goosander (laksand) flock in Maridalen

wing drying Cormorant (storskarv)

female Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett)