Despite hearing singing Tawny Owl’s (kattugle) on pretty much every nocturnal spring trip in Maridalen I had not managed to find any occupied nest boxes (I have never come across a natural nest hole in Maridalen). I still expected that nocturnal trips in June would reveal the presence of begging young but it is nice when one has a nest to follow. Just in the nick of time I did find a nest and it was purely by chance. One day I heard the sound of a begging young from a place where Tawny Owls were the absolute last thing on my mind. I knew there was a Goldeneye nest box in the tree next to me and looking at I could see a crack in the side and through the crack I could see the white fluffy feathers of baby owls!! They were clearly close to leaving the box and soon one, then two and finally three appeared at the opening 😊
I was able to follow them as over the next few days they one by one left the box and then perched in bushes and trees nearby. At night they made a heck of noise to let their parents know they were hungry but also called during the day. Very surprisingly I never saw an adult during the day even once the young were out of the box when the adults are normally close by and give warning calls when a threat (me) gets too close. I also didn’t see or hear an adult when I spent close to half an hour by the young one night. I had hoped to witness a food delivery in the thermal imager.
The nest box was on the edge of water and I had worried that a young could end up in the water on one of its maiden and uncontrolled flights but I didn’t expect to witness it. On a visit the day the last young left the box what I believe was the youngest reacted to our presence by flying out of its chosen tree (this has never happened with such small young before). It flew, although flapped is a better description, over the water and splash landed about 3m out. We were ready to wade out to save it but it had everything under control and using its wings as paddles made it back to land quickly. It then walked under some bushes and a few hours later was 2 metres up in the same bush begging for food so no harm seems to have been done.
The position of the nest in an isolated line of small trees was probably the reason I never saw the adult as they would have been in larger trees further away but presumably with a view of the area where the nest box was. I had hoped that this would also mean that the young would stay close to the box for quite a long time allowing me to easily find them and observe their development aswell as my hope of witnessing the adults bringing food. However they quickly moved away. Within a couple of nights they had moved close to 50m to the north and come to the end of the line of trees. Another couple of nights later though they had moved the other direction and were 100m from the box having crossed at least 60m of open land (or perhaps water depending on the route they took). It surprised me how quickly and far they moved and makes me wonder why they move and how they keep together. Do the adults encourage them or is it instinct?
They then moved a further 100m to an area of larger trees and perched higher up than before. There were now only 2 young that I could find and when they call at night it is easy to find them. I still failed to witness a food delivery or see an adult but may have heard one, the noises of which are audible in the final video. The young settled down in this area and were easy to find in the daytime.
By 11 days after they had all left the nest box they had moved another 300m which involved another long stretch over open land or water. It was in this new area which was more open woodland that I finally got to see an adult fly in with food and to also hear the young receiving the food. We could also see the young practising their flying skills.
Subsequent visits revealed no owls suggesting they had moved at least another 300 metres into a more extensive area of woodland.
the day I found them after hearing them calling and not quite believing my ears
out of the nest on a wet day
the oldest of the young on a wet day and most of the white downy feathers have been lost
after the unfortunate and unintended swim
in the thermal
me and a baby Tawny
having moved to larger trees 5 days after all the young had left the nest box
it was beyond cute to find them huddled up like this
this was in the evening of the 11th day after all the young had left the nest box
12 days after all the young had left the nestbox
13 days after leaving nest box
three videos from the evening of day 13 the first being the adult arriving with food:
when you are out at night you meet other creatures too
The Nightjar pair I mentioned in my previous post were not to be seen at the same site again although I did have a pair nearby and believe they were moving around and prospecting for a nest site although it is rather late in the season now. Nightjars proved to be rather common in the area with at least 4 territories along a 1.5km stretch which is in start contrast to up until 5 years ago when I had none on my nocturnal trips from the cabin and it is only 2 years ago that I first recorded a bird along this particular stretch. This is a species which along with Great Grey Owl seems to directly benefit for the surge in forestry work this last decade or so.
I have engaged in some sea gazing whilst having my morning coffee and usually saw nothing but yesterday two Sandwich Terns went south - this will presumably now become a species I bump into «all» the time after having waited 24 years for my first in Norway - and today a Caspian Tern went north😊. Apart from these three quality terns I only had 3 Common Terns in total during the week so definitely a case of quality over quantity.
Sea gazing from the cabin is a very comfortable affair but the area of sea that can be viewed is very narrow however I am building up a good list of birds now with these two scarce terns adding to Pomarine Skua, White-billed Diver and Surf Scoter.
Butterflies have again taken up more time than birds although I have also read a book and gone for walks and spent time with my family☺️. After a couple of days with rain it was sunny on Wednesday and it was noticeable that new species were emerging for the first time with especially Ringlet (gullringvinge) appearing in the area for the first time this trip and being numerous overnight.
Sea gazing with coffee, OJ, The Beast and a minute before 2 Sandwich Terns (splitterne) which I did not manage any photos of.
The Caspian Tern (rovterne) did however allow itself to be recorded for prosperity
A Linnet (tornirisk) flying out of this conifer by the cabin had me suspecting a nest
And sure enough there was one. The parents were very secretive when visiting the nest although the male would be perched nearby singing when the female entered with food
Summer holidays have begun and per tradition our first week is at a cabin south of Oslo near Hulvik. Butterflies are in short supply so far except for Queen of Spain Fritillaries (sølvkåpe) which are by far the most numerous species and in numbers I have never seen before.
Evening drives with Jr have become another tradition and our first one gave a good haul with 4 Moose including a mother and tiny calf, 3 Roe Deer, 2 Badgers and 3 unidentified small bats. I started with animals as that is Jr’s priority but on the bird front we had 2 Corncrake, 2 Quail, 5 Nightjar, 3 Tawny Owls, 2 Long-eared Owls, 3 Marsh Warblers and quite a few Woodcocks.
The best experience came as we were nearly back at the cabin when we found a pair of Nightjar seemingly nesting. It was as dark as it gets by then but I will spend more time with them and hopefully with the use of the thermal imager get an insight into their secretive lives.
Red-backed Shrikes are scare this year with just 2 males seen one of which was singing so unpaired but the other probably had a female on the nest.
This is the only picture I took of a Nightjar (nattravn) with the superzoom at 00:10. I should probably have taken some more but was concentrating on video
This week I have twice guided to Hedmark and it has been unusually easy! Ortolan was a target on both trips and both times the bird was spotted singing from roadside wires and all that was needed to do was wind down the window to enjoy its lovely song. After over 5 weeks on territory he still seems to be unpaired although on the first visit I thought I could hear two birds calling although on the second visit there was nothing to suggest more than one.
Great Grey Owl was only a target of the second trip and that only required stepping out of the car to hear the young begging for food. I knew the young had left the nest 10 days ago and was prepared to have to search for them but no, they were waiting for me 😊
We found only 2 large young and it therefore looks like one has been lost but we had both parents although in an hour and a half saw only one delivery of food so it may be that the vole population has crashed.
Falling water levels have allowed me to get an overview of the Lapwing breeding situation in Maridalen. The remaining birds have moved from the breeding field to a nearby muddy bay and here I was able to find 8 young from 4 broods. 1 was fully grown, 1 quite large, 3 small and another 3 very small. I expect more will be lost but this was a better situation than I expected although from 5-6 pairs it is hardly great.
The Oslo Honey Buzzards are on the nest 10 days earlier than last year although we are still to see them in the air despite quite a lot of watching - they are sneaky birds!
I have only videos to add to this post as I seem to have lost the still photos I took. There is also a video of 2 Little Terns that are only my second sighting in Norway and which I twitched at the (again?) Mighty Svellet.
I am sure some, OK a couple, of you have been waiting for
this post and for the rest you can just ignore it 😉
So far 2025 has been a strange butterfly year around Oslo.
There are not many butterflies on the wing at all but there is a lot of
variety and many species seem to have emerged very early. I think this may be
due to the dry and warm early spring we had which may have brought a lot
of species on earlier than normal but then we have had a period of cold and wet
weather which will have affected many as they were about to emerge or had
emerged.
I have made little effort to just go after butterflies but
in addition to my usual observations from the Maridalen area and Fornebu I have
had one visit to Nesøya which I have previously detailed, one to the mountains
and yesterday a specific trip, a twitch if you like 😊,
to the east of Oslo.
My trip yesterday was an attempt to fill in remaining holes
of species that occur within roughly half an hour of Oslo. My trip to Nesøya a
couple of weeks ago gave me Scarce Heath (heroringvinge) and my trip yesterday
was for False Heath Fritillary (mørk rutevinge) and Bog Fritillary
(ringperlemorvinge). I succeeded with the first but will have to try again for
the second. By the time I got to my chosen bog it was already hot and constantly
sunny and all the fritillaries were in constant flight and the only ones I ever
saw land were egg laying Pearl-bordered (rødflekket) so a visit in slightly cloudy
conditions earlier or later in the day would make more sense.
In addition to the Bog Fritillary I still have Meadow Brown (rappringvinge),
Essex Skipper (timoteismyger) and Chequered Skipper (gulflekksmyger) that I should
be able to find although these are closer to an hour from Oslo.
My trip to the mountains was primarily birding but that was
mostly achieved very early in the morning so when the sun came up and the
temperature rose I switched to butterflies. It was not much of a detour on the long
way home to visit a site which seems to have become the go to site for Large
Grizzled Skipper (alvesmyger) after only being discovered there a decade or so
ago. There seemed to be nothing special with the roadside site and I am sure
this species is far more widespread than recent records indicate but there are
so few people who are interested in butterflies in Norway and even fewer who
actively search for new sites/species. I failed in my search for the Large
Grizzled although at the time thought I had succeeded but my pictures show I
saw just Grizzled. I was unaware both species occurred there but it was very
early for Large Grizzled so I will have to see if I can visit again later in
the summer. The south facing hillside site was quite butterfly rich though and I
enjoyed my time there. I then tried for Apollo at the site where I have previously
seen them but despite seeing many other species it also seemed still too early
for Apollos.
The pictures work back through the spring
False Heath Fritillary (mørk rutevinge)
and a regular Heath Fritillary (marimjelle rutevinge) for comparison
Northern Chequered Skipper (svartflekksmyger). A male and my third sighting at three locations this year
Grizzled Skipper (bakkesmyger) which I was hoping would be Large(r)
Northern Wall Brown (bergringvinge)
and a Large Wall Brown (klipperingvinge)
finally I saw a Violet Copper (fiolett gullvinge) that was violet
another individual with less violet sheen
a Wood White (skoghvitvinge). Cryptic Wood White (engsmyger) also occur in Norway and maybe I need to dissect this and examine its genitals to be sure what it is but it is a female and from my reading of the literature its lack of black wing tip means non cryptic
another Northern Chequered Skipper and my first female
a female Orange Tip (aurorasommerfugl)
Heath Fritillary (marimjelle rutevinge)
this Painted Lady (tistelsommerfugl) was a surprise. I did not see the species at all in 2024 but records quite a way north this spring suggest their may be an invasion brewing
and the first Northern Chequered Skipper of the year
male Orange Tip
Common Blue (tiriltingeblåvinge)
Pearl-bordered Fritillary (rødflekket perlemorvinge) and another insect
Nothern Brown Argus (sankthansblåvinge)
Scarce Heath (heroringvinge)
Brimstones (sitronsommerfugl) - not often one sees the upperwing
