One of the main birding events around Oslo is the gatherings of migrating waders and waterfowl in Nordre Øyeren especially at Årnestangen and Svellet. I have not given this much attention so far this autumn and have missed the best bits which are normally at the end of July when thunderstorms can bring down a vast selection of adult waders. Now in late August the species variety is significantly less and almost all birds are young birds. On Wednesday I joined up with Jules Bell for a trip to Årnestangen and Svellet and yesterday I visited Svellet and Merkja. The most numerous wader was Ruff with around 250 birds in total and more unusual birds were Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew Sand and Little and Temminck’s Stints.
In Maridalen I have continued looking for raptors and especially Honey Buzzards but despite what I would describe as perfect condition there has been very little to see although the HBs will get their own post later. A young Peregrine has been a regular sight though terrorizing a group of Feral Pigeons that frequent one of the farms and amongst the few Common Buzzards is a particularly pale bird.
Svellet has been Made Great Again and alongside lots of Ruff (brushane) are a couple of Black-tailed Godwits (svarthalespove)
on the neighbouring Merkja two male Gadwall (snadderand) in eclipse
Goosander (laksand) in Maridalen. A female (middle) has managed to raise 8 young which is incredibly gowing considering that the many Goldeneye (kvinand) broods typically and quite quickly decline to one or two, or none
here male (who has had nothing to do with the family before now), a 1cy and mum
a 1cy Peregrine (vandrefalk) has been regular in Maridalen and likes to have a go at a small flock of Feral Pigeons (bydue) that hang around one of the farms
this pale Common Buzzard (musvåk) has also been a regular sighting
I have seen evidence of a Nutcracker in the garden with discarded leaves and nuts from our Hazel Trees on the lawn and today I saw the culprit from the kitchen window:
MC Hammer may have had his Hammer Time but Oslo
Birder has Taiga Time and is lucky enough that it is biannual occurrence. Two
emails had already pinged into my inbox from Angus in Scotland asking me whether
there had been any sightings in Norway yet as Dan in Sweden already had 24
birds on the early date of 9th August and a whopping 193 on the 23rd.
I may not be Norwegian but it does sting to be outdone by a Swede so I went out
looking for the geese last Thursday and then again yesterday. The last working
collar stopped transmitting this summer so I have no technical aids to help me
in my search which does make Taiga hunting a very different ball game altogether
as they have a habit of choosing obscure fields or marshes. On Thursday I
checked out previously favoured stubble fields which only revealed that they
were indeed stubble and the harvest had happened and yesterday my search of these
same fields revealed only a small flock of Canada Geese and Cranes. I knew
where I had to go but was hesitant as visiting the often used peat bog would
likely mean sinking to my shins in peat (happened), getting crawled on by deer ked
(hjortelusflue) which while not being big biters are undoubtedly one of nature’s
most annoying creatures (happened) and if I found the geese I would undoubtedly
end up flushing them which I hate doing (happened).
What initially looked to be just 6 geese hidden away
on the bog turned out to be 129 when they flushed at more than 100 metres range
and despite my best efforts for it not to happen. After a pretty constant decline
since I started counting them in the autumn in 2013 this is a very welcome increase
and must be the result of a good breeding season. Dan had managed to count 31
juveniles in the Swedish staging flock of 193 on Saturday and while I must
admit to not being very confident at separating juveniles from adults it is
clear from the flight photos I took that there are lots of family groups.
Otherwise , my drive around an increasingly autumnal landscape revealed disappointingly few raptors but there were good numbers of Yellow Wagtails and Wheatears.
I had seen that one bird had a collar when I was in
the field but could read no details. Instead I took loads of photos of the
flock in flight with the aim of being able to find all ringed birds aswell as
identify family groups. After going through my pictures I have been able to see
the following:
1. Collar V8 was the only collar in the flock and he
had 3 young but no mate. V8 was paired to 05 who carried the last working GPS
sender until she sent her last plot on 30 May. The plots had suggested that 05
had nested successfully and it was great to see that is the case but of course
sad that I could not see 05 with her mate and young. We will never know what
happened to her and whether she perished at the same time the sender sent its
last plot or if that happened later.
2. I read a single leg ring (right leg) of a bird that
had lost its collar and this was a really exciting find. Y6 is a bird that has
used both Norway and Sweden and is I think the only bird that has been
documented doing so:
spring 2020 NO
autumn 2020 SW
spring 2022 NO
autumn 2022 NO
spring 2023 NO
autumn 2024 SW
spring 2025 SW
autumn 2025 NO
3. In addition there was a bird with a white ring on its
left leg that I could not read but is probably 7V
4. I also saw two birds with metal rings, one on the left leg and one on the right leg. From the pictures it is not possible to see their other legs so they could be the same as 2 and 3.
I have not yet attempted to identify and count juveniles and family groups but will post a number of photos that allow any who is interested to do so.
glimpsing some birds on the bog
the whole flock of 129 birds
the graph shows that this is a high autumn count and indicates a good breeding season but Y6 shows that birds that had used the Swedish route in previous years can use the Norwegian route in the next season so we have to be a bit careful how we interpret these numbers
V8 with 3 goslings but his mate 05 is no longer with us
another picture showing the family of 4 sticking together
Y6
a white colour ring on the left leg with an inscription that I cannot read. 7V is I think the best candidate
a metal ring on the left leg but we don't see the right leg
and here a metal ring on right leg (can't see left leg) and a white ring on right leg which may well be Y6
when I spotted the first birds which were over 100m away beyond the small trees
this is where they had been
there were a few discarded feathers
and droppings
the peat bog was very dry with most pools having dried up
there were a few pools though and it was clear the geese had visited them. In the autumn they often do not visit the river or their roosting lakes at all during the day and when they are using stubble fields I interpret some of their regular visits to this peat bog as visits to drink
And a load of pictures that will help in identifying juveniles and family groups
V8 and his family are at the bottom
V8 and family highlighted
a Cuckoo (gjøk)
and adult Honey Buzzard (vepsevåk) and juvenile Common Buzzard (musvåk)
Despite my best intentions I have spent quite some time
this week with Honey Buzzards with a few checks on the regular nest but
also trying to triangulate on a nest that I believe must exist in Maridalen. I
am now within a just a few hundred metres of it and with luck will locate it
tomorrow…
Other than that there is an increase in migrants in
Maridalen with a few pipits, wagtails, Whinchats and Wheatears on the stubble fields
and the organic vegetable patch still hosting Red-backed Shrikes and best of
all a couple of Bluethroats.
The Maridalen swan saga continues. After the Mute
Swan pair was driven off leaving behind a small cygnet (which I have not seen
for a couple of weeks and presume has perished) something serious has now happened with the Whooper Swan
family. On the 18th the pair were at Kirkeby and in Nesbukta there
was a single, lost looking cygnet. I then had no sightings of any swans until
today when the pair were again at Kirkeby but with no sign of the cygnet. Prior
to the 18th they had seemed like a very tight family unit with the
adults leading the two cygnets around and never leaving their side so what happened
on the 18th? Why would the pair abandon one of the young and what
happened to the other? Were they attacked by a fox or dog? Or have the pair
themselves turned on their own young? They are a very aggressive pair with
their frequent attacks on the Mutes and any other Whoopers that dare visit
Maridalen in the breeding season. Have they finally lost it and once their own
young reached a certain size seen them as a threat? They are getting on now and
have bred since 2010 but after rearing at least 40 young between 2010 to 2021 things
have changed and since then they have struggled with 3 fledged young in 2023
their only success in this period.
Water levels at Årnestangen and Svellet have been
very high but started falling again from the weekend and a visit to Svellet
today revealed lots of birds on newly (re)exposed mudbanks with 160 Ruff a very
good count and out of 10 species in total a Black-tailed Godwit was the
highlight.
Bluethroat (blåstrupe) in Maridalen
Red-backed Shrikes (tornskate) are still finding lots to eat in the organic vegetable patch
the Whooper Swan (sangsvane) pair and a single cygnet alone 1.5km away on 18 August. I have seen the adults again today, although not yesterday but have not seen the cygnet
the family on the 15th
one of three Three-toed Woodpeckers (tretåspett) that entertained my whilst I was on Honey Buzzard watch
I was completely sure that my butterfly year was
over and had no plans on chasing anymore species until a message last night
rather changed things. Kjell who I normally see on Værøy or Jæren was down in
Hvaler (in the far south-east of Norway) surveying insects and had seen 3
Clouded Yellows. This is still a real rarity in Norway and of course one of the
vagrant species that I needed. It was the chance of meeting up with Kjell that
was the biggest draw but a new butterfly would also be nice so I decided that I
would head down there this morning. With a drive of 1hr 40min to see a vagrant
species seen in passing the day before this would be my first proper butterfly
twitch rather than dedicated journey.
On the drive down it was clearly hot and sunny but a
rather strong wind had me slightly worried. I arrived before Kjell (and Stein)
who were busy emptying moth traps and set about searching in the area where
Kjell had seen them yesterday. It was an area with cabins by the sea and was clearly
very productive for butterflies and was also out of the wind. One of the first
species I saw was Meadow Brown (rappringvinge) which is one of those common species
that occur close to Oslo but which I have been waiting to come to me rather
than me go to it. So that was rather unexpectedly species 81 in Norway and
there were lots of them. 82 came soon after when a butterfly that looked very similar
to ones I had seen in the mountains just a month ago shot past me. It took a
while before it stopped and landed on a flower but I soon had documentation of bog
standard, regular, Clouded Yellow (vandregulvinge) rather than those rare
northern version 😉. I had 9 sightings in total and
there was clearly a male that was patrolling a territory but there was
definitely one other individual and quite possibly more.
But my butterfly luck didn’t stop there. Grayling
(kystringvinge) which I have only seen once before were common, I saw the regular
form of Silver-spotted Skipper (kommasmyger) for the first time having
previously only seen the mountain form catena around Beitostølen. I also
saw my first, and a fairly late, High Brown Fritillary (adippeperlemorvinge) of
the year which was a species I had to be honest forgotten about. At this point
I started to get greedy and think about finding an Essex Skipper (timoteismyger)
which I realised also occurred here but I should have been here a couple of
weeks ago but I must leave something for next year 😉.
my first Clouded Yellow (vandregulvinge) in Norway!
and my first, and long overdue, Meadow Brown (rappringvinge). When it landed in the grass with wings closed and only the underwing showing (inset) it just disappeared
it was easier to see when the top of the upper wing was visible
and a Small Heath (engringvinge) for comparison
Silver-spotted Skipper (kommasmyger)
Grayling (kystringvinge)
and an attempt to capture the open wing
this aberration was from Fornebu on Saturday and had me at a loss until...
... I saw the underwing and it was clearly a Queen of Spain Fritillary (sølvkåpe)
Back in Oslo and procrastinating away I am using dog
walking duties as a means of checking out on my breeding raptors. Yesterday,
saw me visiting the Honey Buzzard nest and today was a final attempt to find the
Hobby nest.
The Honey Buzzard young still look healthy although
a very obvious difference in the development of the two birds is perhaps more
than just an age difference and could suggest food shortages mean one of them (the
older one) is getting more food. I looked under the nest and saw no discarded
wasp comb which I take as a bad sign. Walking up to the nest area I glimpsed an
adult gliding towards the nest but was unable to see if it was the male or the
female although based on the last two years the female will probably have already
bailed. An hour and a quarter at the nest revealed only the young doing nothing
other than sitting still with no wing stretching or squabbling. On the way back
to the car I saw two dark HB thermalling high over the nest site that quickly
disappeared from view and then the male appeared low over the trees by the nest
and also quickly thermalled out of view. I could not make out if the first two
birds were a male and female but assume they were non/failed breeders moving
over the area or perhaps prospecting for a future nest site.
On the Hobby front it was a case of bad news and
good news. The good news is that I located the nest and could confirm that there
have been young, the bad news is that the confirmation came from the presence
of a dead juvenile on the ground under the nest. The carcass was right by a
path and the nest right over it and it was only seeing the carcass that allowed
me to find the nest. The nest was incredibly will hidden and impossible to see
from anywhere else other than under it. I had no live birds in the area so have
no idea whether any other young have fledged although if they had then I would
have expected to hear them. My last sighting in the nest area was 16 June and I
have visited since then without joy so it was a real surprise that such a large
juvenile was there which would have meant the adults would have been caring for
it and bringing food for the last month. The carcass still looked fairly fresh
although had been eaten at and there were droppings from a mammal on it. My
theories for how it ended on the ground are either being blown out during high
winds or perhaps a Goshawk attacked the nest resulting in one of the young
jumping out and the others being eaten?? My failure to locate any adults (especially
hearing them) on previous visits is also strange and makes me wonder if one of
the adults also perished at some point such that just a single adult was bringing
food but that is pure speculation.
Otherwise, I have had very few other raptors when in
Maridalen although it is the end of the month that is usually the most
productive and there is little in the way of migrants other than a few Whinchat
and Red-backed Shrikes. The two baby Whooper Swans are growing and being well
guarded by their parents but I have not seen the lone baby Mute Swan again.
The two Honey Buzzard (vepsevåk) young on the nest. The head of the closest bird is still covered in white downy feathers whereas the other, older, bird has lost most of them
very poor pictures of the two HB that thermalled high over the nest.
the male from the breeding birds that appeared out of the forest by the nest
the unfortunate proof that Hobbies (lerkefalk) have indeed bred in Maridalen this year
the carcass of a juvenile Hobby
fresh droppings of a mammal that I assume had been feeding on the carcass
here, I have turned over the carcass
the nest was very difficult to find but through the binoculars I could see lots of white feathers around the nest
one of four 1st year Red-backed Shrike (tornskate) that as is most recent years are finding lots to eat in a cooperative organic vegetable patch
a juvenile (male?) House Sparrow (gråspurv) was with the Tree Sparrows (pilfink) at Kirkeby and indicates repeated breeding of this once mythical species (for me at least) in Maridalen
