Summer starts but spring is not quite yet over

1st June marks the start of summer in Oslo but on a rainy day with southerly winds I still had my thoughts on late spring migrants. This is the time of the year when really unexpected rarities can turn up but there are also more predictable ones such as rare terns or waders that you can hope to find at Svellet or Årnestangen. That was where I was headed today and Svellet still has some exposed mud. A good number of gulls and a few Common Terns were resting here but nothing rare or scarce and single of Red- and Greenshank were the only waders.

The walk out to Årnestangen was mostly dry (I chose the umbrella rather than rain coat option which worked out well) and mercifully free of mosquitoes although I am sure they will come soon. There were attractive looking mudflats and pools at the tip but they were all rather birdless although a heavy rain shower but an end to my scanning and I had to seek cover sitting down pushed against the wall of the hopefully inadequate but typically Norwegian viewing platform. Most counties equip nature reserves with «hides» where you can sit down and escape the rain whilst also being hidden from the birds such that you enjoy closer views and the birds are less disturbed. Norway of course has to do things differently and at Årnestangen the choice is a slightly raised open platform that offers no real shelter from the elements and definitely doesn’t hide you from the birds. Rather curiously, viewing slats have been put in the low walls which I was able to use today when on my knees and flattened against the wall with umbrella over me although I doubt that was there intended use.

 

Whilst sheltering I did hear a few waders and when the rain stopped enough for me to look properly I found three Turnstones with a small flock of Ringed Plovers. It is very rare for me to see Turnstone in summer plumage so this was a nice if distant encounter. Not a single calidris wader was a disappointment although a Red-Backed Shrike was the last of the non-nocturnal breeding migrants that I had yet to see.

 

Maridalsvannet has had a hatch of insects which in recent years attracts terns. None have turned up so far this year but a Little Gulls hawking insects with the Black-headeds today was nice. Yesterday evening a large flock of Canada Geese flew over the house and today what must be the same birds were in Maridalen. Amongst them was a hybrid Canada x Barnacle but surprisingly not the same one as in Sørkedalen last week. What is causing this sudden influx of presumed dutch birds?

 

On Friday butterfly watching in Maridalen was interrupted by news of a Little Egret at Fornebu and I quickly drove down to enjoy it. This species is still very rare around Oslo with this being only the 5th record whilst Great White has become annual and sometimes in small flocks.

the knee high viewing slats at Årnestangen allowed me some slight protection from the rain

during a pause in the rain. It was the exact weather conditions you hope for out there and in mid to late July could have resulted in hundreds of waders of many species.

Little Egret (silkehegre) at Fornebu on Friday

hybrid Canada x Barnacle Goose in Maridalen. It lacks the white forehead that last weeks bird in Sørkedalen had (see previous post) and also had a much darker breast

three young Lapwing (vipe) being looked over by mum

and here are 4 young. There was another adult closeby and the 4th young may have been from another brood. None of them was the single large young that I saw flapping its wings last week so things are still looking good. Two nests are still being incubated and have at least another week to go before we see any young.

Skjerven - the geese and Lapwing field in Maridalen