My new favourite Maridalen fields were jinxed by my last
post and have been almost empty since! Fog also covered the valley on Wednesday
and until early afternoon on Thursday but today we had sun from the get go and
I had sky high expectations. With a light southerly wind I was expecting Falsterbo
heavy but had to wait a looooong time for my first raptor. In the meantime a
number of small flocks of Pink-footed Geese headed north but I really thought
there should be raptors. We have not had a raptor migration day yet this spring
and by my reckoning there should be thermals full of Common Buzzards and
Sparrowhawks waiting to head north. Well, my reckoning doesn’t seem to count
for much.
There were NO Sparrowhawks, and none of the four Common
Buzzards that eventually passed in front of my field glasses looked to be
actively migrating. One of them, a very pale bird, looked to be the same as I
have seen in previous years. There was one raptor highlight though that then brought
a little rush. I picked up a young Golden Eagle heading very slowly west over
the north of the valley whilst I was stood at Nes. I drove up to the north and
did not find it but did pick up a Kestrel and a White-tailed Eagle heading
north so there was some quality if no quantity. Along with Goshawk I had five
species of raptor today and am already up to to nine for the year in Oslo.
The first Adders are also out showing themselves and my
first butterfly, a Small Tortoiseshell was on the wing today so spring is
springing!
a young Golden Eagle (kongeørn) at far too long range but you can see what it is
One of 4 Common Buzzards (musvåk) none of which was actively migrating. This very pale bird looks to be the same that has been in the valley in previous years
Goshawk (hønsehauk)
Goldcrests (fuglekonge) look to have really suffered due to the cold spell so it was nice to find this bird which was also singing
Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers (dvergspett) are making themselves known singing and drumming and I have seen a pair together. Here the male
and here the female who was reacting to the male in the next door tree
Pink-footed Geese (kortnebbgås) - one of a number of small flocks heading north today
Cloudless nights mean that there are fewer and fewer birds
every day, or at least that is how it seems.
Encounters with Jack Snipe, Bearded Tit and Siberian tristis
Chiffchaffs have been the highlights of the last few days as a wing bar or two
continues to elude me.
Singe pairs of Bearded Tits are in two reedbeds at Fornebu
but are for the most past very low down and are I believe still feeding on
insects. They call loudly only very occasionally and it seems to be when they
have lost contact with each other. Today I had a pair feeding in reeds just 3-4
metres from me for a good 15 minutes and it was possible to hear very, very
quiet calls which I assume were to make sure they stayed together but they were
incredibly difficult to see until they perched on a reed just over the ground for
a couple of minutes and preened. They were only two metres away but were almost
impossible to see let alone photograph.
I have had upto two Jack Snipe but lack of observations from
day to day suggests to me that these are new birds that are moving through and
just stopping for a day before continuing.
My best views of Beardies were on Wednesday when there was thick fog
a Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) in the open
droppings and bill marks in mud are a good sign that snipe are around
this Jack was much better hidden. Can you see him?
should be easier in this picture
there are a lot of Long-tailed Tits (stjertmeis) around this autumn and flocks move through very quickly
a ringed Siberian tristis Chiffchaff at Fornebu yesterday. A quite classic individual that was also heard calling
it was together with this unblinged bird
the lone 1cy Whooper Swan (sangsvane) is still at Fornebu. It loosely associates with Mute Swans but is often alone
And a trip to Østensjøvannet gave some photographic birds
male Mallard (stokkand)
young Moorhen (sivhøne)
female Pintail (stjertand)
Shoveler (skjeand)
side by side with a Mallard
and a late Adder (hoggorm). This was very small and I believe hatched this year
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.
The first quarter of the year is now complete and an ice
free Østensjøvannet is sure sign that spring is here as was the sound of
singing Chiffchaff today. The ice has gone very quickly at Østensjøvannet – on Wednesday
when I saw the Smew there was just a small ice free area where all the birds
were concentrated but by Saturday all the ice was gone. The period when there is
just a small ice free area is a good time to be at Østensjøvannet because it is
possible to get good views of many species so it is a shame that it was so
short this year. The Saturday visit was to see a Pochard that had been found
and another visit today revealed both the Pochard and Smew to still be present.
There must be a lot of small fish as there are good numbers of Goosander but
there are few dabbling ducks and unfortunately the Black-headed Gulls look like
they have already decided they are not nesting here for yet another year. The
lake has previously had up to 2000 breeding pairs and lots of work has been
done to ensure there are suitable nesting sites but something else, which I
believe is a lack of food, has put the gulls off the lake.
In Maridalen the first Meadow Pipits have arrived and Twite
remain in very good numbers but there is little else and definitely no raptor
passage which I hope to see each day with sun….
female Pochard (taffeland) at Østensjøvannet
and a male Tufted Duck (toppand)
I scanned all the gulls for something rare but reading colour rings was the most exciting thing in the end. Here three different types of colour ring on Black-headed Gulls. The white and green are Norwegian and the red is from the UK (I have yet to receive details on it)
J88E was the oldest bird and was ringed as an adult female at Østensjøvannet 31st May 2015. It has been seen many time since but only in the Oslo area and it wintering grounds are unknown
J0280 is the bird that has travelled most. Ringed in Oslo 9 June 2022 it has been seen in Milton Keynes, England in January of both 2023 and 2025
Whooper Swans (sangsvane) are still moving through and this group was in Maridalen yesterday
Adders can be found sunning themselves in the same places each (sunny) day and it is still only males that are out
Black Woodpeckers (svartspett) are excavating a new hole after using the same one for the last 3 years
