Late Common Darters in Maridalen

I have posted a few pictures of dragonflies this summer and my interest in them is growing although my identification abilities even with good photos is still poor. I find separating Common Darter (sympetrum striolatum) and Vagrant Darter (sympetrum vulgatum) especially difficult and often have to send my pictures to Finn Mosti for help.

On Thursday I was surprised to find a number of darters in Maridalen with both egg laying and mating observed. The birds were clearly weak with it being so late in the season and allowed close approach. One female also seemed to find egg laying too much and her mate just dropped her in the water but I guess her job was done and she could bow out knowing she had fulfilled her destiny.

It was interesting watching them egg laying with the male holding the female by the head and also mating where they are attached in two places with the male holding the females head and them then attached by their sexual organs. In the video you can see the males body pumping as he presumably transfers his sperm to the female.

I had concluded that they were Vagrant Darters based on the shape of the sexual organs but the expert opinion is that they are Common Darters (although the egg laying ones cannot be safely identified from these pictures)

Common Darters/sympetrum striolatum/senhøstlibelle

an unpaired male

another male

presumably also Common Darters

the female after being abondoned by the male once the job was down

The sunny Dale

Rain this morning turned into a sunny, warm afternoon and Jr needed little persuading that a walk in Maridalen would be good for the body and soul. We spied a few Egret twitchers and the egret itself which eventually allowed itself to be photographed through some bushes. I saw it catch a fish so it looks like it is thriving here and may well become a long-term fixture.

The warm weather led to a raptor bonanza with, in just over an hour, there being 20 Common Buzzards, 1 Rough-legged Buzzard, 3 Sparrowhawks and 2 Goshawks. In terms of quantity I think this must the most productive raptor session I have had in the Dale. The Buzzards were all heading south except for one of the Commons which seems resident in the valley at the moment. An adult Great Grey Shrike also showed plus a late Wheatear.

The sun also brought out butterflies with 4 Red Admirals, 3 Brimstones and an unidentified white. There were also a few dragonflies.

Great White Egret (egretthegre) with lunch. There was a lot of branches between the bird and I

swallowing lunch

the egret took a short flight to join this Grey Heron and called frequently whilst in flight

Great Grey Shrike (varsler) - looks like an adult (but subsequently I am not sure) due to the solid dark lores and jet black bill

Long-tailed Tit (stjertmeis)

Common Darter (Rødbrun høstlibelle)

black darter (svart høstlibelle ) I believe

Wheatear (steinskvett) and Tree Sparrow (pilfink)

Euro Birdwatch

Today was Euro Birdwatch Day and at Fornebu they had an event with ringing. Jr Jr really wanted to be able to hold a bird and I ignored my qualms and took the family for what turned out to be a very good event.

Sunny conditions with too much wind made the art of birding trapping difficult and only five birds were caught but Jr Jr was able to hold and release two of them which she was very happy about. The birds caught were Blue Tit, Dunnock, Robin, Siskin and Redpoll. The Redpoll was an interesting bird. Its colour tones (see photos) said to me that the bird was a Lesser Redpoll but according to the ringer the wing length was too long and it was a Common Redpoll. I don’t know what the wing length was but for me the bird looks like a pretty straight forward Lesser Redpoll so just highlighting how difficult these (sub)species are and I am looking forward to the day that we lump all of them.

Rarest bird of the day was a Rook that flew over and most exciting was a Kingfisher which I heard a couple of times and eventually located in a scope allowing everyone to see it. With the successful breeding nearby in Sandvika (apparently two broods) I expect Kingfishers will again be a regular sight at Fornebu during the winter. 

apparently a Common Redpoll (gråsisik) based on wing measurements but the brown wing bar and generally warm brown plumage tones shout Lesser Redpoll (brunsisik) to me

The Kingfisher (isfugl) at ca.200m range

Blue Tit (blåmeis)

Jr Jr with the Blue Tit

and it regains its freedon

a mating pair of Common Darters (rødbrun høstlibelle) kept landing on people

in addition to these Common Darters there was also a Black Darter and a larger species which I never saw perched and didn't manage to identify

Not just birds in Maridalen

I felt like an all-round naturalist today. Many birders switch to butterflies, moths or dragonflies in the summer but I have never really developed a passion for these species groups although I do like to record the butterflies I see (although I’ve never managed to get to grips with telling apart the various blue and fritillary butterflies). Today though it was almost as though creatures other than birds were more interesting. I found three adders in very close proximity of each other and then in the same area had a couple of dragonflies which I’ve managed to identify as Black Darters (svart høstlibelle) and a load of caterpillars feeding on nettles which I’ve identified as Peacock (dagpåfugløye) plus I had three mink and all this in addition to yesterday’s snails!!!

I nearly stood on the first adder which was a dark, probably melanistic, individual (a black adder) which was curled up in some short grass and as I moved away to take a photo with the big lens I nearly stood on another dark individual. As I then tried to photograph this one I then found a larger and normal coloured individual. Eventually all three got tired of my failed attempts to photo them and slithered away amongst some nearby stones. I suspect that it might be mating time which is why these three individuals were so close to each other. I had one hiss at me as I came to close to it as I was trying to move some grass to get a better picture which was quite exciting!

Birds were similar to the last few days with the Red-backed Shrikes still present, two distant Hobbies, a young Goshawk and a young Buzzard being the highlights.

Black? Adder

the same individual as above

with tongue out

the larger and normal coloured Adder

the other dark individual

this is a female Black Darter

I identified this as another Black Darter based on what I see as a black stripe with three yellow dots however I've received feedback that this is a newly hatched female Common Darter

female Common Darter (rødbrun høstlibelle)




Peacock (dagpåfugløye) caterpillars

Dad and child Red-backed Shrike

one of the young

 

Moustaches

Highlight of the day - Bearded Tits (skjeggmeis) at Fornebu

After sorting out the girls I set course for Fredrikstad where I was going to be refind the 2BC and get some ultimate pictures (I’m not really sure why I can’t be happy with the ones I took on Værøy). Just as I was leaving Oslo I received a message from Per that he had been there half an hour without seeing it. Given that I had an hour and a half drive ahead of me I decided to turn around and instead headed for Fornebu. Per had to wait until 11am until he found the 2BC (båndkorsnebb) but was then able to admire it and a couple of Common Crossbills (grankorsnebb) at a range of 2 metres! Although scientists say it is nonsense it does appear that birds get “drunk” on old berries as they appear to be far more approachable than when feeding elsewhere.

Fornebu though wasn’t a complete disappointment. It was calm and sunny and even warm at times. As I walked towards the reedbed at Storøykilen I saw Kjetil Johannessen standing there taking pictures and was pretty sure I knew of what. Indeed the Bearded Tits (skjeggmeis) were back and this time being very cooperative without any form of encouragement.

Two pairs were feeding on seed heads very close to the path and making a lot of noise. Some great pictures ensured and with a little encouragement they perched perfectly. The fact that they were making a lot of noise suggests to me that they were new birds and after 15 minutes they took off and gained some height before heading off although it didn’t appear they were going that far. I then found a single female close by and she too was calling frequently and flying around the reedbed looking restless. When I returned to the reedbed an hour later the four birds were back but soon took off again, flew around a few times calling and gaining height before this time heading off purposely NE (maybe they will turn up at Østensjøvannet?). Two of the birds, a male and the lone female were ringed but despite closish photos I can’t make out any details.

Three separate Water Rails (vannriske) called from the reedbeds in Storøykilen but none revelaed themselves and on the water there were at least two Little Grebes (dvergdykker) which spent most of the time hiding under the jetties of the sea plane club.

I grilled a small flock of Common Redpolls (Gråsisik) feeding in alders and twice thought I had found an Arctic (polarsisik) when from below I saw birds that appeared to have pure white undertail coverts. One bird did indeed have pure white feathers but was a Goldfinch! and the other on closer inspection had a single large black feather which was initially difficult to see. I heard a very clear trumpet call persistently from an area with spruce trees but was unable to find anything other than a trumpeting (eastern) Bullfinch and a couple of overflying Common Crossbills. I’m sure it won’t be long though before I turn up a local Arctic Redpoll or Two-barred Crossbill.

Observation of the day though was of a dragonfly. A Common Darter (rødbrun høstlibelle) Sympetrum striolatum would appear to be the latest record in Akershus (beating yesterdays observation of probably the same individual by Geoff Acklam!) and one of the latest ever in Norway. Its days must be numbered as there was ice on the puddles so I hope it was able to find a mate and do what dragonflies do – “slurp, slurp, flutter, flutter, shag, shag” according to a great sketch by Smith and Jones which I have tried to find on YouTube but have failed.

I have taken some pretty satisfying pictures of Bearded Tits before but today’s pictures are definitely a notch above the rest. The warm morning light was great – not too bright that it burnt the colours out but bright enough that I could set the lens at F9 which is its best aperture and with an ISO of 800 and shutter speed of 1/640sec I am pretty happy – in fact delighted – with the results.

Please excuse me posting so many pictures but each one shows something slightly different.

This pair snuggled up to each other in the early morning sun

 

There was quite a bit of photogenic stretching but they rarely were both looking at me in portrait pose

this was the closest I got to a portrait picture

there were many pictures like this but even from behind they are very attractive birds

This picture was taken at F6.3, 1/800sec, ISO 800 and was in focus and here you can see how the Sigma 150-500mm lens is far inferior at this aperture compared to the pictures above at F9.

male Common Darter dragonfly - the latest record in Oslo and Akershus