I felt a need to post, no matter how briefly, a few days ago as a very close friend of min recently took his own life and it has been a very strange and emotional time and a reminder to me of the need to communicate. Birding has been, as it always is, a good way for me to keep myself in balance and I have not been spending time in front of the computer or editing photos.
I have this evening found a few more photos and videos from the last week in Maridalen which show a bit how things are there. Autumn migration is starting and the hope is always for something very exciting to turn up although currently I am more aware of the breeding birds disappearing.
adult Black-throated Divers (storlom) on Maridalsvannet. The single small juvenile that was on the lake earlier in the summer has disappeared but up to 11 adults have been on the lake
In this video of Red-throated Divers (smålom) which have not bred on Maridalsvannet but have now moved here from their nearby breeding ponds you can see a juvenile that is begging for food by stroking its parents throat with its bill
a visit to Svellet with Jr Jr to give her some driving practice (her driving test is coming up) looked like it would be very promising but there was no birding gold at the end of the rainbow
a caterpillar of a Pine Hawk-moth (furusvermer) Sphinx pinastri
and the caterpillar of Elephant Hawk-moth (stor snabelsvermer) Deilephila elpenor shown in the video in my last post. I found both of these wandering on roads and they are searching for places to turn into a pupa
Just in case anyone was worried and wondering if I am still here then yes I am 😊
This very short post doesn’t feature a single butterfly, although there is a caterpillar of an Elephant Hawk Moth (stor snabelsvermer) which is a quite fascinating creature.
This video of things that I came across the last couple of days also shows you what I have basically been spending all my available time watching and documenting since coming back to Oslo at the end of July.
During the Bird Race on Saturday we had a strange black & white
duck. First seen asleep with Mallards we hoped it was a Shelduck which we
needed for our list but when it eventually showed more of itself it clearly
wasn’t. We dismissed it as a domestic duck type although when we saw it again
on Monday I began to think that a hybrid Mallard x Common Eider was more likely
and took some footage. There are not many people who share my interest in
hybrid ducks and I don’t think anyone else has spent any time on it (I also suspect
it has been around a while).
A hybrid between Mallard and Common Eider sounds an unlikely
combination and indeed it is with only one report of a possible female fromNorway (although I would say that bird is another hybrid combo) and just a few documented birds to find on the web although a male at
Seahouses, Northumberland is well known.
Based on my photos I feel confident the bird is indeed this
hybrid combo with body shape, head and bill shape matching other reported birds.
not a great photo but I am confident this is a male hybrid between Common Eider (ærfugl) and Mallard (stokkand). The jizz of the bird especially head shape and the rear end short wings are closer to Eider than Mallard and match photos on eBird. The bill pattern with a black nail also matches other birds as do the light grey tertials (visible in the video). Plumage varies greatly between hybrids but this birds plumage also looks good for a mix between the two species even though it does not match other birds. It would have been nice to document it in flight and also out of the water.
The Pallid Harrier we had was seen migrating past the
lighthouse, first flying NE and later migrating out to the SSW. It was scope
views only and wasn’t photographed but a hunting Hen Harrier was and this of
course led to some confusion and suspicion…. Two Bird Theories are always good
but as the Hen Harrier was seen again after the Pallid disappeared out to sea
then I think it was a Two Bird Fact 😇. I managed some photos
of the Hen.
Hen Harrier (myrhauk) - a 1st year male if I am not mistaken
Back home I have looked for the Taiga Beans a couple of
times. On Tuesday I found only 72 on a different field to previously (but again
one that has been used in previous years) but on Wednesday found none so
perhaps they have moved on already after only two weeks but if that is the case
then it will be 2-3 weeks earlier than normal.
I counted 72 Taiga Beans but despite the field looking flat they were difficult to count and birds could disappear so there may have been more but definitely not 129
Water levels in Svellet are still low with lots of mud and
shallow water and many thousands of ducks and geese. There were very few waders
today but two Marsh Harriers and a White-tailed Eagle may have been responsible
for that. A single juvenile Little Gull, 2 Arctic and 2 Common Terns were nice
but I always feel there should be far more terns here.
this male Kingfisher (isfugl) was a nice surprise along the Glomma River
this colour ringed Common Sandpiper (strandsnipe) would appear to have been ringed in Norway as the combination of yellow flag on left leg and red ring on right is a Norwegian thing. Finding out more details though is proving hard work though... We also saw a Greenshank with the same red and yellow ring combo but were unable to read the code
we came a bit late to the lunar eclipse and missed the blood moon
part of a flock of 19 Nutcrackers (nøttekråke) that headed out to sea
some also landed in the bushes by the lighthouse. I am unsure whether they were of the slender-billed siberian subspecies or the resident thicker billed subspecies that we have around Oslo
distant Red Kite b(rødglente) being pursued by Hooded Crows (kråke)
we had a few Stonechats (svartstrupe) and the species has bred at Lista this year.
Migration is ending now in Oslo and nocturnal trips and breeding birds will be the focus.
Breeding waders seem to be having a reasonable season. In addition to the Ringed Plovers that I have previously detailed I have found a Little Ringed Plovers nest, a couple of Common Sandpiper nests, Snipe are displaying at 2 locations in Maridalen and Lapwings in Maridalen keep surprising and seem to be having a good season. They are difficult to keep track of as once the young hatch they move around and hide in grass but I am confident there are four broods of young but quite possibly five with the latest just a day old when I first saw them, a pair is still incubating and another pair have been displaying but not to my knowledge made a nesting attempt. Question now is how many young will fledge.
This is the oldest brood on 22 May when they were already half grown.
female Little Ringed Plover (dverglo) on her nest
LRP nest and eggs.
Common Sandpiper (strandsnipe) nest again with 4 eggs. I found this nest when there were only 3 eggs
another Common Sand nest. As there are only 3 eggs I assume another will be laid. This nest was in a field whereas the other in woodland
Common Rosefinches seem to continue to decline with none recorded so far in Maridalen and just a couple in their stronghold of Sørkedalen. Surprisingly though a couple of brown, 1st summer, males are at Fornebu though and I managed to record them singing together.
Many species seem to have young early this year with broods of Long-tailed Tits and Starlings already on the wing.
I have only seen 3 Red-backed Shrikes tornskate) so far this year but they often don't come in force until June
young Starling (stær) with one of its parents
a young Long-tailed Tit (stjertmeis)
Wrynecks (vendehals) are now mostly silent - the ones who have paired up at least - and difficult to find
The end of May is probably the ultimate time to be birding in Oslo although there is never a bad time. The last spring breeding migrants are returning, migrants heading further north or for the mountains are coming through in peak numbers (although without rain they are likely to just fly over at great height) and the chance of rare birds is as high as it gets. The sunny weather we are having is not conducive to unusual birds but some rain is now forecast from Thursday evening onwards so one can hope.
The hot weather is causing the water level in Maridalsvannet to keep on falling and it is visibly lower each day. My belief that it was too little too late for waders has thankfully proven to be wrong. Even if I am still to see Greenshank and Whimbrel (which others report) I have seaw (or at least heard) 10 species yesterday which in these parts is defined as a wader bonanza. Temminck’s continue to be seen each day with Sunday’s five rising to six yesterday and falling to three today. Single Little Ringed and Ringed Plovers and Great Snipe were also migrants as were a few Wood Sandpipers but Lapwing, Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Woodcock and Snipe are breeders.
The Great Snipe was a displaying bird that I heard on my first nocturnal singer trip of the year. It was a warm, windless night but it is still very early in the season. I did have Great Snipe in mind but the birds I thought were most likely were Nightjar and the begging calls of Tawny and possibly Long-eared Owl. It was marvelous to hear the Great Snipe and also the bleating of a displaying Common Snipe but I’ll have to wait for another trip to hear Nightjars. The only owl I had was a singing Tawny which was the same unmated bird that sang all through the spring. After hearing no begging juvenile owls it was therefore a huge surprise today when in the heat of the afternoon I heard and then saw 3 large young in a nestbox that I would never have expected to be used by Tawnies and in an area where I have frequently stopped but not heard them earlier this year. I will write a post on these a later stage.
The muddy edges to the lake will hopefully be good news for the breeding Lapwings in Maridalen which continue to surprise me. Yesterday I saw there two broods of young – one of 4 newly hatched on the field and three larger ones (from the first nest?) on the mud. There were still three birds sitting so I am at a loss as to where the brood of 4 came from and t was an additional pair displaying and which today looked like they may have started egg laying. So six pairs when I originally thought there were only three and that these had all failed due to the plough.
My first Icterine Warbler and Rosefinch of the year mean that Marsh Warbler and Red-backed Shrike are the only regular breeders I am waiting for.
Temminck's Stint
Ringed Plover (sandlo) with the orange legs behind a Little Ringed Plover (dverglo)
Lapwings (vipe) in Oslo. 3 young on the left and a single on the right with 3 adults. At the time I assumed it was one brood and another adult that was getting involved for some reason. Another possibility is that there are two separate broods of 3 and 1 but then we would be up to 6 confirmed nests plus another pair which does not seem possible
here we the three adults having some sort of argument and the single youngster
male Common Rosefinch (rosenfink)
singing Icterine Warbler (gulsanger)
if a Common Sandpiper (strandsnipe) flies up in front of you when you away from water it may mean there is a nest as was the case today
3 eggs
I saw a Great Tit (kjøttmeis) disappear into a crack in this stump
and found a nest with young that were at ground level
I write this on the last day of April and therefore the day
before my favourite birding day of the year – 1 May. This day may not
statistically prove to be that great but it is a national holiday and I
will always be in Maridalen from dawn following the migration. What will turn
up tomorrow? Red Kite? Black-shouldered Kite?? Pygmy Cormorant???.
Since my last post I have added the following to Oslo 2024:
Greenshank #145, Pied Flycatcher #146 and Whinchat #147. So, 150 is definitely
a possibility before the end of April. When I first started noting my Oslo list
I thought 150 for the whole year was a good result!
Migration is delayed this year so we could have some good
days ahead of us but unfortunately there is no rain forecast and just lots of
sun so there will be no big falls of migrants.
In the Dale the swan drama has now settled down with the
Whooper Swans on the nest and presumably incubating whilst the Mutes are on the
other side of the lake. I cannot wait (a month) to see if the eggs hatch.
The male Three-toed pecker was still excavating the nest
hole today and hasn’t come very yet. The entire chamber will probably take him
a couple of weeks.
Svellet is looking scrumptious and now the birds just need
to come. 25 Greenshank today was a 400% increase on the day before so it can
just keep on going like that for a few days and we will all be happy.
variety in the Dale - Common Sand (strandsnipe), Green Sand (skogsnipe) and White Wag (linerle)
Golden Plovers (heilo) at Årnestangen
my first Oslo Greenshank (gluttsnipe) of the year!
I was as surprised as the Snipe (enkeltbekkasin) when I came around a corner and we made eye contanct
the male Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett) has not come that much further with his nest hole building
my first toad of the year
first Whinchat (buskskvett)
and first Yellow Wag (gulerle) although not in Oslo yet. A male thunbergii
