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)
I had a quick visit to Maridalen yesterday in light rain and
it gave me a new species for the Dale for the year and also good views of a
scarce species.
The new species was Common Rosefinch. There used to be a few
breeding pairs but it has become very scarce in the last few years and you are
more likely to hear a Whinchat mimicking a Rosefinch than the actual bird. When
I heard a short burst of Rosefinch song from an area where a Whinchat has been
singing this week I was therefore expecting it to be mimicry but had to check
it out to be certain. To my surprise it was actually the real deal that was
singing although it was a brown, 2cy male. Whilst watching this bird I then
heard a Cuckoo cuckooing not too distantly and was able to get close enough to
see it. I cannot actually remember seeing a singing Cuckoo in the Dale so this
was a cool experience (although in the mountains over the next few days we
should see and hear many).
a male Cuckoo (gjøk) in the rain
male Common Rosefinch (rosenfink). A male because it was singing and a 2cy because it is brown (males do not become red until their 3rd year)
and a male Common Whitethroat (tornsanger) that is still unmated. This year is a good one for the species in the Dale with a number of singing males
It’s so hot and sunny now that I have almost given up
on birds for the year and started on butterflies.
If
I am to break my Oslo year record of 191 species, let alone smash the 200
barrier, then some rain and falls of migrants are necessary.
My
Oslo list is ticking along with yesterday giving Garden Warbler #165 and Scaup
#166 whilst today gave Whitethroat #167, Red-backed Shrike #168, Cuckoo#169 and
Kingfisher #170. I have never reached this total so early so things should
be looking good. Problem though is that I reckon I have only another 4 species
that I can consider certain: Reed Warbler, Marsh Warbler, Common Rosefinch and
Honey Buzzard whilst all others will bonuses and this includes species like
Redstart, Sand Martin and Bluethroat which I would have expected to see by now
and fear I may have missed my chance with. So, I will need to find a lot of
Oslo rares😊
Yesterday’s
Scaup was a bonus bird and was a pair on Maridalsvannet which is only the third
spring record here. Today’s Kingfisher was even more unexpected but could well
indicate breeding which I need to follow up on.
pair of Scaup (bergand) on Maridalsvannet - a rare species on spring migration
Wood Warblers (bøksanger) are now back. Although it is never to be found in large numbers I had 5 birds today
Wryneck (vendehals)
male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (dvergspett). I had both these species in the same tree "singing" but did not mange to record it
female Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)
Black throated Diver
Blackcap (munk) have been back a while
but Garden Warblers (hagesanger) are only just arriving. As usual I need to see them to tell them apart as I usually don't hear a difference in their song
an unexpected sighting was this silent flyby Cuckoo (gjøk). I was alerted to its presence by alarm calling White Wagtails
a singing Pied Flycatcher (svarthvit fluesnapper) in the garden is probably last years bird
a couple of Slavonian Grebes (horndykker) I bumped into at a breeding site
whenever I see an old Black Woodpecker hole I scratch the tree trunk hoping a Tengmalm's Owl will stick its head out. That never happens unfortunately but today this Goldeneye (kvinand) did
she had a bit of down stuck to her head
interestingly she has a hole in her beak. I can't imagine what caused it
a Grizzly Skipper (bakkesmyger) was my earliest ever and first unusual butterfly of the year. I have now seen 12 species so far in 2024
