It is very dry at the moment and gets warm in the afternoons
but at night in Maridalen there is still a frost. The ice on the lake is
visibly thinning and the ice free area at Hammeren is expanding during the day
but come the next morning much has frozen over again.
These are not great conditions for attracting birds onto the
fields though and there is VERY little to see with the flocks of Mistle
Thrushes and Bramblings having moved on with the thrushes having moved to their
local breeding sites in the forest and the Bramblings to breeding sites further
north.
I am determined to find a Red Kite this spring and with
Maridalen not playing ball I decided to drive to the south east yesterday but
this didn’t result in anything other than a few Common Buzzards. Sky gazing in
Maridalen today gave quite a few Pink-footed and Greylag Geese with Greylag now
migrating in larger flocks than earlier. A few Cranes also went north as did a
single Sparrowhawk (I also had some local Sparrowhawks, Goshawks and Common
Buzzard) but the raptor of the day was a Marsh Harrier heading south west of
all directions.
A male Pintail has joined an increasing number of Mallards
and is clearly in love with a female Mallard who he is noisily displaying to.
A trip to the Mighty Svellet yesterday revealed an early
group of 24 Curlew and the conditions currently look fantastic but what they
will be like in a months time when the real fun starts is anyones guess.
I write this on April 2nd 2025 the day that the
Great Orange Clown has named “Liberation Day”. Let us hope that following this
day the Red Kites feel liberated enough to show themselves to me rather than
there being erected barriers to migration 😉
a very fine male Pintail (stjertand)
no rings. There have in previous years been Pintails in the Oslo area with pastic rings and which have therefore jumped the fence but this one has no obvious sings of plasticity
female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (dvergspett). The birds in Maridalen have suddenly gone quiet suggesting they are paired up as was this bird.
and the male
today's rarest bird was an early Marsh Harrier (sivhauk)
one of the local Common Buzzards (musvåk). I am unsure if it has nesting material in its talons or has picked up some grass at the same time it tok prey. It was calling over its presumed nest area
migrating Cranes (trane)
a singing Dunnock (jernspurv)
I am now up to 3 butterfly species this year. Here a Brimstone (sitronsommerfugl)
and a Camberwell Beauty (sørgekåpe). Small Tortoiseshell (neslesommerfugl) is the other species I have seen
We have now had two nights without frost and along with
southerly winds I have been expecting a flood of migrants. Of course, that has
not been the case and viz mig has been a particular disappointment with just a
few flocks of Pink-footed Geese, 2 Cranes and a Kestrel. I had a real hope for
a few raptors but it is clearly still too early still (and I have this “surprise”
every year at this time….).
Despite the lack of viz mig there has been an arrival of new
birds. Dunnocks and Redwings are suddenly back and singing from woodland, White
and Grey Wagtail are suddenly wagging away and there are considerably more Lapwing, Mistle
Thrushes, Chaffinches, Bramblings and a large Twite flock in Maridalen.
Surprisingly though there are no Robins back yet but that must happen soon.
The Hawk Owl has been showing very well as it exploits a
rich source of Bank Voles (klatremus) and I was very happy to be able to film
it dismembering and then eating one.
A trip to Østensjøvannet was very birdy with lots of noisy
gulls and various wildfowl with a pair of Smew being the absolute highlight.
The video I have long wanted to capture showing the beheading, entrails removing and swallowing of a vole
Hawkie on a wire
and on its way down for what ended up being an unsuccessful vole hunt
this video has a few sequences with it giving its call that I also heard frequently when it first turned up in November
male Smew (lappfiskand)
pair
and with a Grey Heron (gråhegre)
3 male Teal (krikkand)
and a close of up another bird
the Heron was not at all popular with the Black-headed Gulls (hettemåke)
Goosander (laksand) are also back
3 species of returning gulls on the ice and 2 male Goosander
Grey Wagtail (vintererle) is back in the Dale
as is Dunnock (jernspurv)
and Redwing (rødvingetrost)
and a large flock of Twite (bergirisk) is having a stop off on its migration
and the first White Wagtail (linerle) of the year
not in Maridalen and not a good picture but I cannot remember capturing Parrot (furukorsnebb) and Common Crossbill (grankorsnebb) together before
Canada and Greylag Geese in Maridalen suddenly became very alert when this fox appeared
After some days in England without bins but where
Red Kites were so numerous that you nearly don’t notice them anymore it has
been nice to return to winter in Oslo and the possibility of finding a Red Kite
which really will be noticed.
Maridalen is still covered in snow but afternoon
temperatures up to +7C mean that it is slowly melting and there are now a few
areas of bare ground. Overnight frosts though means that it is still very
wintery in the mornings and few birds are arriving. They are arriving though
and I have been out every morning and recorded an increasing number of new species
– Mistle Thrush, Merlin, Kestrel, Redwing, Song Thrush, Dunnock, Meadow Pipit,
White Wagtail and Chiffchaff amongst others. Chaffinches and Skylarks are
singing strongly ensuring there is lots of noise. I had hoped for some raptors
movement and I have seen a few but not in the numbers of variety I hoped for.
Here are my eBird checklists from Maridalen the last
three days:
