Some pleasant surprises in Oslo and Maridalen regarding
breeding birds means I am not completely over into the butterfly world just yet.
On the lake there was suddenly a single adult Mute Swan with
5 small young! This is just like last year in that they suddenly appeared but
this year I was better prepared and had discovered the nest on 26 May. After
that discovery of the nest though I had been unable on subsequent attempts to
see any birds on it (although it was very difficult to see) and had only a
record of single adult on 1 June and then a pair flying over the lake (not near
the nest) on 9 June. I therefore assumed that the nesting attempt had failed
and the birds had moved off. To suddenly see an adult with young was therefore
a shock and it was equally surprising that I could not find the other adult
anywhere on the lake. Has the male died or moved off? And if so how did the
female managed to incubate and feed without me ever seeing her? And the pair I
saw on x June – were they visitors? Perhaps the other pair that started nesting
and then gave up? An answer to the first question is that P578 who I saw on
Maridalsvannet on 29 April, and his ring was again read on 24 May, who is the
male of the pair that bred last year and I assume the father of this years young
was seen on 16 June at Fornebu where he and his mate had spent the winter – so
it looks like he has left his mate to fend for herself! Did this happen before
the eggs hatched?
Mute Swan (knoppsvane) - presumably female PC79 who bred here last year - with 5 small young but not with her mate (P578) who has flown down to Fornebu!
The Black-throated Diver pair (one of perhaps two on the
lake) still have a single youngster and have moved quite a way from the nest
with it.
Black-throated Diver (storlom) family
The ever growing cereal crop on the Lapwing field makes seeing
the birds very difficult but yesterday I could see 3 (2 + 1) almost fully grown
young which is a great relief but the fate of the two last nests remains unknown.
a nearly fully grown Lapwing (vipe) young
And finally, I had Red-backed Shrike in the Dale this year
and it seems to be a nesting pair so fingers crossed for their success.
pair of Red-backed Shrikes (tornskate) in Maridalen
and the male on his own
A visit to Østensjøvannet today also revealed lots of young
birds. Best of all were the Black-headed Gulls which have had their first successful
breeding season (at least as a colony) for a few years with many large young on
two islands. Great Crested Grebes, Coot and Mute Swans also had young (the
later no larger than the ones I saw on Maridalsvannet) and surprisingly a
female Goldeneye had 11 quite large young with her. This raises two questions –
are they all hers? Perhaps unlikely. And how have so many survived so long? Normally
the vast majority get eaten either by gulls or pike.
Black-headed Gulls (hettemåke) have had a successful breeding season at Østensjøvannet
and a male Gadwall (snadderand) which once again seems to have chosen Østensjøvannet to moult although this year there were no records earlier in the spring
One of the main birding events around Oslo is the gatherings of migrating waders and waterfowl in Nordre Øyeren especially at Årnestangen and Svellet. I have not given this much attention so far this autumn and have missed the best bits which are normally at the end of July when thunderstorms can bring down a vast selection of adult waders. Now in late August the species variety is significantly less and almost all birds are young birds. On Wednesday I joined up with Jules Bell for a trip to Årnestangen and Svellet and yesterday I visited Svellet and Merkja. The most numerous wader was Ruff with around 250 birds in total and more unusual birds were Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew Sand and Little and Temminck’s Stints.
In Maridalen I have continued looking for raptors and especially Honey Buzzards but despite what I would describe as perfect condition there has been very little to see although the HBs will get their own post later. A young Peregrine has been a regular sight though terrorizing a group of Feral Pigeons that frequent one of the farms and amongst the few Common Buzzards is a particularly pale bird.
Svellet has been Made Great Again and alongside lots of Ruff (brushane) are a couple of Black-tailed Godwits (svarthalespove)
on the neighbouring Merkja two male Gadwall (snadderand) in eclipse
Goosander (laksand) in Maridalen. A female (middle) has managed to raise 8 young which is incredibly gowing considering that the many Goldeneye (kvinand) broods typically and quite quickly decline to one or two, or none
here male (who has had nothing to do with the family before now), a 1cy and mum
a 1cy Peregrine (vandrefalk) has been regular in Maridalen and likes to have a go at a small flock of Feral Pigeons (bydue) that hang around one of the farms
this pale Common Buzzard (musvåk) has also been a regular sighting
I have seen evidence of a Nutcracker in the garden with discarded leaves and nuts from our Hazel Trees on the lawn and today I saw the culprit from the kitchen window:
This year hasn’t been that good for butterflies yet with
lots of rain and when there is sun it is often windy. I have consequently not
spent much time searching for them but as with all things with wings sometimes
they come to you. Yesterday whilst driving in Maridalen I saw a large black and
white butterfly flutter in front of the car. For the first time (that I can
remember at least) I emergency stopped for an insect although it soon transpired
I had all the time in the world. The butterfly, which was a Poplar Admiral
(ospesommerfugl) was attracted to the road and was clearly finding something
good, probably salt, on the tarmac. It managed to avoid death at the hands of
passing cars, although all slowed down as they were clearly interested to see
what I was up to, and it kept landing and showing itself off from all angles.
Whilst this was happening a Swallowtail flew over although unfortunately did
not stop. So arguably the two most spectacular Norwegian butterflies at the
same time and in the Dale 😊
Poplar Admiral (ospesommerfugl). Only the fourth time I've seen one and by far and away the most cooperative. They are famous for being attracted to dog sh*t but seems tarmac roads are just as attractive
I paid a visit to Østensjøvannet yesterday hoping that the rainy
weather might have produced something (a Black Tern turned up at Årnestangen at
the weekend) but as with all my rain fuelled visits this spring there was not
even a Swallow to see. Something is clearly up with the lake with there being
no insects hatching and therefore no Swallows, terns or most importantly gulls
to feed off them. I reckon that this is the reason that Black-headed Gulls, which
used to breed here in a colony of many hundreds of pairs, have now more or less
completely abandoned the lake for breeding. It did look like there were two nesting
pairs though which was a surprise although whether they can raise young is
another thing.
Even if there were no insect eaters, a couple of male
Gadwall in eclipse plumage were most unexpected.
male Gadwalls (snadderand) in eclispe
Coot (sothøne) parent and young
when at Østensjøvannet it is rude not to take a picture of a Great Crested Grebe (toppdykker)
Maridalsvannet has been having lots of hatching insects over
the last few weeks with many Common and a few Black-headed Gulls hawking them.
There have also been Common Tern which today peaked at 6 birds which I am sure
is a record here. There have also been lots of Swifts, Swallows and House Martins
and the odd sighting of Sand Martin. Today there three birds including a pair
mating on wires right above my head. I never saw them visiting potential nest
holes although they have previously bred in holes between stones on a nearby bridge.
I did foolishly have another nocturnal outing last night but
with nothing to show for it I think this must be my last of the year, in
Maridalen at least.
mating Sand Martins (sandsvale)
Swallows (låvesvale) collecting nesting material. The bird on the left is ringed. It is quite late to be nest building
I haven't been able to make much out of the ring not even which country
Marsh Warblers (myrsanger) have become quiet as they pair off
there are now two Pink-footed Geese (kortnebbgås) at Maridalsvannet. At least one of them is paired to a Greylag and maybe both
These two Mallard (stokkand) chicks are very different
So, I know I set my expectations (or should that be
ambitions) for 1st May very high but even with low ambitions the
early start in Maridalen could not be considered a success. I was there by 05:40
which was later than I had planned but there was just nothing moving in the air
or anything new on the lake except for a small increase in the number of Tufted
Ducks and a new pair of Mute Swans. There was a very weak wind from the north
but it was relatively warm (7C when I drove in and reaching over 20C by the
late afternoon). It was almost impossible to understand why there was so little
to see. After an hour I was ready to move on, either to Svellet or even perhaps
just go home and have breakfast.
But then..
Bjørn Olav had found a singing! Hoopoe at Fornebu. I was
down there in a flash and actually proved to be the twitchiest person out there
only to find out that Bjørn hadn’t seen it for 20 minutes. I went looking
though and 5 minutes later refound it and most importantly heard it. It
is years (decades?) since I have heard one sing and what struck me most is how
similar it is to the song of Tengmalm’s Owl. If I had just heard it early in
the morning then I think I would have started out looking for a small owl rather
than an exotic guest. One can wonder if it was the same bird seen here last
year. It is also lacking a tail which may mean it is more likely to hang
around.
I foolishly decided to leave Fornebu after an hour believing
that Maridalen would have now warmed up only to find out that I missed a Great
White Egret… But if Fornebu could attract such good bird surely there was something
to be found in Maridalen. Unfortunately not, and you may say unbelievably so,
although Wood Sandpiper was new, Oslo #149, following a Common Tern, #148, that
I got after leaving Fornebu.
The video has it singing and note how it throws its head forward
