Well, it seems birding still has something to offer so
butterflies can wait just a bit longer which is just as well given the wet and
cloudy weather we are forecast to have.
Just after I wrote my last post an evening trip to Fornebu
allowed me to first hear and then see a Gropper that had been found earlier in
the day. Grasshopper Warbler remains a very scarce and not even annual special around
Oslo and was unsurprisingly the first record of the year. This is the second
time I’ve heard one at Fornebu with the first being a bird that arrived at the
end of April in 2019 and hung around for a month. An April arrival fits in with
the small regular Norwegian breeding population that are mostly found on the
west coast whereas an arrival at the end of May/beginning of June (that is the
normal fare in south east Norway) which often occur during warm periods with
southerly winds may well be a bird that has already tried its luck somewhere
else in Europe and has then decided to move north looking for more joy.
Grasshopper Warbler (gresshoppesanger) Fornebu
Last night I was about to go to bed but then looked at the
weather forecast and realised that even though conditions were not perfect (it
was cloudy and damp) it would be quite a few days before there were any better
conditions for some night singer activity. Maridalen started very quiet with
just two Woodcocks for my troubles as I got to the end of the valley. A distant
Tawny Owl had me trying to drive closer to locate it as amazingly enough this
was only my second record this year. Early spring nocturnal sorties had
resulted in just one very distant singing Tawny Owl which must have been a sign
of how little food there was. Vole numbers may be picking up though as in
addition to the two Tawnies I now heard a GGO was photographed in the forest just east of Maridalen last week. Maybe Oslo will have an owly autumn and
winter?
As I drove with the window open I heard a noise that I
thought was from the car but after turning off the engine (an electric car
would be very good on these trips) I realised I was listening to my second
Gropper in two days and only my fourth ever in Maridalen - and boy did it sing!
I was able to see it quite well using my head torch and whilst doing so I
thought I heard a Nightjar call. A bit later it called right over me and I then
got to see it really well as it hunted moths around me and even sang briefly
from a fence post.
I set about trying to record this unforgettable experience….
but as usual my phone has far fewer videos than I thought I took plus a good
number of videos of the ground…. I thought I was seeing a
red light showing I was filming but surprise, surprise things were not as I
thought. I wonder if there is a support group for people like me? I also had
the superzoom with me but despite use of the head torch it really struggles in
the dark. I did get some documentation though:
First a video of the Grasshopper Warbler with a bonus Sedge Warbler at the end:
Pictures of the Nightjar
Nightjar (nattravn)
here we can see the white wing patch showing it to be a male (as confirmed by it singing)
And video of the Nightjar which does have a sequence of it moth catching from a fence post and then briefly singing with the sound of the Gropper all the time in the background:
On the way out a Sedge Warbler was in full song and this was
a Maridalen tick for me🥳. I had first heard it
in the middle of the day but only a couple of snatches of song which were not
enough to confirm the ID. The ID was later confirmed though by Jon Andrea, an
up and coming teenage birder who gives me hope that birding in Oslo has a bright
future and by the evening it was not holding back.
There are now two Barnacle x Canada hybrids in Maridalen and
both are different to last week’s bird so we really are talking about an
influx.
both of the Canada x Barnacle (hvitkinngås) Geese hybrids
paler bird with a white forehead and hardly any hint of a darker chest
the darker bird
this bird is I am sure the paler bird but due to its posture it is showing off a white neck collar which doesn't show in the other photo
the darker bird really stands out
here the darker bird, a Canada with too much white on the head and a Canada x Greylag hybrid
I went looking today for a retrospectively identified (heard
only) singing Red-breasted Flycatcher found last week and which is the first
record in Oslo since the last bird in Maridalen in 2019. The area where I believe
it was heard looked just like the areas where they have previously been found
breeding in Oslo but I heard nothing which either means it has moved on, or he
is mated up and breeding as in my experience they go silent as soon as that
happens and only start singing again once the eggs have hatched. The area was coincidentally
one I have frequently visited for butterflies especially Northern Chequered Skipper
and a brief period of sunshine did wonders and in addition to the skipper I
also had a couple of Wood Whites which is a species I have seen even less often
than the skipper.
here showing the underside of the wing and with a Green-veined White (rapssommerfugl)
and here with a Brimstone (sitronsommerfugl)
At Fornebu it was also great to find a Ringed Plover family. The species only regularly breeds around Oslo only on Gressholmen and at Fornebu. A couple of pairs have tried breeding at Gressholmen this year but seem to have failed despite two attempts whilst at Fornebu the available habitat is getting smaller and smaller. Finding this adult with two young about a week old was therefore heart warming. They were close to a road and two young have also most likely been lost (they lay 4 eggs) and the odds are against these two but fingers crossed that they make it.
here the adult is sheltering one young whilst another runs away. I was watching from the car.
this is the one that was being sheltered. Note that the legs of the young look already to be fully grown
Before I get onto the delights of the mountains (and
I still have rather a lot of images and video to go through) I also had a
couple of good days in the Dale at the end of last week including guiding Josh
as a birthday present.
The Grasshopper Warbler performed very well
including singing from both 4-5m up in a tree and also down in the grass.
I also checked out some of the more exciting
breeding birds. Red-throated Divers are present on last year’s breeding pool
but I saw no sign of an active nest and there were two pairs present which
seemed to cause problems. Two Goshawks nests that I visited had adult birds
present whose behaviour suggested small young were in the nest although it is
impossible to see them until they get larger.
I discovered a Bullfinch nest in a spruce tree by a
path and only just over 2m above the ground which was a real surprise. Great
Spotted Woodpeckers are feeding noisy young in their nests at the moment making
the nests easy to find but I have still to locate a Three-toed ‘pecker nest
although did find a female in the same area that they have been in this spring.
Three-toeds breed later than Great Spots so it may be a week or so before noisy
young help location of a nest.
Grasshopper Warbler (gresshoppesanger)
on the ground
4-5 m up a tree
Goshawk (hønsehauk) nest 1 with the female still on the nest but sitting high up as though young present
and nest 2 with the female off the nest
Great Spotted Woodpecker (flaggspett) nest
an array of insects being brought to the young
another nest
female Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett)
3 Red-throated Divers (smålom)
and a fourth flying over
female Whinchat (buskskvett)
male Bullfinch (dompap) with the nest and sitting female just under him
the nest jusr 2,5m above the ground in the lowest branches of a spruce
Rare arctic gulls are all well and good but
Maridalen and its surrounding forests are where my heart is and where the real
action occurs. This week has started well and appropriately on the official
start of summer, 1st June, all of the expected summer visitors are
now back plus one unexpected one.
On the last day of May I added Honey Buzzard and Marsh
Warbler to my Oslo year list which left just one species remaining which was
Common Rosefinch and that fell today with a 1st summer male singing
in one of the favoured spots in Maridalen. This species has become much scarcer
the last two years and I wonder if something is afoot. The unexpected species
was Grasshopper Warbler which Stig JK found last night and which showed quite
well for me this morning. Other scarce summer migrants that could turn up in
the Dale are Corncrake, Quail, Blyth’s Reed Warbler and River Warbler but each
summer is different so it will be interesting to see what 2022 brings.
On the Lapwing front there are still 2 birds sitting
on nests at Skjerven farm although they are becoming difficult to see as the
crops grows. I checked the muddy edges of the lake and found only 5 young (2+3)
which was a halving of that I found last week with one whole brood vanishing.
On the plus side a pair has laid 4 eggs on the mudflat at Kirkeby and have been
incubating for a couple of days. This pair is, I assume, a pair from Skjerven
that is relaying but will risk being flooded out if we have lots of rain.
A walk in the woods gave me my first Hazel Grouse in
a while (I haven’t been looking) with a male that sang strongly and presumably had
its mate close by on eggs.
First some videos where the birds are invisible but their songs can be heard loud and clear
Grasshopper Warbler (gresshoppesanger) only my third ever in Maridalen
1st summer Common Rosefinch (rosenfink) - a rather boring bird especially when you think how it will look in a years time
the new Lapwing (vipe) nest on a mudflat rather than an arable field
four eggs
I have twice walked past this very low vegetation and a female Yellowhammer (gulspurv) has flown out
and this is why!
The Black-headed Gulls (hettemåke) at Østensjøvannet are having yet another terrible breeding season with many nests abandoned and far fewer pairs than there were just a couple of years ago. This single nest though built in the new "wader scrape" (which has far too deep edges and consequently no waders) has two young which hopefully will fledge
a rare Oystercatcher (tjeld) at Maridalsvannet on 1 June. There were 7 species of wader and it will soon be the autumn passage and hopefully finally I will see a Dunlin
singing Icterine Warbler (gulsanger) which does seem numerous this year
the first Marsh Warbler of 2020 in Maridalen which turned up on the last day of spring
male Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)
my first Fritillary of the year, a Pearl-bordered (rødflekket perlemorvinge)
and my first dragonfly a White-faced Darter (småtorvlibelle)
the last spring migrant wader in Maridalen this year? A Wood Sandpiper (grønnstilk) with a Little Ringed Plover (dverglo) in the foreground. The LRPs do not seem to be breeding yet despite lots of display
