Birdlife in Maridalen has really settled down with all signs of migration having come to an end. The very popular Pygmy Owl (one of at least four being seen in the valley) by the bridge and feeders continues to show most days as do the Marsh Tits. I have now ascertained beyond doubt that there are three Marsh Tits which is a Maridalen record and 🤞maybe the start of a permanent range expansion. The quiet bird is still hanging out by the horses usually in the close company of at least one Willow Tit and is now feeding in trees rather than amongst (now frozen) horse muck. Only 300 metres away there are now two noisy birds regularly coming to the feeding station where they can be seen alongside the other five tit species.
Only around 25 species is now the expected haul from a session in the Dale which really is not very exciting. A visit to the fjord at Huk gives roughly the same number of species but of a very different composition and on Thursday I had both Oystercatcher and Purple Sandpiper. There are many hundreds of Herring Gulls in the fjord feeding on a super abundance of starfish that are exposed by very low tides. This super abundance is apparently a further postive affect of a huge breeding (wrong word I know) of mussels last year which in addition to being food for seaducks are also food for the starfish.
Pygmy Owl before sunrise
In this video the owl chases off a Magpie (skjære) that landed close to it
Marsh Tit (løvmeis) with Great Tit (kjøttmeis)
Nuthatch (spettmeis)
birds need to drink and when there is ice but not yet snow to eat then theyneed to exploit any open water they can find such as this Blue Tit (blåmeis)
the view from Huk, Bygdøy on Thursday morning
Purple Sandpiper (fjæreplytt) and Oystercatcher (tjeld):
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
The last week has continued along well trodden paths
with Maridalen’s current specialities showing whenever the Bird Gods deem me to
be deserving. On Thursday I was out with Jack who was hoping to finally see
Grey-headed Woodpecker which was a potential lifer. Jack’s well won reputation
for keeping the birds away made me unsure as to whether to join him but I did
and the pecker also showed. This needed celebrating and we decided to then head
for town for some urban birding along the seafront before heading for a Christmas
beer or ten. We were hoping to see an Iceland Gull that had been seen and then
ringed last weekend but couldn’t find it. A bread eating Eider that clearly
thought it was a Mallard and a couple of Wigeon were the best we could come up
with.
In Maridalen I have also visited one of my old Hazel
Grouse sites and found birds were still present (always good to have more than
one site for this species) and at home a flock of over 200 Waxwings has been
gorging on apples in the neighbourhood.
the small beach by the Opera is a great area for waterfowl and gulls in this winter
this is the Cormorant (storskarv) that was asleep in the above picture which was clearly not very healthy
this young male Eider (ærfugl) clearly thought it was a bread eating Mallard
it had been ringed at the same place on 21 September and has been there ever since
Mute Swans (knoppsvane)
Two male Wigeon (brunnakke) both of which were also ringed
this young male had been ringed on 22.11 nearby on Akerselva
and this is the male that was ringed in 2016 and has been in Oslo since
Blue Tit (blåmeis)
Coal Tit (svartmeis)
Crested Tit (toppmeis)
Great Tit (kjøttmeis)
Willow Tit (granmeis)
Nutcracker (nøttekråke)
a Groundcreeper (bakkekryper)
Waxwing (sidensvans)
this bird was ringed
Grey-headed Woodpecker (gråspett)
this bird with the red crown feathers seems to be account for all the current sightings in Maridalen and can move a few kilometers in under an hour
