Summer starts but spring is not quite yet over

1st June marks the start of summer in Oslo but on a rainy day with southerly winds I still had my thoughts on late spring migrants. This is the time of the year when really unexpected rarities can turn up but there are also more predictable ones such as rare terns or waders that you can hope to find at Svellet or Årnestangen. That was where I was headed today and Svellet still has some exposed mud. A good number of gulls and a few Common Terns were resting here but nothing rare or scarce and single of Red- and Greenshank were the only waders.

The walk out to Årnestangen was mostly dry (I chose the umbrella rather than rain coat option which worked out well) and mercifully free of mosquitoes although I am sure they will come soon. There were attractive looking mudflats and pools at the tip but they were all rather birdless although a heavy rain shower but an end to my scanning and I had to seek cover sitting down pushed against the wall of the hopefully inadequate but typically Norwegian viewing platform. Most counties equip nature reserves with «hides» where you can sit down and escape the rain whilst also being hidden from the birds such that you enjoy closer views and the birds are less disturbed. Norway of course has to do things differently and at Årnestangen the choice is a slightly raised open platform that offers no real shelter from the elements and definitely doesn’t hide you from the birds. Rather curiously, viewing slats have been put in the low walls which I was able to use today when on my knees and flattened against the wall with umbrella over me although I doubt that was there intended use.

 

Whilst sheltering I did hear a few waders and when the rain stopped enough for me to look properly I found three Turnstones with a small flock of Ringed Plovers. It is very rare for me to see Turnstone in summer plumage so this was a nice if distant encounter. Not a single calidris wader was a disappointment although a Red-Backed Shrike was the last of the non-nocturnal breeding migrants that I had yet to see.

 

Maridalsvannet has had a hatch of insects which in recent years attracts terns. None have turned up so far this year but a Little Gulls hawking insects with the Black-headeds today was nice. Yesterday evening a large flock of Canada Geese flew over the house and today what must be the same birds were in Maridalen. Amongst them was a hybrid Canada x Barnacle but surprisingly not the same one as in Sørkedalen last week. What is causing this sudden influx of presumed dutch birds?

 

On Friday butterfly watching in Maridalen was interrupted by news of a Little Egret at Fornebu and I quickly drove down to enjoy it. This species is still very rare around Oslo with this being only the 5th record whilst Great White has become annual and sometimes in small flocks.

the knee high viewing slats at Årnestangen allowed me some slight protection from the rain

during a pause in the rain. It was the exact weather conditions you hope for out there and in mid to late July could have resulted in hundreds of waders of many species.

Little Egret (silkehegre) at Fornebu on Friday

hybrid Canada x Barnacle Goose in Maridalen. It lacks the white forehead that last weeks bird in Sørkedalen had (see previous post) and also had a much darker breast

three young Lapwing (vipe) being looked over by mum

and here are 4 young. There was another adult closeby and the 4th young may have been from another brood. None of them was the single large young that I saw flapping its wings last week so things are still looking good. Two nests are still being incubated and have at least another week to go before we see any young.

Skjerven - the geese and Lapwing field in Maridalen

Lista Bird Fair

My first trip to Lista was a very enjoyable affair. The company of like minded souls, good weather and some good birds all contributed to a great weekend although 2 x 7 hours driving in a car packed with 5 males and lots of baggage would ideally not have been part of the experience ;-)

The Bird Fair consisted of a 9 hour bird race and then a social gathering with a talk about feathers on owls (don’t ask) and then a competition which would result in the rather ambitious title of Norwegian Birding Champion being awarded. The team I was a member of (in the illustrious company of Andreas Gullberg, Rune Zakariassen and Knut Eie) recorded 112 species which put us in joint second place which given our lack of local knowledge was a very satisfactory result. The members of the best four (?) teams were then allowed to compete in the competition which started with 20 mystery bird photos which were just shown for a few seconds and could consist of more than one species. I came joint first in this part of the competition which then went to a counting competition where four of us were briefly shown five photos and had to estimate how many birds there were. I started very badly when I estimated 100 birds from a photo that had 50 and where everyone else was in the 30-50 range but came back strongly and ended up joint first after the second phase. Two of us then went into sudden death. We both got the first two photos right before getting the next three wrong (and both giving the same wrong suggestion) before I didn’t have a clue on the 6^th picture (wasn’t even completely convinced it was a duck…) but my 18 year old opponent, Benjamin Grimsby, deservedly saw it for what it was (a Long-tailed Duck) and I had to settle for being the second best birder in Norway….

What birds did we see though? On the way down we twitched a Little Egret and then on the day we had White-billed Diver, male Two-barred Crossbill and Citrine Wagtail (although this was after the race had finished). Lista is definitely a great birding locality although it was a bit strange to see how excited the locals were with Black Woodpecker and Nutcracker which I am used to seeing in Maridalen. Both these species turn up rarely at Lista where they often try to migrate out to see but end up turning around (as they did when we were there). British birders will undoubtedly wish that they didn’t turn around and it could well be via Lista that the very few British records of Nutcracker have originated from Lista and although Black Woodpecker hasn’t made it to the UK maybe one day…

The lighthouse at Lista. The bird observatory uses the lighthouse buildings and rings in the lighthouse garden

The two black spots are Black Woodpeckers that thought better of flying out to see but did stop in a bush and on a pylon

juv Citrine Wagtail (sitronerle)

this young Great Spotted Woodpecker also looked like it was heading out to see before stopping in the last tree

male Two-barred Crossbill (båndkorsnebb)

 

this bird was particularly large billed but frequently gave the distinctive trupet call

Little Egret (silkehegre) at dusk

Back on the patch

After a long break I have finally been back on the patch and have bagged the final three summer visitors that I had been waiting for: Honey Buzzard, Hobby and Red-backed Shrike.

The Hobby shot through in a fleeting visit last week and the Honey Buzzard and Shrike showed well today. The Hobby was a hunting adult that could indicate local breeding (although I wonder why I never see the birds earlier in the summer), the Honey Buzzard was an adult male that was flying around the valley and was probably looking for food to take to a nest many kilometres away. The Red-backed Shrike was also an adult male but this was probably a bird that has bred elsewhere and has already left its youngsters to fend for themselves (and the youngsters themselves should soon move through Maridalen).

Last week I had a couple of Marsh Warblers alarm calling at a site where there had been a pair and another singing male earlier in the summer. These birds showed and looked like Marsh Warblers and also called like Marsh Warblers. Today I had two birds at the site where I have had the (for me) unidentified warbler(s). The birds responded to pishing and gave Sylvia like chacking calls in response without any classic Marsh Warbler notes. This should indicate Blyth’s Reed except for the fact that what I saw of the birds resembled more Marsh Warbler and I have also recorded Marsh Warblers giving this Sylvia like call. Never-the-less it was quite noticeable how different these birds were compared to the birds from last week.

A visit to Fornebu gave me, the now long staying, Little Egret which shows very well.

today's Honey Buzzard (vepsevåk)

with a Sparrowhawk

Today's Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)

after being absent last year, there seem to be good numbers of wasps this summer

Marsh Warbler from 30 July (and the bird calling at the beginning of the following video)

 

Common Rosefinch from last week

Little Egret (silkehegre) and Grey Heron (gråhegre) at Fornebu today

Redshank (rødstilk) at Fornebu today

Little Egret

Little Egret (silkehegre)  Fornebu

A sure sign that the summer holidays are good is that I have been offline and not updated the blog. I have lots of photos and video from the cabin to go through and which will end up on the blog one day but now we are back in the south again. A day at home before further travels allowed me to see a Little Egret at Fornebu. This was an Akershus tick for me and I felt lucky to get this one because whilst I have been away there have been four Akershus ticks on offer and all of them national rarities. July is normally considered a very quiet month but not this year with Terek Sandpiper, Caspian Tern, White Stork and the Egret all being available and widely twitched by those still in town.

Little Egret is still a rare bird in Norway despite its abundance now in the UK although this year has seen a number of records and it may soon become a regular species here. This is my second Norwegian record after I bumped into one near Bergen in 1998 whilst visiting the prospective Mrs OsloBirder who was studying there whilst I was still working in London.

Back in the hood

The last week has been spent in Mallorca on a family holiday and not birding during primetime in Norway which means that it was not me but rather Håvard Eggen who discovered a second for Norway (and a very rare WP bird) in the form of a Baltimore Oriole on, yes you’ve guessed it Værøy! It goes to show that timing and weather mean everything with island birding in the autumn – the obvious solution would be to move there..

Back in Oslo today I took Oslo Birder Jr on a cycle ride to Maridalen where we twitched the valleys only second ever Shovelers and best of all had a Pygmy Owl. I heard a bunch of very irritated passerines and knew they were mobbing an owl. We walked up to them and stood under the tree where all the commotion was going on. I was thinking Tawny Owl and was therefore looking for something big and it too me a looong time to notice the tiny yellow eyed predator sitting just 5 metres above me on a small branch. I managed two poor photos before it flew off with a Brambling nipping at its tail.

this Pygmy Owl was perched very close in good light but unfortunately it flew off right after I got this picture. It didn't help that I was desperately trying to get Jr onto the bird

Our week in Mallorca involved little birding despite us staying in a hotel on the edge of the fantastic S’Albufeira wetland nature reserve. I birded very little and had no ‘scope and only took the old 70-300mm lens. There was a small hide overlooking a pool only 5 minutes walk from the hotel so I did of course visit that every day J

Best record was a flock of 32 Marbled Teal which I think originate from reintroduced birds as do the couple of Purple Gallinules I saw. In addition there were Black-winged Stilts, Flamingo, Audoin’s Gulls, Marsh Harrier, Booted Eagle, Stonechat, Fan-tailed, Cetti’s and Sardinian Warblers, Firecrest, Serin, Eleanora’s Falcon, Stone Curlew, Kingfisher plus plus so not too bad for a non-birding trip.

the smartest of the large gulls - Audouin's Gull (middelhavsmåke)

Black-winged Stilts (stylteløper)

a distant flock of egrets and a couple of Eleanora's Falcons against the distant mountains

Fan-tailed Warbler/Zitting Cisticola (cistussanger)

Two firecrests (rødtoppfuglekonge) - can you spot them?

young Flamingo

aliens

Alien sex

Kingfisher (isfugl)

Little Egrets (silkehegre) in the rain

Marbled Teal (marmorand) with Mallards

flock of Marbled Teal and Mallards

same flock in the rain

Marsh Harriers (sivhauk) were common

Purple Gallinule/Swamphen (sultanhøne)

using its feet to hold the reeds it eats

Speckled Wood butterflies look different here

Stone Curlew (triel

male Stonechat (svartstrupe)