It is the middle of April and the next six weeks are the
most exciting of the year (in the Oslo area at least). In addition to many new
birds for the year there are also new birding sites to reacquaint myself with
and I have now competed my first walk to the end of Årnestangen for the year as
well as my first grilling of the mighty Svellet.
Conditions today at Svellet were magical and I have a small
but growing hope that this will be one of those Svellet springs that are
entered into the history books, or at least get remembered on this blog. Today
the water level (3.61m) was perfect and there were enormous areas of shallow
water and wet mud. 2000 Teal and 234 Curlew were both good counts and the quality
came in the form of a male Garganey, a Bar-tailed Godwit plus two very early
Ruff and a Redshank. The weather over the coming weeks will be key to whether
conditions remain perfect and we need just enough rain such that the mud doesn’t
dry up but not too much rain (or sun that causes lots of melt water to flow down
the river) such that water levels do not rise too quickly. I hope every birder
in Oslo and Akershus is praying to the Birds Gods.
Svellet from the eastern side. Even though I describe conditions as perfect the distances are very long and a scope is essential and even then not always enough to identify all the birds out there
and some of the Teal (krikkand) and also the Garganey (knekkand). As I said they are a long way away
Årnestangen has also delivered with another very early wader
in the form of a Whimbrel, an early Swallow and a good selection of raptors
including a Red Kite which flew low over my head without me seeing it but that
I then caught up with in the scope at about 6km range…
Taiga Bean Goose and Greylags at Årnestangen today. This is a relatively late bird as were the 4 Tundra Beans I saw yesterday
the bird was close to the Geylags in size and had a long slender neck and long thin bill with thin lower mandible.
I had a very enjoyable and successful morning guiding
Barbara from Canada on Monday and we saw 60 species including Jack Snipe, Black
and Red-throated Divers, Lesser Spotted and Black Woodpeckers. And if you don’t
believe my description then read Barbara’s 😊
one of three Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) at Fornebu. This bird has been regularly feeding in the open and to me looks very much like a Broad-billed Sandpiper...
and a more expected shot of a Jack
and a Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin)
male Kestrel (tårnfalk) in Maridalen
and a Mistle Thrush (duetrost) in The Dale
Little Ringed Plover (dverglo) are back at Fornebu and will hopefully breed again this year
and Ringed Plovers (sandlo) are also back at last years nest site although they have less and less space available to them
Migration is ending now in Oslo and nocturnal trips and breeding birds will be the focus.
Breeding waders seem to be having a reasonable season. In addition to the Ringed Plovers that I have previously detailed I have found a Little Ringed Plovers nest, a couple of Common Sandpiper nests, Snipe are displaying at 2 locations in Maridalen and Lapwings in Maridalen keep surprising and seem to be having a good season. They are difficult to keep track of as once the young hatch they move around and hide in grass but I am confident there are four broods of young but quite possibly five with the latest just a day old when I first saw them, a pair is still incubating and another pair have been displaying but not to my knowledge made a nesting attempt. Question now is how many young will fledge.
This is the oldest brood on 22 May when they were already half grown.
female Little Ringed Plover (dverglo) on her nest
LRP nest and eggs.
Common Sandpiper (strandsnipe) nest again with 4 eggs. I found this nest when there were only 3 eggs
another Common Sand nest. As there are only 3 eggs I assume another will be laid. This nest was in a field whereas the other in woodland
Common Rosefinches seem to continue to decline with none recorded so far in Maridalen and just a couple in their stronghold of Sørkedalen. Surprisingly though a couple of brown, 1st summer, males are at Fornebu though and I managed to record them singing together.
Many species seem to have young early this year with broods of Long-tailed Tits and Starlings already on the wing.
I have only seen 3 Red-backed Shrikes tornskate) so far this year but they often don't come in force until June
young Starling (stær) with one of its parents
a young Long-tailed Tit (stjertmeis)
Wrynecks (vendehals) are now mostly silent - the ones who have paired up at least - and difficult to find
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
My expectations are, of course, sky high but even if they
were lower then I would have been disappointed the last few days. I keep
expecting that rush of raptors, ducks or to be honest anything feathered but it
just ain’t happening. I have visited the (once) mighty Svellet a couple of
occasions to witness slowly rising water levels covering bone dry mud and if
this continues then we can kiss goodbye to the springs greatest bird experience
in these parts. Conversely if water levels gradually fall in the next couple of
weeks then we could be lucky enough to experience something special. Time will
tell but the first Greenshank of the year today were at least enough to keep me
optimistic.
The Ring-necked Duck was refound on Thursday. Some of Oslo’s
finest had looked for it the day after I
saw it without it being discovered and after that it seemed to be forgotten
about until a sharp pair of eyes refound it 3 days later. I saw it yesterday
when it was getting involved with the displaying Tufted Ducks which had me thinking
it would stay around for a good while. I could not find it today though so
either it has gone or I was observant as the finest a few days ago…
a pair of Ringed Plovers (sandlo) are breeding at Fornebu despite there being less and less suitable habitat. Here the male was incubating what seemed to be just 2 eggs
and the first Little Ringed Plover (dverglo) of the year at Fornebu which may also try to breed
Since my last post I have not added any new species to #Oslo2024
but then again I have not been on a ferry or seen an island, in fact I haven’t
even looked at a tide table. The birding I have done has been mostly in and
around Maridalen where autumn is in full swing. The Bluethroat stayed in the same
place for a couple more days, Meadow Pipits are increasing in numbers whilst
Swifts are decreasing in numbers and raptors are becoming more obvious with
seven species noted. On the lake two pairs of Red-throated Divers have both
brought a single young from their smaller breeding ponds whilst Black-throated
Divers have been in flocks of up to 9 birds but are all adults with no successful
breeding this year.
A trip to Fornebu resulted in a juvenile Little Ringed Plover showing exceptionally by a puddle on a gravel car park and I also glimpsed a young Water Rail being shepherded through the reed bed by its anxious parents. There is also a Ruff hanging around which could do the decent thing and visit Gressholmen next time I do so.
here is my favourite pic of the juvenile Little Ringed Plover (dverglo) and there are a lot more at the end of this post
an adult Water Rail (vannrikse). Unfortunately I did not manage a shot of the young
female Honey Buzzard (vepsevåk) in Maridalen 12 Aug with a disk of wasps nest in her talons which is clearly to feed young in a nest. This is not the female from the nest I am following so shows there are at least two pairs in the Maridalen area
here the same bird 16 Aug
the juvenile Bluethroat (blåstrupe) has shown well at times
Common Buzzards (musvåk) are quite scarce and I have seen no evidence that they raised young in Maridalen this year so this juvenile has presumably come from elsewhere
a number of pairs of Ospreys (fiskeørn) must fish at Maridalen as scrutiny of photos shows a number of different individuals. This is a male from 12 aug. Male because the underwing coverts are nearly pure white and there is only a slight hint of a breast band
and this is another male from 12 Aug here with a perch
and this is a 3rd bird from the 12th which also appears to be a male
and here a bird from 16 Aug which must be a female due to the heavy breast band and well marked underwing coverts
Hobby (lerkefalk) juvenile
they really make a lot of noise when hungry
still at least 3 weeks before these are leaving the nest
