This will be my first trip since 2019 and I am super
excited. I will have 4 full days birds birding and have chosen to take the
ferry rather than the helicopter from Bodø which will reduce the available
birding time on the arrival and departure days but will hopefully give some
seabirds. It will be fantastic being there in the company of good friends and sharp
birders but I have to admit that the weather forecast doesn’t leave me with
high hopes for any big rarities. But as long as I get to see, but more
importantly hear, a Yellow-browed Warbler then I think I will be happy.
The last week has been quiet on the birding front
around Oslo with summer migrants thinning out very quickly with just a few
Swallows, Chiffchaffs, White Wagtails and Blackcaps left but I did pay another visit
to the Taiga Bean Geese yesterday and found 101 birds which is the same as my
previous count and shows no new arrivals and also none seem to have been shot (or
perished of natural reasons). I have always expected that they may be shot at
by pot lucky local hunters but this year at least that doesn’t seem to be the
case as in addition to their numbers being unchanged there have also been no
sudden and unexpected changes in roost pond or feeding field.
a family of Taiga Bean Geese with the two young in the middle
and another family of four
they were using a new field which was readily visible from a road and a few Canada Geese were mixed in with them
viewing from the road
the Maridalen Whooper Swan (sangsvane) family. After failed breeding last year they have 3 large young this year (down from four that hatched). I have not seen them since 4 September and have no idea of where they have been as the young probably can still not fly. I did see a picture of one of the young walking over a car park and I suspect that the whole family may have gone on a long walk through the forest somewhere.
the young are still far from fully grown and it would surprise me if they can fly yet
The adult Med Gull (svatehavsmåke) was again at Fornebu today - can you spot him?
The weather last 4 days has been unusual. It has
been warm with a southerly wind (but often no wind at all) and lots of mist and
low cloud. This has had its effect on the birds as well with hardly any to be
seen or heard. We spent the weekend at the cabin at Hulvik by the fjord south
of Oslo and the few times I could see over the fjord there was hardly even a
gull to see.
On Friday and Monday though I did see a good gull on
the sea though. On Friday I found a Mediterranean Gull offshore at Fornebu and
yesterday again at Gressholmen. This is the same bird first found on 27 August
at Bygdøy and then seen a couple times quite a way south in Asker. There is
quite a lot of life in the fjord at the moment with clearly a lot of fish of
some kind encouraging gulls and Cormorants to feeding frenzies. There has also
been a record influx of Shags and I have seen up to three different
individuals.
Adult Med Gull (svartehavsmåke) with Black-headed Gull (hettemåke), Herring Gull (gråmåke) and Eider (ærfugl). Gressholmen yesterday
It is in active wing moult
and when I found it on Friday at Fornebu.
the wing moult matches the bird at Gressholmen
the black o the underwing coverts and along the edge of one of the primaries makes me wonder if this is younger adult
a late young Common Tern (makrellterne). One of 6 I saw as well as an Arctic Tern (rødnebbterne)
four of the six
the Curlew Sandpiper (tundrasnipe) at Fornebu showed much better on Friday and its legs were back as they should be so must have been covered in mud previously
Dunlin (myrsnipe)
Ringed Plover (sandlo)
3 Common Seals (steinkobbe)
Shag (toppskarv)
and another
we did get some sun at the weekend and I found this Brown Hairstreak (slåpetornstjertvinge)
with the mist it was suddenly possible to look at the sun
and here it was almost like looking at a blood moon
These northerly winds are terrible. I understand
that it is the same in the UK and migration has also stopped up there so birds
must be building up somewhere – are we going to get a huge rush when the
pressure eventually has to be released? The weather forecast suggests
that the winds will change to southerly from 1 May and there will even be rain three
days later on Star Wars Day. Something to look forward to at least.
Things have been so dire in Maridalen that I have
spent an unhealthy amount of time looking downwards but this has been rewarded
with some nice snake encounters with two grass snakes and three adders sunning
themselves early this morning. I think I was there too early for any mating but
it will all kick off very soon (if it hasn’t already passed me by). I will save
my pictures of these for a later occasion.
The dry fields seem to have had a negative effect on
the Lapwings in the Dale. There were up to 9 birds earlier in the spring but
now I am just noting 2 or 3 and do not know if they have started nesting. The
Crane pair is also often in the valley now and I saw them mating yesterday. I
take this as a sign that yet again they will not breed (as they should be on a
marsh in the forest and not a stubble field) but it may still be early in the
season for them. The only new species I have noted in the Dale over the last two
days was the first Tufted Duck on the lake (does not breed but is frequent on
spring passage) and a pair of Red-throated Divers are now on the lake and were
displaying today (although I have previously had a fly over this year).
Whilst watching snakes at 10am today a message came
through that an adult Mediterranean Gull was in Frognerkilen – it had been
reported there yesterday but I had assumed it was moving through and had hoped
it would turn up amongst the gulls in Maridalen who I regularly check with just
that species in mind. I quickly bid farewell to the reptiles and made it through
the city in under half an hour. There were loads of birds around Frognerkilen
both on the water and the fields. The gull showed really well and is my first
adult in Norway. It was a small bird so probably a female and had a pale tip to
its bill which may be a sign of it being a younger adult? A cracking bird
though and one which I expect will become a commoner and commoner sight in the
coming years. The gulls would regularly fly up as though they had been spooked
and my frequent scans of the skies to find a raptor eventually came up trumps
with a male Marsh Harrier very high up that was heading north – another good
Oslo bird.
Adult Mediterranean Gull (svartehavsmåke) together with Common Gull (fiskemåke) and Black-headed Gull (hettemåke)
this Marsh Harrier (sivhauk) headed north at great height. Through the bins I thought it was very pale and therefore an old male but the picture shows more detail and it is a young male
not often I have a picture of a Song Thrush (måltrost)
