Wadering

One of the main birding events around Oslo is the gatherings of migrating waders and waterfowl in Nordre Øyeren especially  at Årnestangen and Svellet. I have not given this much attention so far this autumn and have missed the best bits which are normally at the end of July when thunderstorms can bring down a vast selection of adult waders. Now in late August the species variety is significantly less and almost all birds are young birds. On Wednesday I joined up with Jules Bell for a trip to Årnestangen and Svellet and yesterday I visited Svellet and Merkja. The most numerous wader was Ruff with around 250 birds in total and more unusual birds were Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew Sand and Little and Temminck’s Stints.

In Maridalen I have continued looking for raptors and especially Honey Buzzards but despite what I would describe as perfect condition there has been very little to see although the HBs will get their own post later. A young Peregrine has been a regular sight though terrorizing a group of Feral Pigeons that frequent one of the farms and amongst the few Common Buzzards is a particularly pale bird.

Svellet has been Made Great Again and alongside lots of Ruff (brushane) are a couple of Black-tailed Godwits (svarthalespove)

on the neighbouring Merkja two male Gadwall (snadderand) in eclipse

Goosander (laksand) in Maridalen. A female (middle) has managed to raise 8 young which is incredibly gowing considering that the many Goldeneye (kvinand) broods typically and quite quickly decline to one or two, or none

here male (who has had nothing to do with the family before now), a 1cy and mum

a 1cy Peregrine (vandrefalk) has been regular in Maridalen and likes to have a go at a small flock of Feral Pigeons (bydue) that hang around one of the farms

this pale Common Buzzard (musvåk) has also been a regular sighting

I have seen evidence of a Nutcracker in the garden with discarded leaves and nuts from our Hazel Trees on the lawn and today I saw the culprit from the kitchen window:

The ice melts

Whilst I was away at the weekend the ice melted on Maridalsvannet. This is early but despite it having been so dry the water levels are currently high so the lake doesn’t yet look that appealing. That being said though there have already been some good birds and maybe when the ice doesn’t melt until the end of the month as is often the case that means that a lot of birds are missed out on as they cannot splash down even if they wanted. Both species of diver are already back and their display calls ring around the valley. More impressively though has been the three , yes 3, species of grebes that have graced the lake. Following last years first ever record of Little Grebe in the Dale a bird in exactly the same place it was probably the same bird. Great Crested Grebe is more expected but a Slavonian Grebe hanging out with Teal is record early as this species normally passes through, and not annually, at the end of the month.

Raptors are still very thin on the ground but the first Osprey of the year turned up on Tuesday and a Peregrine was hunting in the valley today. Today also finally saw the first day with really good numbers of passerines on the (very dry) fields: Bramblings, Redwings and Meadow Pipits were the most numerous.

A real treat today was being able to listen to the calls of migrating Curlews and a flock of 6 really wanted to land but in the end gave up and flew north.

an ice free Maridalsvannet looking towards the south

my first Osprey (fiskeørn) of the year - a particularly well marked female

migrating Curlews (storspove)

Little Grebe (dvergdykker)

Slavonian Grebe (horndykker)

and the best picture of all, a Great Crested Grebe (toppdykker)...

there have been up to 10 Lapwing (vipe) on their favoured two fields and there are already two nests. Nest 1

Nest 2

Green Sandpiper (skogsnipe)

a Kestrel (tårnfalk) today and a Brambling (bjørkefink)

a young Peregrine (vandrefalk) that I saw three times today

Yesterday I thought I would see if Sørkedalen had anything more to offer and caught up with the plastic hybrid goose that has been around for a couple of weeks and a real piece of plastic had me for quite a few seconds thinking I had seen my first Ring Ouzel of the year…

what looks to be a hybrid Emporer x Barnacle Goose together with Pink-feet

showing leg colour

and I thought this was a Ring Ouzel...

Rain and fog

The weather has changed with blue skies and many minus degrees being replaced by cloud, fog, rain and temperatures up to 5C. This might result in the first wave to spring migrants coming soon but right now the result is very unpleasant conditions to be out both for birder and bird.

I was supposed to be guiding today but a forecast of heavy rain (although it has ended up being just drizzle) caused us to move it to tomorrow when fog is forecast…

I have little to report with just a roadside encounter with a couple of Moose worthy of mention.

young Moose (elg)

mum Moose

winter food consists of branches

I finally caught up with the overwintering Peregrines (vandrefalk) in Oslo. The white trails from their droppings show this is a favoured spot to rest and spot a Feral Pigeon meal

the Posten building which is the second highest in Oslo where the falcons were

Some medium sized raptors at last

The last two days have started with low cloud and then ended up being gloriously sunny and the birdlife really changes with the weather. I have visited Østensjøvannet both days following the ducky bonanza on Tuesday but the variety of ducks has declined inversely with the amount of ice cover. On Tuesday there was 75% ice, yesterday 50% and today none. Yesterday I found a new, female, Pochard who was choosing to keep the company of displaying Tufted Ducks instead of the male who was only 100m away. Today I had really high expectations as last night had seen clear skies and southerly winds until 2am when it started raining and I felt certain there would be big arrival of waterfowl. Well, all this weather had done was to cause a big clear out and there was nothing of interest and very few birds generally on the lake.

Yesterday I spent a long period staring skyward in Maridalen and finally saw those larger raptors I was longing for with first Rough-legged Buzzard, Oslo #129, and then Osprey, Oslo #130. Today in a short visit in the morning #131 came in the form of Black-throated Diver and I am now a bit unsure as to whether I will see any new species for a few days.

Today I gave up on Maridalen quickly as it was too foggy and decided to head for Nordre Øyeren. Here there was no fog but disappointingly few birds. Water levels are unusually high for the time of year but there was still a good amount exposed at Svellet. 24 Oystercatchers and 2 Curlew were the only waders though. Snekkervika also had mud and shallow water but only moderate amounts of dabbling duck.

I then decided to head south east and do Aurskog-Høland again with the hope that raptors would finally show. They did show but there wasn’t the variety I hoped for. 16 Marsh Harriers was undoubtedly a record count for me with seven showing simultaneously as one spot but where were the Hen or Pallid Harriers or Red Kites?

A single adult Bewick’s Swan was not one of the birds I had seen previously and I thought I had found a new bird but I now see that it has been seen on and off at the same time as the pair were being seen regularly.

There is still lots of flood water at Kjelle but maybe too much as it was almost birdless. Hopefully though there will be very good conditions there later in the month.

adult male Rough-legged Buzzard (fjellvåk). These dark birds can be tricky to tell apart from Common Buzzards

male Marsh Harrier (sivhauk)

adult Peregrine (vandrefalk) stooping

male Kestrel (tårnfalk) hovering

female Pochard (taffeland) at Østensjøvannet

the male

the female again who seemed to like the male Tufteds (toppand)

yesterday in Maridalen there were three species of corvids together when 2 Rooks (kornkråke) dropped in and briefly perched with Hooded Crow (kråke) and Jackdaw (kaie)

this Rook was at Østensjøvannet today in what must already be a record year for the species in Oslo

adult Bewick's Swan (dvergsvane)

these Curlew (storspove) flying over Østensjøvannet this morning had me thinking there would be lots to find at Nordre Øyeren, but there wasn't.

an unusually photogenic male Teal (krikkand)

female

my first frog and spawn of 2024