School, and university, summer holidays have begun and we are once again privileged to be allowed to use the wonderful cabin at Hulvik. A week of sun, the odd butterfly and maybe some Nightjars awaits plus late nights watching football - Norway vs Senegal at 2am tonight anyone?
Yesterday, I guided Ian from Perth (the one in Australia) in the morning and Maridalen provided a number of lifers during a very fun morning. We discovered a new (and second) Wryneck nest as well as watching feeding time at the very late Black Woodpecker nest, Red-backed Shrikes, Hawfinch, Marsh Warbler and lots more.
Here is a video from the Wrynecks which I took early this morning. Make sure to listen until the end to hear the strange noises the young make.
More successful breeding stories are the Ringed Plovers at Fornebu where both young are now so good as fully grown and still being well cared for by both parents who run distraction displays. This video from Saturday was taken with my phone from the car and may, or may not, show the youngsters.
And in Maridalen today I saw 7 basically fledged young Lapwings - they look fully grown and can fly - but still had adults watching over them. They seemed to be broods of 4,2 and 1 which tallies well with earlier observations. The fate of the two late nests and any young that hatched remains unknown with the crop so high that I cannot see any birds that may be there and I am not sure the adults would bother to fly up to chase off a passing crow either. A minimum of 7 fledged young from 5 nests is probably enough to maintain the population as long as they don’t fly to France for the winter and get shot…
Not so much to report from the last few days with perhaps my
first male Red-backed Shrike of the year the highlight. This late migrant seems
to be later than normal this year or perhaps we are just going to get fewer
than normal for some reason. Time will tell but Marsh Warblers that have also
been scarce up until now seem to now be arriving in force.
An Arctic Tern at Maridalsvannet was a close second and a
scarcer bird in a local context. Terns have become a regular feature of
Maridalsvannet in recent years with both Arctic and Common exploiting good
hatches of insects. I have been waiting for them to appear this year after the
insects have started hatching and Black-headed Gulls, and a single brief Little
Gull, have been exploiting them for a week. It was therefore satisfying to see
an Arctic on Friday once a rain storm had eased enough for me to look over the lake.
The invasion of Painted Lady butterflies that has made the
national press in the UK is hitting Norway as well and even though numbers are
currently below those in the UK it is now turning up in all habitats, including
my garden, and has already breached the Arctic Circle.
Otherwise breeding birds are hanging on. In Maridalen there
are at least 3 Lapwing youngsters from 2 broods that are now large enough to
resemble their paretns and the two replacement nests are still being incubated
and should hatch any day soon. At Fornebu the Ringed Plovers seem faithful to
their corner of a building site hemmed in by a road but they have attentive
parents that still brood them when it rains or they perceive danger.
male Red-backed Shrike (tornskate) - here you see how it gets its name
and his mate
female Ringed Plover (sandlo) protecting 2 young during a rain shower. I am viewing from a car and despite being close to them they act naturally and react more to people walking along the road than any cars or lorries that pass close by. The young can also be seen in the video:
2 young Lapwing (vipe) in Maridalen. There was hopefully one or maybe two others from this brood in the long grass
this single surviving youngster from its brood is now looking quite adult like and will hopefully fledge making its parents hard work a success
Even though the weather today was quite challenging with rain
storms I am actually talking about the bird seasons.
I ended up at Fornebu this morning after having had to drop
Jr Jr off nearby. A report earlier in the morning of a small flock of Brent
Geese flying over the suburbs and the fresh southerly winds had me thinking a
sea gaze may give something although this late in the spring (or summer as it
officially is in Norway now) there was never going to be much but it could be a
case of quality over quantity.
My first scan revealed a Brent Goose standing on an islet –
very nice - and then whilst watching it in a scope a Sandwich Tern flew over –
very, very nice! The tern quickly moved off and I managed no pictures but this
was only my second ever Norwegian record so the day was definitely delivering.
Further scans of the fjord did not reveal any skuas or large divers but I did
pick up a flock of 20 Brent (which tallies with the flock seen over the suburbs)
resting on the fjord, then 5 Common Scoter (late migrants) and 5 summer
plumaged Guillemots that looked to be displaying to each other. The Brents were
Pale-bellied hrota on their way from wintering areas in Denmark to
breeding grounds on Svalbard. They are traditionally one of the very latest
movers and normally fly up the west coast of Norway but a few always take a
wrong turn and fly up the east coast before always and obviously getting confused
when the fjord narrows and then stops in Oslo. Sometimes the birds carry on over
land but other times seems to turnaround and go south again. Today’s birds were
still to make a decision.
So two species – Brent Goose and Common Scoter – that were
still on spring migration.
part of the flock of 20 Pale-bellied Brent Geese (ringgås). Later in the day a single Dark-bellied was found with them. I did not see this bird or am able to find it in my photos so it presumably arrived some time later
and the initial single bird. The lack of an obvious neck collar ages it s a 2cy
A visit to Storøykilen had me hoping for Broad-billed
Sandpiper but instead there was a Greenshank and Green Sandpiper. The sandpiper
would definitely have been a returning so therefore on autumn migration
but I am unsure about the Greenshank which I think could have been on either.
And summer? Well, there are loads of breeding birds but best
of all was seeing the Ringed Plover family again. I was able to watch them
closely from the car and the male was sheltering and guarding the two young
whilst the female was nearby and calling and running in the opposite direction
trying to distract me. I don’t know how usual it is that the male takes responsibility
for the young in this way but see from my photos the other day that it was also
the male caring for them.
In Maridalen there was only one hybrid Canada x Barnacle
Goose today, the dark one but another small goose looked like a pure Canada or
Cackling but I am unsure and it is almost certainly a backcross hybrid and
perhaps a mixture of three different species. Whatever it is it will certainly
have a feral origin, probably in Holland.
the dark breasted hybrid Canada x Barnacle Goose and a new bird which would also seem to be a hybrid but one without a white forehead or a dark breast
here the chest looks pale
in this shot there is maybe a shadow of a dark chest
the obvious hybrid has (in this picture at least) a very stubby bill and steep forehead suggesting Cackling rather than Canada Goose genes
A hunting 1st summer male Marsh Harrier and
possible a new and second singing Sedge Warbler were also notable in The Dale.
1st summer Marsh Harrier (sivhauk) - note the new grey feathers in the wing and tail
Well, it seems birding still has something to offer so
butterflies can wait just a bit longer which is just as well given the wet and
cloudy weather we are forecast to have.
Just after I wrote my last post an evening trip to Fornebu
allowed me to first hear and then see a Gropper that had been found earlier in
the day. Grasshopper Warbler remains a very scarce and not even annual special around
Oslo and was unsurprisingly the first record of the year. This is the second
time I’ve heard one at Fornebu with the first being a bird that arrived at the
end of April in 2019 and hung around for a month. An April arrival fits in with
the small regular Norwegian breeding population that are mostly found on the
west coast whereas an arrival at the end of May/beginning of June (that is the
normal fare in south east Norway) which often occur during warm periods with
southerly winds may well be a bird that has already tried its luck somewhere
else in Europe and has then decided to move north looking for more joy.
Grasshopper Warbler (gresshoppesanger) Fornebu
Last night I was about to go to bed but then looked at the
weather forecast and realised that even though conditions were not perfect (it
was cloudy and damp) it would be quite a few days before there were any better
conditions for some night singer activity. Maridalen started very quiet with
just two Woodcocks for my troubles as I got to the end of the valley. A distant
Tawny Owl had me trying to drive closer to locate it as amazingly enough this
was only my second record this year. Early spring nocturnal sorties had
resulted in just one very distant singing Tawny Owl which must have been a sign
of how little food there was. Vole numbers may be picking up though as in
addition to the two Tawnies I now heard a GGO was photographed in the forest just east of Maridalen last week. Maybe Oslo will have an owly autumn and
winter?
As I drove with the window open I heard a noise that I
thought was from the car but after turning off the engine (an electric car
would be very good on these trips) I realised I was listening to my second
Gropper in two days and only my fourth ever in Maridalen - and boy did it sing!
I was able to see it quite well using my head torch and whilst doing so I
thought I heard a Nightjar call. A bit later it called right over me and I then
got to see it really well as it hunted moths around me and even sang briefly
from a fence post.
I set about trying to record this unforgettable experience….
but as usual my phone has far fewer videos than I thought I took plus a good
number of videos of the ground…. I thought I was seeing a
red light showing I was filming but surprise, surprise things were not as I
thought. I wonder if there is a support group for people like me? I also had
the superzoom with me but despite use of the head torch it really struggles in
the dark. I did get some documentation though:
First a video of the Grasshopper Warbler with a bonus Sedge Warbler at the end:
Pictures of the Nightjar
Nightjar (nattravn)
here we can see the white wing patch showing it to be a male (as confirmed by it singing)
And video of the Nightjar which does have a sequence of it moth catching from a fence post and then briefly singing with the sound of the Gropper all the time in the background:
On the way out a Sedge Warbler was in full song and this was
a Maridalen tick for me🥳. I had first heard it
in the middle of the day but only a couple of snatches of song which were not
enough to confirm the ID. The ID was later confirmed though by Jon Andrea, an
up and coming teenage birder who gives me hope that birding in Oslo has a bright
future and by the evening it was not holding back.
There are now two Barnacle x Canada hybrids in Maridalen and
both are different to last week’s bird so we really are talking about an
influx.
both of the Canada x Barnacle (hvitkinngås) Geese hybrids
paler bird with a white forehead and hardly any hint of a darker chest
the darker bird
this bird is I am sure the paler bird but due to its posture it is showing off a white neck collar which doesn't show in the other photo
the darker bird really stands out
here the darker bird, a Canada with too much white on the head and a Canada x Greylag hybrid
I went looking today for a retrospectively identified (heard
only) singing Red-breasted Flycatcher found last week and which is the first
record in Oslo since the last bird in Maridalen in 2019. The area where I believe
it was heard looked just like the areas where they have previously been found
breeding in Oslo but I heard nothing which either means it has moved on, or he
is mated up and breeding as in my experience they go silent as soon as that
happens and only start singing again once the eggs have hatched. The area was coincidentally
one I have frequently visited for butterflies especially Northern Chequered Skipper
and a brief period of sunshine did wonders and in addition to the skipper I
also had a couple of Wood Whites which is a species I have seen even less often
than the skipper.
here showing the underside of the wing and with a Green-veined White (rapssommerfugl)
and here with a Brimstone (sitronsommerfugl)
At Fornebu it was also great to find a Ringed Plover family. The species only regularly breeds around Oslo only on Gressholmen and at Fornebu. A couple of pairs have tried breeding at Gressholmen this year but seem to have failed despite two attempts whilst at Fornebu the available habitat is getting smaller and smaller. Finding this adult with two young about a week old was therefore heart warming. They were close to a road and two young have also most likely been lost (they lay 4 eggs) and the odds are against these two but fingers crossed that they make it.
here the adult is sheltering one young whilst another runs away. I was watching from the car.
this is the one that was being sheltered. Note that the legs of the young look already to be fully grown
It’s been a long while since my last post and it has been an
infuriating time but I’m sure I’ve written something similar many times before
at this time of the year. We have entered what a lull with sunny, dry weather
meaning no meaningful arrivals of birds and also difficult viewing conditions
especially at Årnestangen and Svellet where long distances and hear haze become
a real issue.
It is spring though and of course new birds are arriving but
it is a trickle and there is no volume of birds. Slavonian Grebes have made
their annual visit to Maridalsvannet, a visit that seems to come earlier and
earlier each year. Other species that have arrived early are Wryneck, Pied
Flycatcher, House Martin and Willow Warbler but raptor migration is still a
dream despite me trying from a variety of places – I have yet to see a Hen
Harrier let alone a Pallid..
I have just had two good days of guiding with Margie and
Greg from Wisconsin where we racked up 85 species with Wryneck, Lesser Spotted
Woodpecker, Ring Ouzel and Rough-legged Buzzard amongst them. Despite us starting
the day early it became quite hard going after around noon with the sunny
weather causing a real decline in activity. This sunny weather is forecast for
at least the next 10 days so I fear that the magical Svellet spring that I was
predicting may already be unlikely. The day we do get some rain though could
end up being one of those days though.
After guiding and drop off at the airport I continued north
for an evening in owl land. I twitched a Great White Egret on the way which I
actually managed to see from the motorway at 110km/h but did also stop to
admire a bit better.
Owls are a mixed picture. Ural Owls are giving me my best
ever joy with the species with two nest boxes that I have checked now being
occupied - this amounts to nearly 10% of the known Norwegian population!
Great Grey Owl though is a different story. I again visited
the two nests from last year and found no birds by the natural nest. By the
platform the female was still present but not on eggs. She is a strange one
though and gave herself away by bill clicking when I was still close to 50m
away and had not yet seen her. She is clearly territorial.
One person who knows a lot more about owls than me reckons
it is just still early in the season and that birds will nest and lay eggs whereas
another reckons the rodent population has collapsed. Time will tell but unless
they lay eggs in the next week or two it will be too late. In the Facebook
group Ugler i Norden there are updates from a platform that has a camera
watching over it. Here birds were first seen coming to the platform already 22
Feb and mating was observed from 7 April but the first, and so far only?, egg
was not laid until 2 months later on 21 April. This to me suggests a pair who
want to breed but are finding the food situation very borderline.
When in the forests a roadside female Capercaille was a
treat and I continue with my tree scratching whenever I see a suitable hole.
This time I did get a bird but and a Stock Dove was very unexpected given where
I was but why oh why couldn’t it have been a Tengmalm’s?
Six Slav Grebes (horndykker) on Maridalsvannet - an Oslo record count!
a single bird two days later may well have been in addition to the six
Two Ring Ouzels (ringtrost) - it always feel like a big relief when I see these in the spring as it is a species I never feel guaranteed to see in Oslo (but do)
female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (dvergspett) whilst guiding. This bird was making a lot of noise and was I reckon unpaired and getting desperate
my first Wryneck (vendehals) of the year and another good bird to see whilst guiding
a great looking old Black Woodpecker hole that I was sure would reveal a Tengmalm's Owl (perleugle) but instead and for me very surprisingly revealed a Stock Dove (skogdue). At least my tree scratching skills seem to be OK now.
roadside female Caper (storfugl)
Great White Egret (egretthegre)
Great Grey Owl (lappugle) - the same bird as in my previous owl post
Ural Owl (slagugle) - also the same bird as in my last owl post
but he she is with her mate (on the left). I have rarely encountered the male at a nest site and then they are normally much shyer than this bird seemed to be. He flew in after the female called and maybe felt he had a job to do
and Ural Owl nest #2. This box is old and the bottom starting to fall out perhaps suggesting that whoever put it up no longer checks it and I hope it survives the season
Maridalsvannet on Monday morning. Lovely weather but no many birds
a very long, straight road in Hedmark's deep forests
A pair of Ringed Plover (sandlo) is clinging on at Fornebu and here, and in the video, the male is creating nest scrapes for the females approval. The area they were doing it in was very close to paths and roads so I suspect they will struggle.
I finally managed to read the rings on the Mute Swan (knoppsvane) pair that is visiting Maridalsvannet this spring. Surprisingly they are not the same pair that bred last year which have established themselves at Fornebu now. This pair have been seen together since March 2025 when they were at Østensjøvannet but did not breed . The female P576 was ringed as an adult in 28km away in March 2017 so is a mature lady. She bred in 2022 with another mate but did not raise young whilst the male was ringed as a juvenile in November 2023 11km away and is so young that he wouldn't have been expected to breed before now
I have also seen Long-eared Owls (hornugle). They were a pair by an old Crow's nest but it did not appear that eggs had been laid yet
