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
Winter has regained its grip on the land and nighttime
temperatures in Maridalen are falling to -13C and it remains negative in the
day despite blue skies and sunshine. Many of the resident birds are very active
singing and displaying but any hope of early migrants has been put on hold.
In the forest I spent some quality time with the male Hazel
Grouse that we viewed last Tuesday when guiding but now I have been able to
watch him in sunlight. He appears to be unpaired but has a good territory that
has held Hazel Grouse in at least the two decades I have visited the area.
Hawfinches have returned to breeding areas in Maridalen and
are banging out their squeaky “song” and I was able to see some quite well at a
feeding station.
male Hazel Grouse (jerpe)
it doesn't seem right to see such a large bird clambering around on such thin branches
female Hawfinch (kjernebiter)
and a more colourful male
the male with a Greenfinch (grønnfink) that seems tiny in comparison
Crested Tit (toppmeis)
female Greenfinch
and male
female Siskin (grønnsisik)
and male
male Brambling (bjørkefink) - unusually many have wintered in and around Oslo
Bullfinch (dompap) and Bramblings
female Blackbird (svarttrost) - I don't remember so many wintering in Maridalen before
Jays (nøtteskrike) are starting to "sing" and can sound like Goshawk, Buzzard and Tawny Owl
Today I had the pleasure of guiding Mathieu from Belgium to
see the best that Oslo could offer in 4 hours. Mathieu got three lifers: Hawk
Owl, Pine Grosbeak and Three-toed Woodpecker so the session was an undoubted
success but rarest bird was a Starling! I dismissed the bird (sitting distantly
in a tree) as a Blackbird as Starling is not at all on my radar at this time of
the year in Oslo but Mathieu who did not have that “knowledge” thankfully
pointed out the error of my assumption.
male Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett) drumming
a very unseasonal Starling (stær)
Pine Grosbeak (konglebit), unfortunately they only showed in the tops of spruce trees
we did see the Hawk Owl closer than this but I like this shot
Yesterday there were possible reports of both Iceland and
Caspian Gull by the Opera. I was nearby and managed 10 minutes without finding
them before I had to leave. This rases the prospect of reaching 210 for
#Oslo2024 but I feel that I have hung my bins up now so don’t think I will
spend anymore time looking for them. Many of the local Herring Gulls have
exceptionally orange bills and legs at the moment. The reason is unknown but
must be diet related and they look quite freaky.
this bird was ringed as a chick on one of the Oslo islands and was registered as a Herring Gull. It looks more like a Lesser-black Back (which is very rare in winter in Oslo) but has caused debate and its ID has not been agreed up (hybrid is of course a possibility). Better photos can be seen here
