Male Smew

Life in Norway is taking the first steps back towards the pre-Corona normal. Hairdressers opened a week ago and schools this week. May birding is not normal though with constant winds and occasional snow showers really slowing up migration.

Yesterday I was 90% birder when I was In Maridalen and then 10% twitcher when I went looking for Black Redstarts in the city. Maridalen gave me Whimbrels on the deck and my twitching gave me only a brief glimpse of the female Black Red as she flew past me and disappeared into the presumed nest cavity in a building.

Today I was 60% birder and 40% togger. Anders and I first went to Svellet (definitely birding) where despite there still being lots of mud and shallow water there were very few waders (not even a single Wood Sandpiper) and 18 Greenshank and 17 Ringed Plover (a high spring count) were the most numerous of 6 species present. A singing Wryneck though was a much awaited for treat of a species that seems to be in serious decline in Norway. See eBird checklist here.

After this we visited a number of other areas hoping for waders, specifically Temminck’s Stint but found only a few Wood Sands.

After this it was time for Togging. Pictures emerged of a male Smew on a stream in Lørenskog (between Oslo and Svellet) and it had apparently been there since 28 April. Male Smew is a fantastic creature and the chance to see, and photograph, one at close range was irresistible. Exactly what such a normally shy bird should be doing on a stream in a town in May (should be in the north now) is of course a question that should be asked and this area has a string of records of plastic ducks including near annual Mandarins and a White-cheeked Pintail so I have always wondered if there is a private collection nearby. We had to work a bit to find the bird and found it on a small lake where the presence of a female Goldeneye seemed to explain the presence of the Smew (they are known to hybridise). We tried to get close to the bird which was feeding on the edge of the lake but it did seem decidedly shy and swam strongly way from us (unlike the Fudge Duck) so maybe it is just a confused and in love wild bird.

Birding continued after this in Maridalen where the northly wind was cold and we had a blizzard. There were birds to see in the few sheltered areas and there were quite a few Redstarts, Whinchats and Wheatears in one area and Swallows, Martins and Swifts in another. See eBird checklist here.

male Smew (lappfiskand) and female Goldeneye (kvinand)

why do all the cool, rare ducks end up in unlikely locations?

Swift (tårnseiler), Swallow (låvesvale) and House Martin (taksvale) searching for food during a sleet shower in Maridalen

male Whinchat (buskskvett)

my first Wryneck (vendehals) of 2020

Common Tern (makrellterne) in the snow

Whimbrel (småspove) yesterday in Maridalen

kicking off some mud

Oslo birding again

I am finding it very difficult to sit in front of a computer and blog. It is still the school holidays, I am decorating and it there are far more enjoyable and relaxing things to be doing that being online. I have had some enjoyable birding experiences since being home though and feel now that these have built up enough momentum that a quick blog post is mandated.

In Maridalen the record breaking Whooper Swan family has lost one of their young but the other seven are now almost fully grown. A Hobby is also still present in the valley. It looks to be a 2cy bird and I have seen no evidence of breeding (i.e apart from the first sighting of 3 birds on 21 June I have only seen a single bird and there is no sign of it taking food to a nest) although I did hear it calling yesterday. I assume that it’s just a young non-breeding bird that is hanging around an abundant source of dragonflies but maybe next year there will be breeding.

Nutcrackers have begun their annual movement into the city in search of hazel nuts and specific types of spruce cones.

Red-backed Shrike families are also moving off from their breeding territories and have turned up in Maridalen.

Biggest surprise in Maridalen though has been 2 juvenile Arctic Terns which turned up 30 July and are still present. They would not have bred in the area but this is a very early record – one would normally expect to find Arctic Terns around Oslo in late August or September. When we were in Northern Norway though I saw Arctic Tern chicks that were very large so clearly some areas have had an early breeding season.

Other than Maridalen I have had a couple of visits t Årnestangen where wader passage has started with highlights being adult Broad-billed Sandpiper, Turnstone, Sanderling, Temminck’s Stint, and Grey Plover. It is still early for much raptor passage but Marsh Harrier, White-tailed Eagle, Hobby and Osprey are good enough to get started with.

Today, I had an interesting experience when I thought I heard a Spotted Crake singing from a suitable area of habitat. I played the song on my phone and the reply started approaching me and turned out to be a juvenile Teal! The volume was always low but otherwise it sounded just like a Spotted Crake. I wonder how many of the autumn reports of singing Spotted Crakes (heard only) could actually have been juvenile Teals?

From the top: Swift (tårnseiler), Osprey (fiskeørn) and adult White-tailed Eage (havørn) from Årnestangen. The eagles and Ospreys put on a spectacular display but I have a full memory card and managed just one picture which turnd out quite well..

A 1cy/juv Arctic Tern (rødnebbterne) in Maridalen

the lack of a dark trailing edge to the wing and the small, all dark bill help separate from the more expected Common Tern

10 adult Black-throated Divers (storlom) together on Maridalsvannet is  perhaps a sign of a poor breeding season

Hobby (lerkefalk)

2cy male Marsh Harrier (sivhauk). Not a very good picture but shows why this bird is a 2cy: it retains its juvenile outer primaries and nearly all the secondaries and ha only moulted its inner primaries

adult male Red-backed Shrike (tornskate) with newly caught prey

as soon as the male caught the insect this youngster appeared and started getting very excited

the male (left) then flew and gave the food to a youngster (right) and another youngster felt hard done by

Whooper Swans (sangsvane)

a horribly over exposed photo of my first Lesser Marbled Fritillary (engperlemorvinge)

and a fresh black darter (svart høstlibelle) 

A Big Day

Today was one of those days. One of those days when you forget to eat and drink. One of those days when there are so many birds that you get stressed and start wanting to move on so that you can check out more localities when perhaps it would be best to stay put and let the birds come to you.

I decided that a trip out to Årnestangen would be a good bet. With the weather clearing up a bit today (no rain or snow but still overcast) and the rising water levels in Nordre Øyeren I reckoned that finally the mud flats would be so reduced that birds would be identifiable at Årnestangen. I had two species in mind for today: Pallid Harrier (sorry if I sound like a scratched record but I really want to find and get amazing pictures of a Pallid in Norway) and Ortolan which are just returning now and would be a gripping Akershus species.

As always on days like this it is difficult to leave Maridalen but despite how much love I have for the Dale it will never have the rarity potential of Årnestangen.

When I got out of the car at 0850 the first bird I heard, and then saw, was a Lapland Bunting heading low north. This was promising! There were also lots of waders in the air both heading directly north and also clearly moving from one area to the other as rising water levels were changing feeding conditions all the time. There were Greenshank, Redshank, Wood Sandpiper and Golden Plover in the air and as I walked out I heard and then saw a Bar-tailed Godwit and was quite sure I heard a Dotterel amongst an overflying flock of Goldies but couldn’t see anything other than Goldies in the flock.

As I got out to the top (in the company of another birder) I scanned over to Rossholmen and there was a ringtail harrier hunting. It perched (at loooong range) and I then noticed it was next to two adult White-tailed Eagles (the second year this pair has been here without breeding successfully). I used quite a bit of time on the harrier and it flew off again but could only conclude it was a 2cy Hen Harrier. I also had 4 Kestrels heading north so it felt like it could be a raptor day.

At the tip of Årnestangen a Hobby was hunting so confirming those raptor vibes and an Osprey flew over. There were loads of birds and loads of sounds and it was quite stressful trying to know what to look at. Three Garganey included a pair of which the male was frequently calling (very unduck like call), a Black-tailed Godwit was feeding, a male Gadwall, a male Shoveler, 10 Pintail, hundreds of Teal and Wigeon plus a good selection of waders. Passerines included Redstart, another Lapland Bunting heard, Pied Fly, Whinchat and Yellow Wagtail. I also heard what was most likely Red-throated Pipit but haven't quite got my ear in yet (need to hear a few more Tree Pipits first).

And then the excitement started. I heard a wader call that I struggled to place and thought it might be a stint but then picked up two birds coming low towards us and it clicked – Dotterel!! Then they flew low over the mudflat and amazingly three others flew up to join them. After a bit of flying around they then landed. Five Dotterel completely out of habitat. They didn’t look like they were feeding but did display a bit. Half an hour later I heard their calls again and couldn’t locate the birds so they had presumably flown off.

After an hour I decided it was time for the 45 minute walk back so that I could try out other sites including Svellet. I hoped for more raptors on the walk but was disappointed. Back close to the car I scanned with the scope and what would you know – the Hen Harrier was hunting around the platform where I had been stood earlier. I got to see it better now but still at too long range and again was happy more or less that it was a 2cy Hen rather than an adult female Pallid. A 2cy Marsh Harrier also turned up and got a lot of grief from a pair of Curlew that were presumably protecting fledged young.

I pulled myself away and started driving away but after just two minutes stopped to look at Pallid Harrier photos. After a minute or so Erling Høbol who had been driving out to look for the Dotterel knocked on my window. We started chatting and then I noticed a bird just 15metres way flying very fast. It was small and I first thought Kestrel but then immediately realised no Pallid Harrier. It was a 2cy with orangey (almost pale pink) underparts and with a white collar. But it all happened really quickly. I swung up the camera but of course the autofocus didn’t catch it and then it disappeared over a brow. About 30 seconds later it reappeared and we were able to follow it for 10 seconds from behind before it went over another brow and that was it!  The small size strongly suggested the bird was a male and one of blurry pictures shows some grey feathers. Luckily the bird was glimpsed again later and better pictures weretaken. This is my third Pallid and second self-found one in Norway so it is perhaps surprising that I have such a desire to find (another) one. The reason is that I have never seen one well and my pictures are always crap.

Svellet still had some good looking areas of mud and will perhaps last for a couple more days and there were over 600 waders there. Best birds were 4 Spotted Redshank and 2 Barwits but there were no calidris waders at all. Also no interesting gulls or terns.

I finished in Maridalen where a brief look gave me Osprey, Buzzard, Redshank and Yellow Wagtail.

What a day but the pictures suck…..!

the first two Dotterel (boltit) flying in 

and then there were five!

difficult to see on the deck

Pallid Harrier (steppehauk) and you can actually see it is a 2cy male - honestly!!

the orangey undeparts can be made out possibly.....

Black-tailed Godeit (svarthalespove) and a pair of Garganey (knekkand) 

the godwit showing off its black tail

looking bac out towards Årnestangen where all the action is happening about 2km away!

a male Gadwall (snadderand)

all three Garganey

Hobby (lerkefalk)

the White-tailed Eagles (havørn)

a view over Svellet showing a large mudbank still available to the waders and there were 600 birds here!

and some photos from Maridalen

Common Buzzard (musvåk) 

not often I manage a photo of a Swift (tårnseiler)....

Geylag family and Tufted Ducks 

Yellow Wagtail (gulerle) - not sure what to make of that black head and weak supercilium