Today I decided to leave Svellet alone and instead visit the
Oslo islands. I cannot see that anyone else has visited Svellet today so don’t
know if my decision was the right one but I can see that water levels have only
risen by 2cm so conditions will still be
very, very mighty.
The islands gave a perfectly acceptable account of
themselves even if the fjord contained not a single duck, diver, grebe or tern
of any interest what so ever. Before I had even got to Gressholmen I saw a
massive 4 species of waders (but only one of each) in the tiny muddy bay by the ferry stop at
Lindøya Øst (Redshank, Greenshank, Ringed Plover and Oystercatcher) and this
did increase expectations rather considerably. Gressholmen’s muddy bay disappoints
(me) more often that otherwise but mid to late May is probably when it is at
its best. There had been no rain or southerly winds (they are from the north at
the moment) so I did not expect too much but a Bar-tailed Godwit that has been
present a few days was still there alongside the same species, but in greater
numbers, as I had seen at Lindøya.
A singing Thrush Nightingale in exactly the same scrub as
the last two years was my first of the year and a joy to listen to.
A worrying aspect of the trip was quite how few Black-headed
Gulls there were. I only found two colonies and the largest was considerably smaller
than it has been in previous years. I have also seen that Oslo’s normally
largest colony on an islet off Bygdøy is empty this year so unless there is a
large colony somewhere else then it looks like a crisis for the species (the inland
colonies at Sognsvann and Østensjøvannet are small in relation to the number
that normally breed on the fjord).
The absolute highlight and a slight headache came when I was
getting on the ferry at Lindøya. I heard angry Hooded Crows and Swallows behind
me and turned expecting to see a Goshawk. What I did see was something smaller
but after a second I realised it was an owl and must be one of the earded ones.
I raised my bins whilst walking and saw the face and was sure it was a
Short-eared. I then got on board and reached for the superzoom and filmed
whilst the ferry left the dock but only managed 20 seconds before the deckhand
said I had to move inside. I was quite happy that I had managed to document
only my second ever Oslo Short-eared and decided to look at the video to see if
it was any good and of course to see if I had actually pressed record… Well
this time I had but the owl proved to be of the longer eared variety. Still a
very good bird in an Oslo context. My still only ever record of Short-eared Owl
was an equally difficult experience although then I assumed it had to be a Leo
and it was only the pictures that allowed me to see it was a Seo…
a clip from the video showing the grey face and under wing tips that have fine baring and not a particularly black tip all of which say Leo (hornugle)
and here it disappears to the north over Hovedøya and towards the city
The sound of the Thrush Nightingale (nattergal) and a Willow Warbler (løvsanger)
the Bar-tailed Godwit (lappspove) on Gressholmen
The Black-headed Gull (hettemåke) colony on Nakkeskjær where I counted 65 nests although there were undoubtedly more out of sight on the far side
a close up of some of the nests
and here 9 nests on the main part of the island where they do not look to be so safe
a female Wheateat (steinskvett)
In Maridalen it was again difficult to be certain what was happening with the Lapwings but I did see more today. There were 10 adults and five young in broods of 4 and 1. There was also another female acting as though she had young in the long grass and probably two females that were on new nests but that will have to firmed up as a bit more time passes.
the single young Lapwing (vipe) with mum and a "singing" Snipe (enkeltbekkasin)
Whilst I was birding Oslo yesterday a message came through
that a Stone Curlew had been found at Årnestangen. With under 50 records it is
a national rarity and the only previous record in Akershus (it is still to be
seen in Oslo) came just last year. This year’s record is interestingly the
earliest ever in Norway. It goes without saying that I have not seen one in
Norway.
I didn’t really consider going for it even though from the photos
that were put out it was clear that the bird was at its daytime roost (they are
primarily nocturnal birds) and it didn’t move at all until it was almost dark.
In other words, it would have been an easy yet very boring twitch. I have to
admit that this apathy to twitching is just a tad extreme especially as I do
take my Akershus list seriously – I am just 7 species off the lead and everyone
who is ahead of me has been birding here for at least a decade and in some cases
3 or 4 more than me so there are bound to be species that will turn up that
they currently have over me.
I had no expectation that it would be present today (I am
more open to day 2 twitching) but whilst walking the dog a message came through
that it was again roosting in exactly the same spot. It was far easier today to
make the decision to twitch and it ended up being as easy as I expected and
also as boring. The bird was watched from a very safe range with lots of heat
have and it not doing anything but hey, a tick’s a tick 😊
Årnestangen was otherwise very quiet with only a few raptors
on a day that I had expected there to be many although a few Ospreys were my
first of the year and a young Peregrine put on an amazing show as it chased and
repeatedly dived at a Lapwing before eventually giving up allowing the Lapwing
to fight another day.
A quick check of Maridalen on the way home revealed the
first Black-throated Diver and Wheatear of the year.
Stone Curlew (triel). I am still debating with myself if this can be called a record shot but the video shows it better and I did manage to catch the only time when it did something other than sleep
and my first Wheatear (steinskvett) of the year on the same stones where I normally get my first bird
Well, I can no longer complain about the weather being too
nice as it is raining and blowing and if, maybe if, I were to venture outside
there could be a whole tree of wing bars waiting for me.
I escaped Oslo’s weather on Tuesday and Wednesday with an
impromptu visit to Tromsø to give Jr some much needed TLC. I arrived to 15cm of
fresh snow and blue skies. There is only one month left of sunshine before the
sun doesn’t rise for two whole months and even now the sun was always low in
the sky. There are still lots of rowan berries in Tromsø which is in stark
contrast to Oslo where a very poor crop was stripped from the trees by thrushes
weeks ago. There were few birds in Tromsø though. I had a good walk when Jr was
at lectures and 60 odd Waxwings was the absolute highlight and also the
commonest passerine (just 30 or so Fieldfares). On the fjord there were flocks
of Eider that were too distant for me to grill and also Long-tailed Ducks. I was
surprised to find a Curlew but otherwise the muddy bay where I had spent much
time in September was a bird free zone.
a Waxwing (sidensvans) in Tromsø
A trip to Fornebu yesterday did reveal some new and slightly
exciting birds. A Wheatear at the same spot as the Turtle Dove had been had, of
course, to be looked at properly but was just of the common variety. It is
truly late record though. A tern then caused me quite a headache. A tern close
to Oslo at the end of October has to be an Arctic but with my tern
problems from September still troubling me and the knowledge that a Common Tern
was seen (and photographed) in the same spot less than 2 weeks ago I was
determined to make sure I got the ID of this one right. In flight from a distance
it did indeed look like an Arctic but I managed to get so close to the bird
that I think I lost the bigger picture. I spent a long time with it perched
just metres from me and also fishing close by (it was snatching small fish from
the water surface) and ended up concluding that it was a 1st winter Common
Tern although the lack of a clear dark bar on the secondaries was at odds with
this but I explained that to myself by it being an advanced bird that had
somehow moulted these to adult feathers already (something that they don’t do).
Later on someone else reported the bird as an Arctic and I quickly replied that
I reckoned it was a Common…. This quickly prompted me to look at my pictures on
the PC (instead of on the back of the camera) and I couldn’t help but agree that
it must be an Arctic although I still find it to be a far from classic bird but
I think that may be because I am not used to seeing them so close at this time
of the year. The more distant flight photos are much easier to ID from.
The hope of a wing bar or two survives with a visit to Værøy
next week now on the cards. This late in the autumn there may well be no
Yellow-browed Warblers but hopefully far greater rarities from even further east.
Or most likely absolutely sweet FA.
a late Wheatear (steinskvett)
it my have been difficult for me to ID this young Arctic Tern (rødnebbterne) but it was not difficult to get close to it
if I had just had this picture from when I first saw it distantly then I think I would have never thought twice about it being a 1cy Arctic
getting a bit closer it is still fairly straightforward
with one of a number of fish it snatched from the waters surface
it was pictures like this that confused me as I expected the secondaries to be pure white but the secondaries are actually mostly hidden under the greater coverts
I also got confused by that I thought were too long legs and too much red on the bill
no real doubt what it is from this picture either
Jack Snipe are still around and the "hunt" for them remains exciting even if I use the thermal
spot Jack?
using the flash on a dull autumn day brings our far more colours
In Maridalen there are now 11 Whooper Swans with the lone subadult now seemingly having attracted a mate and today a lone Pink-footed Goose had joined them
Whooper Swans (sangsvane) the family of 4 which I am sure are the valleys long term birds
2 of the same birds
the additional 7 birds a family of 5 and the two birds below
the bird on the right which is not fully adult turned up first alone and has now been joined by this other bird
a Pink-footed Goose (kortnebbgås). There has been a widespread influx of out of course Taiga Bean Geese in Norway and beyond (including to Ireland for the first time in over a decade) so when I first saw there was a goose with the swans I really hoped that is what it would be
the field that the swans use has also been very popular with Jays (nøtteskrike) with up to 20 feeding there
