Birds in the Dale

Guess who’s back?  - and not a butterfly in sight! 😊

Autumn is really upon us and the cereal fields in Maridalen are being harvested as we speak. This always causes the first flocks of Meadow Pipits to appear and there is also a big flock of Greylag Geese so it is nice and birdy. A fine 1^st year male Bluethroat was today’s bird of the day but not quite as good as a Kingfisher on Wednesday and there are also good numbers of Whinchats, Nutcrackers flying back and forth from the city where they are collecting Hazel nuts and raptors to see including Honey Buzzards and Hobbies.

Yesterday I needed to go to the airport to pick someone up so made a day of it with a stop at Svellet and then a look for the Taiga Bean Geese which have already been seen. I failed to find the geese and with no GPS tags still functioning it has become a bit more hit and miss especially in the autumn when they do not use the river. I did find feathers and droppings at a favoured loafing site so can personally confirm their return

Svellet gave me my first Little Stint and Curlew Sandpiper of the year but I am till missing three common waders for my year list – Grey Plover, Sanderling and Great Snipe – and fear there is a real risk they remain as absentees.

Maridalen has had a good autumn for waders and that is despite there being nearly no mud showing due to high water levels. Today 2 Ruff were on an island and over the last couple of weeks I have had flyover Curlew, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Redshank and Greenshank aswell as Common Sandpipers along the rocky shore. The Lapwings look to have moved on sometime in July though and I saw no evidence that the two late broods produced any fledged young.

If my photos are looking even worse than usual then it is because the bazooka has now gone into complete lock down and I cannot get any life out of it so all pictures are with the superzoom which itself is suffering with age.

Bluethroat (blåstrupe) in Maridalen. The colourful throat shows it to be a male

and the wing bar shows it to be a bird of the year

Whinchat (buskskvett) and Meadow Pipit (heipiplerke) very typical birds for the end of August

although this Whitethroat (tornsanger) is getting a bit late

spot the Kingfisher (isfugl)?

a bit easier here

some of the Greylag Geese (grågås) and a Whooper Swan (sangsvane)

12 Curlew (storspove) migrating over Maridalsvannet earlier in the month

and two Greenshank (gluttsnipe) that flew around looking for somewhere to land

A video of a Mink eating a Crayfish and you can see the remains of many others. Otters have recently been seen in Maridalen and if they establish themselves then they will hopefully result in a reduction in Mink numbers

and a Grass Snake that I nearly stood on

Back to dire

The lack of daily updates is of course because things didn’t continue as hoped…

Despite being at the start of prime time Oslo birding there is still only a trickle of new birds. Greenshank numbers fell again yesterday at Svellet to a dire 15 although the first (3) Wood Sandpipers hinted, hopefully, at things to come. Today though was a tad better, as of course it should be as it is 1^st May and what should by rights be THE best day of the year if only because it is a national holiday and every self-respecting birder has no excuse but to be out finding something. Well either most birders lack self-respect or there was nothing to find..

But, back to Svellet and today. Jack and I had agreed to have our now annual early doors visit to Huk, Bygdøy to record the awesome spring migration that we proved can occur on our 9^th May visit in 2024. 1^st May is too early though and we know it but we have to give it a go…. Fog put a real dampner on things although we could see perhaps 500m. There was however nothing happening either to be seen or perhaps most importantly given the condition to hear with just two Meadow Pipits flying in giving any impression of active migration although a Reed Bunting clearly felt the same as us and was heading south to escape these DIRE conditions. Five Purple Sandpipers were still “wintering” on the rocks although are now in breeding plumage and we did hear a migrant wader when a Little Ringed Plover flew unseen past us.

Huk this morning where a bloody big cruise boat is just visible in the fog

We gave it an hour and then headed to Svellet where even though we arrived before 8am there was already heat haze to contend with. There were however waders with now 43 Greenshank and 24 Wood Sandpiper and 6 male Ruff and 2 Golden Plover provided some variety. Curlew numbers however had fallen to just 13 so total wader numbers did not reach three figures let alone the four figures I am hoping for. Rain tomorrow afternoon may make, and I really pray for, a difference. Water levels are still falling slightly – today down 3.62m - so we can’t ask for much more on that score.

one of the trickle of new birds - my first Whinchat (buskskvett) of the year arrived in Maridalen on the last day of April

a Wryneck (vendehals) in the Dale

a trip to Hellesjøvannet yesterday gave precious little on the exciting bird front but this Brown Hare (sørhare) was only my second sighting of this recent colonist whose numbers took off around 2015 and it is steadily hopping north from Sweden. It was introduced to southern Sweden in the early 1800 so is considered an invasive introduced species in Norway and is an undesirable as it out competes the native Mountain Hares.

A quiet period

We are into the most exciting time of the year in the Oslo area but it can also be the most frustrating and disappointing if the weather does not play ball. Sunny days with northerly winds can feel birdless whereas southerly winds and some rain can produce great arrivals of all sorts of feathered fancies.

We are of course in a sunny, northerly wind period….

But if one is prepared to leave Maridalen and even Oslo and participate in twitching lite then there are of course good birds to be seen.

I visited Hellesjøvannet again on Wednesday and with the knowledge I had learned over the course of 5 hours the day before I felt confident that I would be able to get more than a glimpse of the Bittern. I stood in the same place as the day before and waited and waited for two whole hours without hearing a single boom. I knew that the bird had been heard earlier in the morning and after the two hours during which I had ascertained that there were 2 pairs of Marsh Harriers breeding and an additional female who seemed to be wanting to get the attention of one of the males (polygamy is fairly regular) I decided to drive to the southern end of the lake where I could see there were a couple of birders. I asked them if they had heard the bird during the previous two hours to which the answer was no and then straight away it boomed….. from where I had been standing. Returning there pronto it then proceeded to boom in total 9 times during the course of only 58 minutes! It was however a little further away than the previous day and seeing it proved to be a fruitless exercise.

I have paid a couple of visits to Nordre Øyeren with my first trip of the year out to the tip of Årnestangen and of course visits to Svellet. Water levels continued to rise quickly until 22 April with rises of over 20cm a day but since then it has fallen it has fallen by 15cm over the course of 3 days. Currently it looks absolutely bloody fantastic baby, a wader heaven but yesterday I did not see a single wader there. The reason for this is probably two fold: the weather has not been conducive to an arrival of waders and secondly the shallow water is currently (due to the previous rapid rise in water levels) covering mud that has been bone dry for months and is therefore free of any invertebrate food. Should we have a period now of warm weather and gradually falling water levels we should though end up with fantastic conditions for waders with food rich areas of mud gradually being reexposed over the next 3 weeks. I am allowed to be optimistic 😉

view over Svellet on 25 April. Lots of mud and lots of shallow water. Fingers crossed for the next 3 weeks 🤞

 

rapidly rising water levels until 22 April

and gradually falling since.

Årnestangen gave me good views of a female Lapland Bunting and a male Hen Harrier (although rather selfishly I was disappointed it wasn’t a Pallid).

Yesterday, I went to Maridalen’s eastern sister valley, Nittedal to see a Great White Egret that has been there for a few days and enjoyed good views of it perched in trees by a lake and heronry. Another trip to Årnestangen after this gave me long range views of a male Stonechat. This is, I believe the same bird that was found on 13 March and which I then saw the subsequent day. Since then there have been occasional records of a male in the area and given how good the bird has been at disappearing both times I have seen it and that it was singing yesterday I reckon we are talking about a territorial male that has perhaps wandered around a bit in his search for a mate. I have also seen Kingfisher both visits to Årnestangen and firsts for the year have been numerous with Wood Sand, Whimbrel and Yellow Wagtail noted.

Maridalen doesn’t get forgotten completely and there has clearly been ducks moving through with good numbers of Teal aswell as Common Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser, Pintail, Wigeon and Tufted Duck.

I will start though with a video of Monday's Great Grey Owl nest

male Hen Harrier (myrhauk). My first of the year and never a species I see often but I was still annoyed it wasn't a Pallid (steppehauk)

Kingfisher (isfugl) is now an annual breeder in Nordre Øyeren with probably multiple pairs although they are recorded surprisingly infrequently

female Lapland Bunting (lappspurv)

and here you can hear it calling which is how I discovered it

a (Lesser) Redpoll. It was singing so is I presume a male but completely lacks red/pink on on the chest

Marsh Harrier (sivhauk) pair

and here the male displaying which I think was for the benefit of the additional female that was in the area

Great (White) Egret (egretthegre) and Grey Heron (gråhegre). Lack of plumes means this is an immature bird but they will surely be breeding here soon

they are remarkably acrobatic in flight

and like Grey Herons are quite at home in trees

this Hooded Crow caused the egret to fly off

the Stonechat (svartstrupe) was always quite distant

but up to 7 (all male) early Whinchats (buskskvett) showed much better

and something for a later posting

Islands - what are they good for?

Islands are a mystery to me. You think you have a good thing going on and you try to treat them well but they just blank you.

There had been a bit of rain last night and a lot is forecast tonight and low tide was at 2pm so I thought why not. I gave Fru Galteskjær the focus of my attention and did not get off the ferry when it stopped at my ex, Fru Gressholmen - true devotion! Instead I stayed on the top deck and studied Galty as we sailed past. What fancies was she revealing today? Two Common Sandpipers…..

I tried to keep faithful though and disembarked at Lindøya which gave me Rb Shrike, Whinchat, Wheatear and Yellow Wag but not Bluethroat which I thought might be around now.

Now I had the option to go home or to sail past Fru. Galt one more time and also get off at Fru. Gressholmen to see if she had a sudden change on feelings. Well Fru. Gress only held 2 Greenshank and Fru. Galt only a single Common Sand this time so I am being rejected by both of them!

 

Islands - you can’t live with them, you can’t live without them!

Fru Galteskjær - I realised this little giver of joy probably hasn't been pictured before - I'm sure you can see why I like her!

 

no picture of waders but Whinchats (buskskett) are also nice

a couple of singing Stock Doves (skogdue) were a surprise as they are early breeders

Wall Brown (sørringvinge) may well be the last addition to my butterfly list this year unless there is an arrival of Painted Ladies

Too sunny

Migration seems to have been put on pause again and with sun, blue skies and temperatures quickly reaching 20C it can feel quiet birdless at times which is strange for the first week of May. Butterflies like it though and I am now up to 7 species this year.

New species trickle in though. Yesterday Oslo #150 was added from my bed when a Lesser Whitethroat sang in the garden and then in Maridalen #151 was added with Wood Warbler. No new Oslo species today but a Red-backed Shrike at Nordre Øyeren was my earliest ever and a Thrush Nightingale was singing from leave less bushes and was unusually easy to see (hearing it is never a problem).

The male Three-toed Woodpecker was singing in the middle of the hot afternoon yesterday which is rather strange and I did not see the female. Today I saw neither bird and wonder whether something has gone wrong with (female predated?). The male and a male Great Spotted Woodpecker had a territorial fight though which was interesting to see. Previously these two species seem to, surprisingly, have coexisted in the same wood without any agro.

An update on the swan drama is that the Whoopers are still on the (Mute) nest and the new pair of Mute Swans were displaying today and chasing off Greylags so maybe they will make a nesting attempt.

Sunday’s weather forecast suggests southerly winds and rain in what is otherwise a period of dry sunny weather. If we are going to have a god day this May then I think it will be then.

Thrush Nightingale (nattergal). I don't think I've seen one this well before

my earliest ever Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)

territorial Great Spotted (flaggspett) and Three-toed Woodpeckers (tretåspett)

it was the Three-toed who went after the GS but the GS had the upper hand

Buzzard (musvåk) in Maridalen

a White Wagtail (linerle) was not happy with it flying so low over the fields

I checked Maridalen's Goshawk (hønsehauk) nests and both had sitting birds

the remains of a male Mallard (stokkand) were on a plucking post close to one of the nests

three male Whinchats (buskskvett) in a row

in Maridalen a pair of Wrynecks (vendehals) and a lone male are singing close to each other. This was the female from the pair

my first Peacock (dagpåfugløye)

and a Camberwell Beauty (sørgekåpe)

a toad (padde)

and Grass Snakes (buorm). I have loads of footage which will have to be shown in a separate post