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)
I frequently am accused of being overly optimistic in my
bird forecasts and expectations but I see that my predictions in my last post
for Svellet were actually very pessimistic. The wader fest is far from over as
the water levels have stopped climbing (at least for now) and there clearly is
enough food available as wader numbers which fell on Wednesday rose sharply yesterday
(when I did not visit) and were still high today. Viewing conditions are far from
great which is par for the course there but today I was able to pick out a Temminck’s
Stint although another one on nearby Merkja was much easier to view (as were
two yesterday evening which I twitched at Fornebu).
Yesterday gave me a non-wader mass bird event and a quite
unique one at that. Very large numbers of Willow Warblers have been seen
crossing the fjord from Nesodden and they have been then concentrating at Østensjøvannet.
It would appear that frost nights to the north (temperatures were under zero on
Tuesday evening as we drove home form owling) are stopping the nocturnal
migration of the Willow Warblers and they seem to be stopping their northward
journey in the Oslo area and then continuing northwards during the day and moving
whilst also searching for food. There is not an overabundance of insects yet in
Oslo but Østensjøvannet clearly has good numbers. There were over 1000 Willow
Warblers as I walked around the lake and every tree and bush was dripping with
them. They were also feeding in long grass, on the short grass of playing fields,
on a newly ploughed field, on the paths and many were sallying after insects in
the manner of a flycatcher from any available perch including fence wires. It
truly was an amazing experience both visually and orally as birds were also
singing everywhere. There were not many other species that had clearly arrived
with the WWs except for Blackcaps which were more common that normal but not in
exceptional numbers. That there were lots of insects to eat though was shown by
House Sparrows that were flycatching and Bramblings taking insects alongside
the WWs in bushes.
This video gives some idea of how it was but does not pay
the experience the justice it deserves:
Svellet 8th May as viewed from the eastern shore
and viewed from the west - still lots of mud and shallow water which clearly has more food than I expected after the water levels rose so quickly
A really heart warming sight at Østensjøvannet are the Black-headed Gulls (hettemåke) that are nesting again. There are three small colonies (including this one) and scattered single nests around the lake and the total number of nests may not be much more than 50 but this is in stark contrast to last years dire situation but also the 2000 odd pairs that used to breed here. Fingers crossed that there are lots of fledged young in a month or two. There is also a good colony at Sognsvann - it would appear that the two most visited lakes for recreational use are attractive to both humans and gulls - but I have yet to notice any nesting on the fjord so I fear that overall things are not good for the species
yesterday and today I could not see a single young Lapwing (vipe) in Maridalen but there is a new nest although as this field was only ploughed on Sunday I am not sure whether she is incubating or just in the egg laying phase
and the Mute Swans (knoppsvane) are now finished with nest building and are on the nest although I do not know whether any eggs have been layed yet
My final two days in Tromsø saw a continued reduction in the number and variety of waders at Langnes which I have now visited three mornings on the trot when Jr had lectures/meetings. It was already starting to feel like a local patch away from home and I will be following sightings in Tromsø more closely from now on and am already looking forward to my next visit.
It was surprising the number of species that still had unfledged young which may be a result of a very late spring here. Redshank, Arctic Tern, Common Gull, Eider, Meadow Pipit and Reed Bunting all still had young either in the nest or not fully grown.
Adult Arctic Tern (rødnebbterne). It had a couple times dive bombed me pulling up only centimetres from my head but I failed to film this
The reason the adult was angry was the presence of this juvenile that could barely fly
Meadow Pipit (heipiplerke) which had young nearby and a juv Willow Warbler (løvsanger) which seemed attracted by its alarm calls
This young Common Gull (fiskemåke) may not make it
Yesterday morning in Maridalen was very quiet and this
morning started the same. Despite some slight overnight rain there were still
very few birds to see with over 100 Fieldfares on the fields the only obvious
arrival until around 8am when suddenly lots happened. First a Wryneck started
singing, then two Swallows flew over, then a Willow Warbler sang, a Marsh
Harrier flew over and a Slavonian Grebe appeared on the lake!! The Wryneck and
WW are my earliest EVER in Norway, both by 4 days, and can definitely be described
as exceptional records.
Here is my total eBird checklist and a short video with as
far as I can hear the sound of 10 species: Wryneck (vendehals), Chaffinch
(bokfink), Willow Warbler (løvsanger), Greylag Goose (grågås), Blue Tit
(blåmeis), Chiffchaff (gransanger), Great Tit (kjøttmeis), Song Thrush
(måltrost), Curlew (storspove) and Green Sandpiper (skogsnipe).
a very early Wryneck (vendehals)
and an equally early Willow Warbler (løvsanger) - if you think this picture doesn't show why it isn't a Chiffchaff (gransanger) then you can hear it singing in the video
my first Swallow (låvesanger) of the year
and already my third Marsh Harrier (sivhauk) of the year in Maridalen. Surely some other half decent raptors should turn up soon
Here are some more pictures and video from Friday and Saturday. Yesterday we had a fantastic trip to Valdresflye and nearby areas and I will come back to that.
I could hear 3 Cuckoos singing feom the cabin and early on Saturday morning one sang very close much to the annoyance of a Willow Warbler. This was a truly amazing experience and I was lucky enough to film it although quite shakily.
Cuckoo (gjøk) and Willow Warbler (løvsanger)
Here the Cuckoo was being mobbed by a Meadow Pipit (heipiplerke) but it looks like it has been speared
2 male Scaup (bergand) and a male Tufted (toppand). Scaup are becoming very scarce breeders in Southern Norway although without a female they will not be adding to the population
This group of a pair and additional male will hopefully be able to do their bit though
Siberian Jay (lavskrike). We had amazing views of a pair but my camera decide to go on strike so this was the only picture I got. They called a lot though as you can hear in the video
A pair of Ring Ouzels (ringtrost) were by the cabin
Golden Plover (heilo)
Willow Warblers are very numerous
We had very few raptors but did glimpse this male Hen Harrier (myrhauk)
Temminck’s Stint finding food on the edge of the ice
Black-throated Divers (storlom)
Male Bluethroat (blåstrupe)
Ringed Plover (sandlo)
Temminck’s
Dunlin (myrsnipe)
Female Willow Grouse (lirype)
The lake is 937m asl and the ice was only just beginning to melt on Friday when this picture was taken although was mostly gone by Sunday afternoon
