It has been commented that I moan about the weather nearly
as much as I write about birds and that is no doubt correct and to prove it –
the weather is just wrong at the moment! +12C night and day, southerly winds,
overcast and drizzle and not a good, out of season bird to show for it…I’m
hoping for Pallid Swift, Hoopoe, Desert Wheatear or at the absolute minimum a Firecrest…
I’m not sure if out of desperation or a real expectation
that there would be something good but I found myself sea gazing at Krokstrand
yesterday. The site of many a good seawatch a decade or more ago it now serves as
a reminder of how autumn weather patterns and arrivals of seabirds have
changed. For the nostalgia value it was good to be there and remember previous visits
with skuas of all 4 species, Brunnich’s Guillemot, Sabines Gull, Grey Phalarope
and all the more expected but still for these parts unusual stuff. Yesterday
wasn’t a disaster and there were birds and not just sea to gaze at but it was
not a day that will be remembered in a week’s time let alone a decade’s time.
Three Kittiwakes were the best of the bunch and there were double digit numbers
of Guillemots along with three each of Razorbill and Little Auk but I could
just as easily have seen the auks in Oslo.
A nocturnal visit into Maridalen with the thermal imager
revealed unsurprisingly that Woodcock are still around with 4 seen along a short
stretch. Slightly more unusual was a single Common Snipe and two Fieldfares that
were seemingly roosting on the ground in a stubble field. Nearby at least 20
Magpies were roosting together in some isolated bushes. A Tawny Owl called but
I picked up no other owls hunting over the stubble fields despite there seeming
to be increasing numbers of mice.
Krokstrand looking south towards more open sea
and looking north towards Oslo and the end of the fjord
Woodcock (rugde) taken just with the aid of my head torch
and here using the camera's inbuilt flash. Note how far up the mud goes on the birds long beak showing quite how deep it has been probing for worms
a Fieldfare (gråtrost) one of two which I believe were roosting on the ground rather than nocturnal feeding
and a Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin)
an unusually easy to observe Little Grebe (dvergdykker) on the park lake at Valle Hovin. In Norway it is unusual to see one so well
1 May is a day of very high, though rarely met,
expectations. With spring this year being so early Jack and I had decided that
May 1st would be the new May 9th and positioned ourselves expectantly at Huk
from 05:15 but were to be disappointed. Despite southerly winds and some cloud
cover there was basically zero viz mig to observe. No Common Scoters and just a
single diver for example were a sure sign of lack of movement. Three female
Long-tailed Duck that suddenly dropped in were there a real surprise but when a
bank of fog rolled in we decided it was time to head to Svellet.
1 May at Svellet is guaranteed to be good right? Water
levels are still falling slowly and it looks mighty and I am hoping
for something to match my LesserYellowlegs in 2020. But the waders don’t seem to think so and it was a
major disappointment. A flyover Great White Egret would just a few years ago
been a major highlight but these days is nearly old hat😉.
Great White Egret (egretthegre) flying over Svellet. This bird is missing its inner primary on both wings which may make it possible to individually identify if it turns up at other locations. The bird I saw a week ago did not have these missing although I guess they could have been lost since then
Svellet on 29 April all mud and shallow water but hardly a wader, yet...
the water level is falling more slowly but has fallen an additional 10cm in the last two days.
Hellesjøvannet offered my first Hobby of the year, a
White-tailed Eagle and at least 6 Marsh Harriers with a surprise Slavonian
Grebe but no booming Bitteren or more exciting raptors.
A twitch provided me with my best bird of the last few days
when I drove to Moss to enjoy a very confiding 1st summer female Red-footed
Falcon. She has taken up residence on a golf course and spent most of her time
on the fairways eating worms and beetles. She would sometimes fly down from a
perch to grab something but other times would run around like a thrush seeming
to find things by hearing them. Only once did she fly around grabbing insects
in the air.
spot the falcon?
from when it was flying around. If I got a shot like this in Maridalen one day I could be over the moon
catching small flying insects
is clearly moulting its tail feathers and has some missing and also feathers of different generations
eating a worm
down the hatch
A rare trip to Kurefjorden was rather disappointing with few
very waders.
a Woodcock (rugde) nest in Maridalen that was deserted due to forestry work just metres away which amazingly enough is allowed to continue throughout the year
Temperatures are pushing +10C on the back of quite strong southerly
winds so I have been expecting some quite large arrivals of migrants but that
has not (yet) been the case. New species are of course arriving and a nocturnal
outing on Sunday revealed my first Woodcock of the year and Oslo’s earliest
ever record. This species is of course under recorded due to its nocturnal
habits but given that the snow had only just started melting it could not have
arrived any earlier.
Woodcock (rugde) - a very early bird but the mud was soft despite the snow so hopefully it could find food
Lapwings are far more obvious and I am always very keen to find the
first returning birds. This year I failed to as one turned up yesterday which Ididn't see but today I did see the now two birds present. March 3rd
is the second earliest ever arrival date only a day behind 2021. A (the?) pair
of Whooper Swans is back in the Dale and it will be interesting to see where
and if they decide to breed and how much beef they have with other swans – both
Whoopers and Mutes.
and one of the two Lapwings (vipe)
and the Whooper Swans (sangsvane)
A trip to Årnestangen, my first of 2025, and then further up
the Glomma river revealed surprisingly hardly any swans or geese although I did
make it up to the Taiga Beans which were still present but had not increased in
number. Given how snow free it is along the river and how warm it now is and
with southerly winds I was really expecting a surge in especially Whoopers but maybe
there is some bad weather further south blocking their return.
a male Goshawk (hønsehauk) displaying in Maridalen
a Great Grey Shrike (varsler) along the Glomma
and the Hawk Owl on Sunday which I expect will be my last sighting of the bird - it seems fitting that it would move on just as the first Lapwing arrives
After a couple of nights with heavy frost (the scraping off
car type) there has been an almost total clear out of birds from Maridalen.
Gone are the large flocks of Brambling and Greylag Geese and there are precious
few other birds either. Even though the rowan trees are still full of berries
there is now nothing feeding on them so if Pine Grosbeaks and Waxwings (I have
yet to see one this autumn) come then there will be lots for them to eat.
After 6 attempts I think I have given up on Tengmalm’s Owl
in Oslo. There is nothing to suggest it is a rodent year in these parts and I
have yet to uncover a Pygmy Owl this autumn either.
Evening trips with the thermal have revealed the first
Woodcock of the autumn on the stubble fields alongside Common Snipe.
a sure sign that things are quiet on the bird front is when I decide to take photos of common birds coz they look nice..
juvenile Water Rail (vannrikse) at Fornebu. This is the first time I have managed to get a photo of one of the products of this year's breeding
a long driving lesson with Jr on Sunday took us out east where there were still lots of Greylag Geese. Here at Kragtorpvika, Hemnessjøen
and a Hen Harrier (myrhauk) at Hellesjøvannet
Aspen (osp) is the favourite tree of Black Woodpeckers and Beavers and also looks fantastic in autumn
There is more to birding than owls and at the moment we have
migration to enjoy. Passerine migration is still going slowly and snow and -4C
today is the reason for that - April can still offer up proper winter weather
and millions of years of evolution has engrained that knowledge in species of
birds that eat insects or need bare ground to feed on. My only new Oslo
species, #116, since my last post was a passerine though with a Ring Ouzel on
April 1st. This was an early record on a warm day and since then I
have seen few thrushes of any ilk.
Wildfowl are well on the move though and a traditional early
April trip into Aurskog-Høland and Indre Østfold via the Glomma yesterday did
not disappoint. There was lots of flood water in the valleys and very large
flocks of geese (mostly Pink-footed), Whooper Swans and Cranes. It is still too
early for large numbers of dabbling ducks although Teal are starting to arrive
in small flocks. It also appears to be too early for raptor passage and the
hoped for Red Kite or at least a Harrier sp. did not reveal itself.
There were a number of goodies though, the majority of which
I knew would be there. In addition to seeing the 2cy Bewick’s Swan I found
before Easter, there was also an adult pair to see (one of which is ringed, see
below). I had White-fronted Geese at three locations, Taiga Bean Geese at two and
a Great White Egret.
Kallaskjøen was covered in birds (and still a bit of ice)
Bewick's Swan (dvergsvane) ringed bird (752). Ringed as a juvenile female 13.8.2008 in Russia
there have been few reports since then and the last was in Denmark in December 2015 before she turned up in Norway 2 weeks ago
here mate to the left has a noticeably different bill pattern
their behaviour suggested a pair with what I interpreted as display (see video) but the ringed female (right) looks to be larger than the presumed male which doesn't make sense
flood waters and hundreds of swans and geese at Haneborg (not far from Kjelle)
the 2cy Bewick's was about the closest bird which made finding it easy
Great (White) Egret (egretthegre) have become regular in the autumn but are still rare in the spring although it cannot be many years until they breed
Hellesjøvannet where this one was would surely make a good breeding locality
my first Ring Ouzel (ringtrost) of the year in Maridalen
this worm eventually proved to be too much
although it gave it a good go
I came across a flock of 22 Taiga Beans Geese at one of their traditional feeds and seeing them in good light at quite close range they are a bewildering bunch and there are many single birds that look they are Tundra..
the right bird has a Tundra look to it
this bird had a metal ring and has therefore mostly likely previously had a collar which has now fallen off. The distinctive bill pattern may allow its identity to be determined. I believe this is 6X after going through all my old posts especially this one https://oslobirder.blogspot.com/2019/03/a-bit-more-like-it.html where there is a picture of the same bird with 6Z and here where there is a picture of 6Z and 6X https://oslobirder.blogspot.com/2016/03/a-new-routine.html. 6X is a bird I saw first in 2013!
this 2cy White-fronted Goose (tundragås) was associating with the Taigas
this large flock of wildfowl was on a field that I have never checked out before. They were not easy to grill but..
there were some White-fronted Geese amongst the hordes of Pink-feet
Cranes (trane) were very obvious yesterday with the largest flock being over 100 birds
nocturnal trips in Maridalen have revealed many Woodcocks (rugde). I saw this pair displaying in the thermal imager but they became shyer once illuminated
this fox was very confiding early on Easter Monday morning
this adult male Goshawk (hønsehauk) was initially seen chasing a Sparrowhawk that was in turn chasing a Chaffinch. Look how red its iris is
Lapwings (vipe) are so call that any chance to photograph them needs to be taken
