School, and university, summer holidays have begun and we are once again privileged to be allowed to use the wonderful cabin at Hulvik. A week of sun, the odd butterfly and maybe some Nightjars awaits plus late nights watching football - Norway vs Senegal at 2am tonight anyone?
Yesterday, I guided Ian from Perth (the one in Australia) in the morning and Maridalen provided a number of lifers during a very fun morning. We discovered a new (and second) Wryneck nest as well as watching feeding time at the very late Black Woodpecker nest, Red-backed Shrikes, Hawfinch, Marsh Warbler and lots more.
Here is a video from the Wrynecks which I took early this morning. Make sure to listen until the end to hear the strange noises the young make.
More successful breeding stories are the Ringed Plovers at Fornebu where both young are now so good as fully grown and still being well cared for by both parents who run distraction displays. This video from Saturday was taken with my phone from the car and may, or may not, show the youngsters.
And in Maridalen today I saw 7 basically fledged young Lapwings - they look fully grown and can fly - but still had adults watching over them. They seemed to be broods of 4,2 and 1 which tallies well with earlier observations. The fate of the two late nests and any young that hatched remains unknown with the crop so high that I cannot see any birds that may be there and I am not sure the adults would bother to fly up to chase off a passing crow either. A minimum of 7 fledged young from 5 nests is probably enough to maintain the population as long as they don’t fly to France for the winter and get shot…
On Thursday I guided to Great Grey Owls for what will
probably be the last time this season. The chosen bird was Miss Hissig, the unusually
vocal female who has always made her presence known by bill snapping whilst we
are more than 50m away. On Thursday she had also added a rather menacing
growling to her repertoire and this may have been due to the presence of a fairly
large young on the nest. We kept a respectable distance and didn’t place ourselves
between the female who was perched high in a pine about 25m from the nest and
the nest itself. There was also the possibility that there was a young on the
ground and should one approach such a bird too close then the chances are very
high that the female will attack (it is this instinct that ringers use to catch
the adult females with a large net). We clearly chose an acceptable spot to
stand as she soon became quiet although any noise or perhaps movement elsewhere
in the forest could attract her attention and start a series of growls and
snaps.
We hoped to see the male arriving with food but early
afternoon was never going to be the best time although at one stage the youngster
became very animated and started calling excitedly which I felt certain was
going to prelude dad flying in (mum had also looked excited) but nothing
happened. The young which had been out of sight when we arrived became more and
more active during our stay so was I assume getting hungry. It also rained
briefly which I thought would cause mum to fly to the nest to cover the young
but that did not happen either. This female really is a strange beast but it
hasn’t stopped her, or perhaps more importantly her mate who brings the food,
from raising a youngster to very close the jumping out of the nest stage in a
year where voles are clearly in short supply.
The excited calling from the nest at one stage sounded like
it was coming from two birds so the single large bird we saw may also have a smaller,
younger, sibling that was not yet large enough to peer over the edge of the nest
platform.
The video included sequences of mum bill snapping and
growling (good speakers may be necessary to hear this) and the youngster calling
excitedly.
I am very excited to see how this winter and spring of next
year will pan out. If vole numbers crash then we could see Great Grey and other
owls spreading around looking for food and then we may be lucky enough to have
an owl winter around Oslo. Should this happen though then the chances of spring
2027 being good for singing and breeding owls is low. Vole numbers may however
hold up for another season meaning next spring is similar to this, i.e owls
breeding but at low densities and with few young. Only time will tell.
Two very enjoyable and successful days of guiding different
clients (Martin from Edinburgh and Andrew and Merril from New Jersey) have
given some very nice birds. There was a large grey owl in the mix on Sunday and
today was a morning of Oslo’s finest including Hobby, Rosefinch, Marsh &
Icterine Warbler, Wryneck, Hawfinch, and all three species of Flycatcher
😊.
As usual when guiding I took very few photos and just used
the superzoom so my digital output does not do justice to the two days.
something was watching us
is that a Robin?
no, it is Oslo's first reported Red-breasted Flycatcher since 2019. This species seemed to be on the cusp of establishing itself as a regular breeder and then just stopped appearing
I am just off the back of another two very enjoyable and successful
days guiding. Wednesday was Hedmark Owls and a short and sweet best of Maridalen
with Rob and Helen from Blighty and today was an Oslo highlights trips with
Andy from New York.
Many good birds, good experiences, deep discussions and
laughs were had. The best birds were of course Great Grey and Ural Owl plus
Black Woodpecker and Wryneck on Wednesday and then on Thursday, Oslo (and
suburbs) could offer amongst (many) others Thrush Nightingale, Honey Buzzard,
Goshawk, Black-throated Diver (or Arctic Loon if you are so inclined), Temminck’s
Stint, Velvet Scoter, Marsh, Wood and Icterine Warblers, Common Rosefinch and
of course Black Woodpecker andWryneck.
The bird that got me most excited though is one that will never appear as a “tick”.
It was clearly a Branta goose and at first glance I was thinking
Cackling Goose but after a bit more study it was clearly a hybrid between Barnacle
Goose and either Canada or Cackling. I think Canada is the most likely other
parent as it was not as small as I would expect a Cackling hybrid to be (I have
previously seen one of these in Oslo in 2018) and lacked a throat collar. There
is a population of feral Branta hybrids in Holland and these birds are
very likely to come from there.
My own pictures are getting worse and worse but give an idea
of what we witnessed. The video is from today with snippets of Thrush Nightingale, Temminck's, Rosefinch and the hybrid goose.
the lady
a high Honey Buzzard (vepsevåk) over Maridalen. Probably a female
presumed hybrid Barnacle x Canada Goose (hvitkinn x kanadagås) with Canada Goose in Sørkedalen.
The Ugly Owlet. Ural Owl (slagugle). Not long until this youngster makes the big jump
The Bird Gods deemed I was indeed not wicked and a day of rest was
unexpectedly given to me today after an unavoidable guiding cancellation. This
came after guiding yesterday and further guiding the next two days.
Yesterday’s guiding was a successful morning session in
Maridalen for Gerald and Mary from Minnesota. We enjoyed birds both common and
scarce and I hope some good photos were taken.
A Wryneck (vendehals) from yesterday:
Graham and Marcus have started going through their photos
and videos and posting on SoMe. Their results are, as I predicted, much better
than mine and Graham made me blush with some very kind words.
Find Graham on Facebook (see account above) and Marcus on Twitter/:.
My most memorable and favourite video from my time in Norway 🇳🇴 insanely close views of this female Great Grey Owl, whilst getting some amazing footage of her I noticed she was starting to cough up a pellet! What a moment!!!!!!! I still have so much to share 🦉 pic.twitter.com/qkNbDcoLQo
The day of rest was spent in Maridalen and looking more
down than up. It was a very warm day and during the morning a few butterflies
were clearly emerging and I found the first reported Germanium Argus (brun
blåvinge) and Green-underside Blue (kløverblåvinge) in Norway this year. The
argus was also my first record of the species in Maridalen and as I saw two of
them (both females I think) I wonder if I have just overlooked them before or
perhaps not been looking early enough in the year.
A nice selection of finches at a feeder in Maridalen today:
Grizzled Skipper (bakkesmyger)
Geranium Argus (brun blåvinge)
Green-underside Blue (kløverblåvinge)
A Willow Warbler (løvsanger) with an abnormal song had me checking out the song of all manner of rare phylloscs until I eventually saw the bird:
Rest, they say, is only for the wicked (as has been pointed out to me I have got that expression completely and rather embarrassingly wrong! It is of course NO rest for the wicked…😂) and this bank holiday
has seen me guiding for southern Norway’s best birds which at the moment
primarily means owls. I have spent three long, tiring, but very fun, and
rewarding days with Graham and Marcus Workman where were have seen Great Grey,
Ural and Tegnmalm’s Owls, Black Woodpecker, Wryneck, Honey Buzzard, Common Rosefinch, Icterine
and Wood Warblers, Slavonian Grebe, Moose, Capercaille and so much more.
The Great Grey and Ural were rated as their best birding
experiences ever and I couldn’t possibly disagree with that.
All the birds that I have been monitoring and checking in on
this spring were present and correct and showed impeccably well with my only
complaint to the Bird Gods being that the two singing Common Rosefinch that we
found were boring brown 2cy males instead of the bright red older males that
give them their name. It was only me complaining though☺️
I don’t have the time to write any more as I need to allow
myself a rest as I am guiding again tomorrow and most of next week. I’ll just
let the photos and video do the talking - it truly has been a great weekend!
This explains the Golden Bread reference. When Norwegian birders celebrate a lifer it is a tradition to celebrate with a Gullbrød (gold bread). This chocolate covered bar of marsipan is not to my personal liking but Graham and Marcus were keen to join the tradition. Here they are celebrating GGO which was lifer #1 but there were at least 3 more after that
my footage from the weekend pales into comparison with what these two got. Graham had a top of the range Nikon set up but Marcus was just using an iphone 11 (the same as me) with an adapter on a Kowa scope and was taking fantastic videos and stills. I hope to link to their work later once they are home and have published it. And I think I will be getting an adapter - will sure be cheaper than buying a new camera and lens that I rather desperately need and to be honest may give better results
Great Grey Owl (lappugle) - this is the "hissig" female and as usual she greeted us by bill snapping and this time growling long before we could see her. Again she was perched in a tree when we arrived but then flew onto the nesting platform so presumably has eggs but once again I can only say that her behaviour is not normal
Ural Owl (slagugle) presumed female. We glimpsed the furry tops of the heads of probably two young in the hole of the nest box and the male was also in the area
it was a joy to see this young Tengmalm's Owl (perleugle) who was looking out at dusk of his own accord (i.e no need for my poor trunk scratching to be put to the test). I reckon it was going to leave the box that same night
This sequence from the Black Woodpecker nests shows first from the nest with the three young where both parents came into feed at the same time but only after we had waited for close to an hour and a half... Our presence clearly affected the behaviour of the parents though and we had to move further back before they came in and fed the young. The sequence in the video where it almost looks like they are engaged in ritual courtship is how they were acting when they did not dare to go the nest (i.e before we moved away). Right at the end is the female in the other nest where excavation seems to be over and hopefully egg laying has begun. As they are a good month later than normal it will be interesting to see if they succesfully fledge young.
male Black Woodpecker (svartspett) and young
Slavonian Grebes (horndykker):
I also had a chance to check the second Ural Owl nest box and here the female was sat high so I reckon has newly hatched young but is around two weeks behind the other pair
It’s been a long while since my last post and it has been an
infuriating time but I’m sure I’ve written something similar many times before
at this time of the year. We have entered what a lull with sunny, dry weather
meaning no meaningful arrivals of birds and also difficult viewing conditions
especially at Årnestangen and Svellet where long distances and hear haze become
a real issue.
It is spring though and of course new birds are arriving but
it is a trickle and there is no volume of birds. Slavonian Grebes have made
their annual visit to Maridalsvannet, a visit that seems to come earlier and
earlier each year. Other species that have arrived early are Wryneck, Pied
Flycatcher, House Martin and Willow Warbler but raptor migration is still a
dream despite me trying from a variety of places – I have yet to see a Hen
Harrier let alone a Pallid..
I have just had two good days of guiding with Margie and
Greg from Wisconsin where we racked up 85 species with Wryneck, Lesser Spotted
Woodpecker, Ring Ouzel and Rough-legged Buzzard amongst them. Despite us starting
the day early it became quite hard going after around noon with the sunny
weather causing a real decline in activity. This sunny weather is forecast for
at least the next 10 days so I fear that the magical Svellet spring that I was
predicting may already be unlikely. The day we do get some rain though could
end up being one of those days though.
After guiding and drop off at the airport I continued north
for an evening in owl land. I twitched a Great White Egret on the way which I
actually managed to see from the motorway at 110km/h but did also stop to
admire a bit better.
Owls are a mixed picture. Ural Owls are giving me my best
ever joy with the species with two nest boxes that I have checked now being
occupied - this amounts to nearly 10% of the known Norwegian population!
Great Grey Owl though is a different story. I again visited
the two nests from last year and found no birds by the natural nest. By the
platform the female was still present but not on eggs. She is a strange one
though and gave herself away by bill clicking when I was still close to 50m
away and had not yet seen her. She is clearly territorial.
One person who knows a lot more about owls than me reckons
it is just still early in the season and that birds will nest and lay eggs whereas
another reckons the rodent population has collapsed. Time will tell but unless
they lay eggs in the next week or two it will be too late. In the Facebook
group Ugler i Norden there are updates from a platform that has a camera
watching over it. Here birds were first seen coming to the platform already 22
Feb and mating was observed from 7 April but the first, and so far only?, egg
was not laid until 2 months later on 21 April. This to me suggests a pair who
want to breed but are finding the food situation very borderline.
When in the forests a roadside female Capercaille was a
treat and I continue with my tree scratching whenever I see a suitable hole.
This time I did get a bird but and a Stock Dove was very unexpected given where
I was but why oh why couldn’t it have been a Tengmalm’s?
Six Slav Grebes (horndykker) on Maridalsvannet - an Oslo record count!
a single bird two days later may well have been in addition to the six
Two Ring Ouzels (ringtrost) - it always feel like a big relief when I see these in the spring as it is a species I never feel guaranteed to see in Oslo (but do)
female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (dvergspett) whilst guiding. This bird was making a lot of noise and was I reckon unpaired and getting desperate
my first Wryneck (vendehals) of the year and another good bird to see whilst guiding
a great looking old Black Woodpecker hole that I was sure would reveal a Tengmalm's Owl (perleugle) but instead and for me very surprisingly revealed a Stock Dove (skogdue). At least my tree scratching skills seem to be OK now.
roadside female Caper (storfugl)
Great White Egret (egretthegre)
Great Grey Owl (lappugle) - the same bird as in my previous owl post
Ural Owl (slagugle) - also the same bird as in my last owl post
but he she is with her mate (on the left). I have rarely encountered the male at a nest site and then they are normally much shyer than this bird seemed to be. He flew in after the female called and maybe felt he had a job to do
and Ural Owl nest #2. This box is old and the bottom starting to fall out perhaps suggesting that whoever put it up no longer checks it and I hope it survives the season
Maridalsvannet on Monday morning. Lovely weather but no many birds
a very long, straight road in Hedmark's deep forests
A pair of Ringed Plover (sandlo) is clinging on at Fornebu and here, and in the video, the male is creating nest scrapes for the females approval. The area they were doing it in was very close to paths and roads so I suspect they will struggle.
I finally managed to read the rings on the Mute Swan (knoppsvane) pair that is visiting Maridalsvannet this spring. Surprisingly they are not the same pair that bred last year which have established themselves at Fornebu now. This pair have been seen together since March 2025 when they were at Østensjøvannet but did not breed . The female P576 was ringed as an adult in 28km away in March 2017 so is a mature lady. She bred in 2022 with another mate but did not raise young whilst the male was ringed as a juvenile in November 2023 11km away and is so young that he wouldn't have been expected to breed before now
I have also seen Long-eared Owls (hornugle). They were a pair by an old Crow's nest but it did not appear that eggs had been laid yet
It is the middle of April and the next six weeks are the
most exciting of the year (in the Oslo area at least). In addition to many new
birds for the year there are also new birding sites to reacquaint myself with
and I have now competed my first walk to the end of Årnestangen for the year as
well as my first grilling of the mighty Svellet.
Conditions today at Svellet were magical and I have a small
but growing hope that this will be one of those Svellet springs that are
entered into the history books, or at least get remembered on this blog. Today
the water level (3.61m) was perfect and there were enormous areas of shallow
water and wet mud. 2000 Teal and 234 Curlew were both good counts and the quality
came in the form of a male Garganey, a Bar-tailed Godwit plus two very early
Ruff and a Redshank. The weather over the coming weeks will be key to whether
conditions remain perfect and we need just enough rain such that the mud doesn’t
dry up but not too much rain (or sun that causes lots of melt water to flow down
the river) such that water levels do not rise too quickly. I hope every birder
in Oslo and Akershus is praying to the Birds Gods.
Svellet from the eastern side. Even though I describe conditions as perfect the distances are very long and a scope is essential and even then not always enough to identify all the birds out there
and some of the Teal (krikkand) and also the Garganey (knekkand). As I said they are a long way away
Årnestangen has also delivered with another very early wader
in the form of a Whimbrel, an early Swallow and a good selection of raptors
including a Red Kite which flew low over my head without me seeing it but that
I then caught up with in the scope at about 6km range…
Taiga Bean Goose and Greylags at Årnestangen today. This is a relatively late bird as were the 4 Tundra Beans I saw yesterday
the bird was close to the Geylags in size and had a long slender neck and long thin bill with thin lower mandible.
I had a very enjoyable and successful morning guiding
Barbara from Canada on Monday and we saw 60 species including Jack Snipe, Black
and Red-throated Divers, Lesser Spotted and Black Woodpeckers. And if you don’t
believe my description then read Barbara’s 😊
one of three Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) at Fornebu. This bird has been regularly feeding in the open and to me looks very much like a Broad-billed Sandpiper...
and a more expected shot of a Jack
and a Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin)
male Kestrel (tårnfalk) in Maridalen
and a Mistle Thrush (duetrost) in The Dale
Little Ringed Plover (dverglo) are back at Fornebu and will hopefully breed again this year
and Ringed Plovers (sandlo) are also back at last years nest site although they have less and less space available to them
