Mid June

 This week I have twice guided to Hedmark and it has been unusually easy! Ortolan was a target on both trips and both times the bird was spotted singing from roadside wires and all that was needed to do was wind down the window to enjoy its lovely song. After over 5 weeks on territory he still seems to be unpaired although on the first visit I thought I could hear two birds calling although on the second visit there was nothing to suggest more than one.

Great Grey Owl was only a target of the second trip and that only required stepping out of the car to hear the young begging for food. I knew the young had left the nest 10 days ago and was prepared to have to search for them but no, they were waiting for me 😊

We found only 2 large young and it therefore looks like one has been lost but we had both parents although in an hour and a half saw only one delivery of food so it may be that the vole population has crashed.

Falling water levels have allowed me to get an overview of the Lapwing breeding situation in Maridalen. The remaining birds have moved from the breeding field to a nearby muddy bay and here I was able to find 8 young from 4 broods. 1 was fully grown, 1 quite large, 3 small and another 3 very small. I expect more will be lost but this was a better situation than I expected although from 5-6 pairs it is hardly great. 

The Oslo Honey Buzzards are on the nest 10 days earlier than last year although we are still to see them in the air despite quite a lot of watching - they are sneaky birds!

I have only videos to add to this post as I seem to have lost the still photos I took. There is also a video of 2 Little Terns that are only my second sighting in Norway and which I twitched at the (again?) Mighty Svellet.

Birding (limited) update

Much of my limited birding time the last week went towards working out the situation regarding breeding (or perhaps non-breeding) Lapwings and Little Ringed Plovers at Maridalsvannet. I wil blog about that later once I have the full picture but here are a few of the other birding highlights from the last week.

Three-toed Woodpeckers were easy to find until the beginning of June until I lost track of where they were which coincides with them starting to nest. I saw the female again on 2 June and she was clearly collecting food but it wasn’t until 12 June that the nest was found by Per Christian. I visited the same day and they were nesting right where I had my last observation in May. The young were making so much noise that it would have been impossible to walk by and not be aware of them although on my visits to the nest I have been amazed at how many “civilians” have walked past without turning their head.

I had only my second record of Common Rosefinch in Maridalen this year with a one day only singing red male and this year (and also last year) are worryingly poor for the species. Another species which seems scarce this year is Honey Buzzard and I had only y second sighting with a bird seemingly migrating north over the valley. Visits to last years nest have revealed no sign of activity but they could still breed.

Nocturnal visits have revealed quite a few Tawny Owls and the family I located a while ago showed quite well by the road one evening.

I also found time to twitch a Little Tern at the (nearly) mighty Svellet which was a Norwegian tick for me. I also twitched a Sandwich Tern at Fornebu which was seen whilst I was there (shopping with the kids) but despite a quick response I failed to see them and have now relegated this species to the list of ones I have accepted I will never see in Norway.

female Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett) with food

and the male

here I think he was regurgitating a maggot and then swallowed it himself

young Tawny Owl (kattugle) at 23:43

my only red Common Rosefinch (rosenfink) so far this year

and the only Honey Buzzard (vepsevåk) that has come within photo range

my first Norwegian Little Tern (dvergterne)