Cloudless blue skies and a fresh easterly wind meant as expected a bit of a clear out with no new arrivals except perhaps for a small increase in Redwings.
My undoubted highlight was getting even better views of an adult Gyr Falcon than yesterday. It appeared to be a different, larger bird and it is unusual to see adults out on the coast. Normally young birds move to the coast whilst the adults remain close to their breeding territories.
As a sign of how quiet things were the other highlights were a hybrid duck and a plastic duck. A female Pintail x Mallard hybrid was a first for me but seemed to be a quite obvious hybrid between these two species even though female hybrids are much more difficult to identify than males. The plastic duck was a male Mandarin. I could try to argue that it was shy and if a Two-barred Greenish can turn up here then surely a wild duck from China can but it has been around for ages…☺️
Since my last post we have had a few days of rain
but this has resulted in my birding activity increasing as rain at the end of
July means good falls of waders in Nordre Øyeren. Fathering responsibilities and
decorating chores have not given me time to walk all the way out to Årnestangen
but Svellet has been very productive even though the viewing distances involved
are at the absolute maximum for what can be described as acceptable for ID
purposes. I have managed to see Broad-billed Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Little
Stint, Bar-tailed Godwit, Knot, Great White Egret and Mandarin so it has been quite
acceptable though.
When the rain stopped briefly on Friday I was able
to continue my search for Hairstreaks in my local neighbourhood and this time
located multiple Purple Hairstreaks (eikestjertvinge) on oaks at two locations
and saw egglaying at both sites. This was mid-morning and I think the butterflies
were keen to be active after a few days written off to rain. In the afternoon when
it was very hot I only saw a single Purple Hairstreak in the same areas showing
just how difficult these species are to find. I also had two small butterflies flying
high up in elms but they never stopped such that I could see them so I couldn’t
ascertain what they were.
I'll start with a male Common Crossbill - there are lots of cones in the forests and this winter could be good for finches. In addition there seem to be lots of rowan and asal berries so we could have lots of Waxwings and hopefully some Grosbeaks this winter
a local rarity - Mandarin Duck
and a now expected annual rarity a Great (White) Egret at Nordre Øyeren
finally good views of Purple Hairstreak (eikestjertvinge)
a driving lesson for Jr in Maridalen gave this very unusual sighting of Moose - unusual for two reasons - I don't remember ever before seeing a bull with antlers here before and it is perhaps only my second ever mid summer sighting in the Dale
If you have read this far then you may also be interested in some pictures of dragonflies..... a small local pond that has been part of my dog walking / hairstreak searching route gave me a three very similar species on Friday from only 5 observed individuals. To see the differences between them you need to look at the leg colours and patterning on the side of the breast (I had to ask for help):
Weekend dog and wife walking at Fornebu and Maridalen
revealed a few birds although a long forest walk which I had hoped would reveal
raptors and owls was fruitless. Yesterday evening OB Jr Jr and I had a trip
together to Østensjøvannet which was quite productive – every year I am asked
to provide six photos for the Facebook page of the Friends of Østensjøvannet
and my deadline is approaching and I realised I had no pictures from this year.
I have previously sent in pictures that Jr and Jr Jr have taken and was keen to
do the same this year although could only persuade Jr Jr that it was a good
idea. Both the kids have a much better eye than me and take far more interesting
shots whereas I just want to get the bird as large as possible in the middle of
the shot. An obvious subject for us was a male Mandarin that has just turned
up. Although it was still moulting out of its eclipse plumage it is a smart
bird and its owners must be kicking themselves for not having secured it better
– although unringed it was the tamest duck present and showed an acute fondness
for bread 😊
We have not yet chosen the 6 photos that we will use but I
will publish them later.
A trip to Maridalen today revealed 30 Meadow Pipits which is
a sure sign of the encroachment of autumn and there were noticeably fewer
summer migrants with for example no Whinchats seen. I couldn’t locate any
Kingfishers either but a male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was a nice find.
male Mandarin at Østensjøvannet
Jr Jr with the bazooka
male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (dvergspett) in Maridalen today
I don't think I have ever noticed the pattern on the underside of the tail feathers before
young male Bluethroat (blåstrupe) at Fornebu
this Spotted Flycatcher (gråfluesnapper) at Fornebu is a fairly late observation
Moorhens (sivhøne) have really taken to the ponds that have been created at Fornebu
mating Migrants Hawkers (septemberlibelle). This is another species that has found the artificial ponds to its liking
Yesterday, Rune and I “did” Nordre Øyeren and
Aurskog-Høland. Birding was good although it was a great disappointment that
the flodd waters at Kjelle have so rapidly declined and with no rain forecast
for at least the next week they will disappear very soon. It was dry everywhere
and Lapwings were concentrated around the last remaining areas of flood water rather
than on breeding fields. We had good birds with my first Garganey, Hen Harrier
and Golden Plover of the year and Taiga Bean Goose, White-tailed Eagle, White-fronted
Goose amongst others.
Today I was up late after being (rarely) out
yesterday and was not in a fit state to do very much but I joined Mrs OB for a
Beast walking trip in Maridalen. Here, I had an enormous surprise with a male Mandarin Duck sitting on the edge of the ice. Although as plastic as they come you cannot
tire of seeing such a smart bird and this was a new species for the Dale and not
surprisingly it proved popular later on. Thrushes were starting to flock for
the first time and a flock of Pink-footed Geese was on the fields as were the
two Cranes.
