On Friday
I was guiding Daphne from Maryland. The goal was good days birding and a nice
selection of local birds and we definitely succeed with that. Leisurely walks
around Fornebu and Maridalen in warm and sunny conditions were quite birdy and
we chalked up 56 species.
Fornebu
in particular had a very good selection of birds and I finally found out where
all the Willow Warblers are hiding. We also had Bluethroat, Redstart and
Whinchat more or less in the same bush!
Butterflies
also surprised with a Small Blue which is the second latest ever recorded in
ArtsObs (and only by one day) and also a very fresh Swallowtail which is also
unusually late.
In
Maridalen in the afternoon things had quietened down a bit but very close up
views of a dragonfly eating a wasp was very exciting. We also had three young
Swallows which were clearly just out of the nest perched only 2 metres from us
and being regularly fed by their parents.
I eventually found up
to 9 breeding pairs of Red-backed Shrikes (5 pairs plus single birds at 4
sites) plus Wrynecks at 2 sites so these two species may well have an OK year
after all. One of the pairs of Wrynecks had 3 young already out of the nest and
I heard their begging call for the first time – a call which can be confused
with the song of Firecrest! One of the pairs of Red-backed Shrikes also had
young which had just flown out of the nest and which were much shyer than their
parents and kept in the depth of bushes most of the time. Raptors were very
scarce with just local breeding Common Buzzard and Sparrowhawk – I had expected
to find Honey Buzzards.
Butterflies continued to be my main focus. I
added eight new species:
22.Grayling / kystringvinge
23.Holly Blue / vårblåvinge – a very rare second generation adult
24.Small White / liten kålsommerfugl
25.Common Blue / tiriltungeblåvinge
26.Small Copper / ildgullvinge
27.Comma / hivt C
28.Heath Fritillary /marimjellerutevinge
29.Swallowtail/svalestjert – Sara found a caterpillar which we
looked after for a few days
I also managed my first ever picture of the
Pearly Heath and managed to see from a picture the spine on the front leg of
the male Silver-studded Blue which confirmed my suspicion that the smaller blue
butterflies I were seeing were this species and not Idas Blue although as these
two species can fly together I could well have seen both.
Dark Green Fritillary /aglajperlemorvinge
Dark Green Fritillary /aglajperlemorvinge
Heath Fritillary /marimjellerutevinge
Heath Fritillary /marimjellerutevinge
Queen of Spain Fritillary / sølvkåpe
Silver washed fritillary / keiserkåpe
Silver washed fritillary / keiserkåpe
High Brown Fritillary /adippeperlemorvinge
High Brown Fritillary /adippeperlemorvinge
High Brown Fritillary /adippeperlemorvinge
Silver-studded Blue/argusblåvinge This shows, I believe the spur on the front leg
same butterfly and the spur can be seen!
another assumed Silver-studded Blue/argusblåvinge
same individual. Here a forward pointing spur can be seen on the middle leg but this is apparantly also seen in Idas
same individual
Common Blue / tiriltungeblåvinge
Holly Blue / vårblåvinge – a very rare second generation adult
Brimstone
Grayling / kystringvinge
Swallowtail caterpillar
it sticks this out as a defense mechanism and it emits a foul smell (although we didn't detect the smell)
Common Buzzard (musvåk)
a very unexpected mid summer Pink-footed Goose (kortneggbås)
a very well marked old female Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)
a more normally marked female
another more normally marked female
and another boldly marked old female who I also saw with a bird in her beak
who was mother to this youngster
and paired with this male
Wryneck (vendehals) with a beak full of ant larvae which it was taking to fledged youngsters
Slow worm (stålorm)
this year seems to have been very god for breeding Swallows and there are many youngsters on the wing
Yesterday I was guiding John, Dan, Debbie, Mike and Nancy
from the USA who were in Oslo for a couple of days on a cruise.
We had a truly great days birding with Oslo birds showing
off their best sides. Østensjøvannet had a lots of young birds and activity
despite it being a warm day. Mute swans, Great Crested Grebes, Tufted Duck,
Mallard, Coot, Moorhen and Black-headed Gulls all had young and we saw 9 species
of warbler including two Marsh Warblers and an Icterine Warbler. A Pink-footed
Goose was also an unexpected summer sighting.
The afternoon offered a truly memorable experience and was
one of afternoons that leaves you in no doubt as to why birding is so cool. We
were searching for Whooper Swans and found a pair with their 7 cygnets (correction - they have 8 young which Dan quite rightly noted). Whilst
watching these we then had a Hobby – nice enough but then it mobbed a Buzzard
and then there was another Hobby and then another. All three Hobbies then put
on an amazing aerial display right over heads catching dragonflies. At one point
we were able to follow a dragonfly and then see a Hobby stoop and take it. If
that was not enough we could also hear a Black Woodpecker and then whilst watching
a perched Hobby we saw the woodpecker going up the same tree and eventually had
the side by side!
I’m stuggling to find the time to edit photos and videos at
the moment but here are the highlights from today.
Hobby (lerkefalk) and Black Woodpecker (svartspett)
