Nocturnal singers

Well, it seems birding still has something to offer so butterflies can wait just a bit longer which is just as well given the wet and cloudy weather we are forecast to have.

 Just after I wrote my last post an evening trip to Fornebu allowed me to first hear and then see a Gropper that had been found earlier in the day. Grasshopper Warbler remains a very scarce and not even annual special around Oslo and was unsurprisingly the first record of the year. This is the second time I’ve heard one at Fornebu with the first being a bird that arrived at the end of April in 2019 and hung around for a month. An April arrival fits in with the small regular Norwegian breeding population that are mostly found on the west coast whereas an arrival at the end of May/beginning of June (that is the normal fare in south east Norway) which often occur during warm periods with southerly winds may well be a bird that has already tried its luck somewhere else in Europe and has then decided to move north looking for more joy.

Grasshopper Warbler (gresshoppesanger) Fornebu

 Last night I was about to go to bed but then looked at the weather forecast and realised that even though conditions were not perfect (it was cloudy and damp) it would be quite a few days before there were any better conditions for some night singer activity. Maridalen started very quiet with just two Woodcocks for my troubles as I got to the end of the valley. A distant Tawny Owl had me trying to drive closer to locate it as amazingly enough this was only my second record this year. Early spring nocturnal sorties had resulted in just one very distant singing Tawny Owl which must have been a sign of how little food there was. Vole numbers may be picking up though as in addition to the two Tawnies I now heard a GGO was photographed in the forest just east of Maridalen last week. Maybe Oslo will have an owly autumn and winter?

As I drove with the window open I heard a noise that I thought was from the car but after turning off the engine (an electric car would be very good on these trips) I realised I was listening to my second Gropper in two days and only my fourth ever in Maridalen - and boy did it sing! I was able to see it quite well using my head torch and whilst doing so I thought I heard a Nightjar call. A bit later it called right over me and I then got to see it really well as it hunted moths around me and even sang briefly from a fence post.

I set about trying to record this unforgettable experience…. but as usual my phone has far fewer videos than I thought I took plus a good number of videos of the ground….  I thought I was seeing a red light showing I was filming but surprise, surprise things were not as I thought. I wonder if there is a support group for people like me? I also had the superzoom with me but despite use of the head torch it really struggles in the dark. I did get some documentation though:

First a video of the Grasshopper Warbler with a bonus Sedge Warbler at the end:

Pictures of the Nightjar

Nightjar (nattravn)

here we can see the white wing patch showing it to be a male (as confirmed by it singing)

And video of the Nightjar which does have a sequence of it moth catching from a fence post and then briefly singing with the sound of the Gropper all the time in the background:

On the way out a Sedge Warbler was in full song and this was a Maridalen tick for me🥳. I had first heard it in the middle of the day but only a couple of snatches of song which were not enough to confirm the ID. The ID was later confirmed though by Jon Andrea, an up and coming teenage birder who gives me hope that birding in Oslo has a bright future and by the evening it was not holding back.

There are now two Barnacle x Canada hybrids in Maridalen and both are different to last week’s bird so we really are talking about an influx.

 

both of the Canada x Barnacle (hvitkinngås) Geese hybrids

paler bird with a white forehead and hardly any hint of a darker chest

the darker bird

this bird is I am sure the paler bird but due to its posture it is showing off a white  neck collar which doesn't show in the other photo

the darker bird really stands out

here the darker bird, a Canada with too much white on the head and a Canada x Greylag hybrid

I went looking today for a retrospectively identified (heard only) singing Red-breasted Flycatcher found last week and which is the first record in Oslo since the last bird in Maridalen in 2019. The area where I believe it was heard looked just like the areas where they have previously been found breeding in Oslo but I heard nothing which either means it has moved on, or he is mated up and breeding as in my experience they go silent as soon as that happens and only start singing again once the eggs have hatched. The area was coincidentally one I have frequently visited for butterflies especially Northern Chequered Skipper and a brief period of sunshine did wonders and in addition to the skipper I also had a couple of Wood Whites which is a species I have seen even less often than the skipper.

Wood White (skoghvitvinge)

female Northern Chequered Skipper (svartflekksmyger)

here showing the underside of the wing and with a Green-veined White (rapssommerfugl)

and here with a Brimstone (sitronsommerfugl)

Summer starts but spring is not quite yet over

1st June marks the start of summer in Oslo but on a rainy day with southerly winds I still had my thoughts on late spring migrants. This is the time of the year when really unexpected rarities can turn up but there are also more predictable ones such as rare terns or waders that you can hope to find at Svellet or Årnestangen. That was where I was headed today and Svellet still has some exposed mud. A good number of gulls and a few Common Terns were resting here but nothing rare or scarce and single of Red- and Greenshank were the only waders.

The walk out to Årnestangen was mostly dry (I chose the umbrella rather than rain coat option which worked out well) and mercifully free of mosquitoes although I am sure they will come soon. There were attractive looking mudflats and pools at the tip but they were all rather birdless although a heavy rain shower but an end to my scanning and I had to seek cover sitting down pushed against the wall of the hopefully inadequate but typically Norwegian viewing platform. Most counties equip nature reserves with «hides» where you can sit down and escape the rain whilst also being hidden from the birds such that you enjoy closer views and the birds are less disturbed. Norway of course has to do things differently and at Årnestangen the choice is a slightly raised open platform that offers no real shelter from the elements and definitely doesn’t hide you from the birds. Rather curiously, viewing slats have been put in the low walls which I was able to use today when on my knees and flattened against the wall with umbrella over me although I doubt that was there intended use.

 

Whilst sheltering I did hear a few waders and when the rain stopped enough for me to look properly I found three Turnstones with a small flock of Ringed Plovers. It is very rare for me to see Turnstone in summer plumage so this was a nice if distant encounter. Not a single calidris wader was a disappointment although a Red-Backed Shrike was the last of the non-nocturnal breeding migrants that I had yet to see.

 

Maridalsvannet has had a hatch of insects which in recent years attracts terns. None have turned up so far this year but a Little Gulls hawking insects with the Black-headeds today was nice. Yesterday evening a large flock of Canada Geese flew over the house and today what must be the same birds were in Maridalen. Amongst them was a hybrid Canada x Barnacle but surprisingly not the same one as in Sørkedalen last week. What is causing this sudden influx of presumed dutch birds?

 

On Friday butterfly watching in Maridalen was interrupted by news of a Little Egret at Fornebu and I quickly drove down to enjoy it. This species is still very rare around Oslo with this being only the 5th record whilst Great White has become annual and sometimes in small flocks.

the knee high viewing slats at Årnestangen allowed me some slight protection from the rain

during a pause in the rain. It was the exact weather conditions you hope for out there and in mid to late July could have resulted in hundreds of waders of many species.

Little Egret (silkehegre) at Fornebu on Friday

hybrid Canada x Barnacle Goose in Maridalen. It lacks the white forehead that last weeks bird in Sørkedalen had (see previous post) and also had a much darker breast

three young Lapwing (vipe) being looked over by mum

and here are 4 young. There was another adult closeby and the 4th young may have been from another brood. None of them was the single large young that I saw flapping its wings last week so things are still looking good. Two nests are still being incubated and have at least another week to go before we see any young.

Skjerven - the geese and Lapwing field in Maridalen

More good guiding

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 and  Wryneck. 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

A day of rest

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

— Marcus Workman (@MarcusW992) May 26, 2026

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:

Golden (Bread) Guiding

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

Taking stock at home

Maridalsvannet on the morning of 20th May

In Oslo it seems as though migration has come to end with rain and southerly winds causing absolutely nothing exciting to turn up. Svellet also still has mud but without there being a single wader reported this morning. Even though the period of quantity of passage birds has passed we are definitely entering the highest quality time and yesterday a stonking male Black-headed Bunting was pulled out of a mist nest in the garden of a twitcher who I had no idea had a ringers licence.

Almost all breeding migrants have now turned up with the first Rosefinches, Red-backed Shrikes, Marsh Warblers and Nightjars being reported now even if I have yet to see any of them yet.

My focus has now turned to locating breeding birds both for my own benefit and also a busy period of guiding that I have coming up. Hazel Grouse has been a real nightmare this spring. A long walk on 17 May with Mrs OB and The Beast took me past 8 or 9 territories where I have previously had the species but with not a single bird being found. Today I checked 3 territories in another area including “my pair” and did finally pull a bird out of the hat which I feel confident of being able to find again. Three-toed Woodpecker has also been a headache this year so a female that gave herself away tapping on a tree was a relief but she flew off without me being able to track her to a nest.

The two pairs of Black Woodpeckers continue to entertain with the one pair still applying the finishing interior design touches to their property and the other pair working hard to fill three noisy mouths with food. In this video you can see the male using over a minute and a half to feed them individually with food he is clearly regurgitating into his bill.

the male Black Woodpecker (svartspett) that is still putting the finishing touches to his property

and two of the three young in the other nest which is at a far more expected stage

Hobby (lerkefalk) today. I have only seen a single bird and heard no calling so do not believe a pair has returned yet

Black-throated Divers (storlom)

I watched a Wood Warbler (bøksanger) with nesting material in its beak fly onto the ground here. Can you spot the nest?

here it is and is of a similar construction to Willow Warbler (løvsanger) and Chiffchaff (gransanger) nests I have previously found

On the Lapwing front there are still two birds incubating and seemingly three broods of 4,1 and 1. With the two broods of single young the siblings were lost very early on but the remaining young are now half grown and will hopefully make it. The brood of 4 is a few days younger but the parents have done very well to still have all four alive.