Temperatures on the red side of zero if only by a small handful
of degrees, no night time frosts and rain mean that spring is creeping along.
There might still be lots of snow and ice but there are also now snow free
areas even in Maridalen and a few birds are arriving. This morning’s dog walk
revealed a singing Chaffinch which brought an uncontrolled smile to my face –
maybe this world, and the bits that we humans don’t control is not so bad after
all 😊
I have now seen two of the S’s in Maridalen with yesterday a
number of Skylarks heading south (and a couple singing) after I think having
met a wall of fog to the north and two Stock Doves doing the same. Mistle
Thrushes, only the Dales’s third ever Rock Pipit, Merlin, Peregrine and
migrating flocks of Whooper Swans have also suddenly announced the arrival of
spring. As I write this there are strong southerly winds and more rain so I
would not be surprised if a number of new birds arrive today. Maybe Maridalen
will also get in on the Stonechat act? There is now a pair at Fornebu and with
so many birds turning up surely we will find them breeding soon.
only Maridalen's third ever Rock Pipit (skjærpiplerke). Both other records were also in March and there is clearly a small overland passage of the species
it was on the exposed mud in the same field as the Whooper Swan (sangsvane) family were also finding food
Stonechat (svartstrupe) pair at Fornebu.
the male
and the female
the Whoopers
and an early Merlin (dvergfalk)
some sights and sounds from Maridalen yesterday:
Yesterday also saw me on a wild, and successful, goose
chase. With no GPS trackers to help I can no longer use my phone to find the
Taiga Beans but that didn’t matter as I tracked them down on two fields
totalling 65 birds in total. I also had a number of early Pink-feet, two
White-fronts and three Tundra Beans alongside Greylags, Canadas and hybrid
between the two so it was actually a very goosy day.
The Taiga Beans were on stubble fields I have not found them
on before although were in the same areas as previous years sightings and were
also close to Whooper Swans and other geese whereas often they are alone. They
were also relatively close to roads allowing themselves to be well watched and
were surprisingly unskittish.
It was also noticeable that they were not together in a
single flock. The first birds were 16 in total and were on a field close to where
the birds regularly were in both spring and autumn last year and were spread out
across a field with 140 Whooper Swans and Greylag, Canada and two White-fronts
as you can see in this video.
After a while when they decided (for no apparent reason)
to fly off and did so in groups of 4,4,5,2 and 1 with the last three groups
eventually joining up and then turning around before flying back over the field
and disappearing to the NE although these birds had returned later in the day
and were again separate on the field as groups of 5,2 and 1. Amongst the group
of 5 I saw bird V7 who has lost its neck collar but still has a colour leg
ring.
V7 left leg probably with its family given how the group of 5 kept to themselves. This bird was ringed in Scotland in Nov 22 and I have seen it every spring since then but interestingly not in the autumns
Taiga Beans keeping separate and probably two family groups
another group of 4
The White-fronted Geese (tundragås). With such limited belly barring I wonder if they are 2nd winter birds
The second group of 49 birds was on a stubble field close to
Udenes Church. The river here is where they roost but I have rarely seen birds
on the fields here. A large flock of Whooper Swans has been here this week and
maybe this attracts birds – it is very likely that I was watching very newly
arrived birds. When I first saw them they were split into distinct flocks of 30
and 19 and there was in addition a small flock of Pink-feet which had a Tundra
Bean amongst them. It was very interesting to see how these three small flocks
were within 20m of each other but operated as distinct units. On a return visit
2 hours later though the geese were all mixed up. I was now able to find another
leg ring Y7 but no collars.
a Taiga
more Taigas
and Y7 ringed on its right leg in Oct 2019 and seen by me every spring since and also in a couple of autumns
This video shows both the ringed birds:
So, 65 Taiga Beans in total with two leg rings but no collars.
Hopefully there are more birds to come and the flocks will join up. It would
make a lot of sense that the birds at Udenes were new in from Denmark that
morning whereas the other 16 have been around a few days (I had 12 on 5.3 then
2 on 8.3 and 4 on 9.3 which may have been the flock of 16?).
The Tundra Bean Goose was educational to watch. When I found
it amongst the Pink-feet it was clearly a Tundra due to being the same size as
the Pink-feet and also the fact it was associating with them rather than the
Taigas. On the return visit when all the geese were mixed together I did find
it again BUT I doubt very much that I would have been brave or foolish enough
to have called it as a Tundra if I had not seen it separately earlier. I have always
been very conservative regarding reports of Tundras within flocks of Taigas and
have dismissed other reports due to the individual variation amongst Taigas but
of course it is possible for birds to get mixed up especially if Pink-feet (the
more likely carrier species for Tundras) are mixed in. I had a pair of Tundras
at another site amongst a large flock of Whoopers where there were also
Pink-feet, Canadas and Greylags but no Taigas. The feature that was perhaps
easiest to pick out the Tundra was that its head was paler than the heads of
the Taigas which were noticeably darker than their necks. Whether this is a
consistent (and previously described) feature is not something I am aware of.
These videos allows good comparison of the Tundra and Taigas:
Pink-footed Goose (kortnebbgås) and Tundra Bean - note how they are the same size
the Tundra with Taiga in the background
spot the Tundra?
these pictures could have been sharper but give an educational comparison of the two
this is probably the best with the smaller size of the Tundra apparant as well as the paler head. Bill structure is of little use but we see the shorter neck
and here with a Pink-foot
the bird on the right could very easily be mistaken for a Tundra due to short neck and stubby bill but note the darker head and I am sure it is "just" a female Taiga
and two Tundra on another field which I did not see side-by-side with other geese but look to be larger birds than the other one. Notice the pale head which is concolourous with the neck especially on the left hand
and Cranes (trane) are back although only no large flocks yet
The progression of spring has not met my always high
expectations. Lots of fog and temperatures only just over zero seem to be
holding birds back with ice still on all water other than some streams and
rivers, snow still covering most fields and the chance of a large spring flood
seeming to be reduced.
Trips to the Glomma and Aurskog-Høland have revealed lots of
Whooper Swans which are definitely on the move but there are not may other
waterfowl moving yet. If the main flock of Taiga Beans have arrived then they
are hiding themselves very well and I have only found four on two visits with
one pair flying around calling and clearly not managing to find any kin. I have
managed to twitch a Bewick’s Swan and a flock of White-fronted Geese but have
not found my bird finding boots so far this year and a visit to a foggy
Østensjøvannet today resulted in me twitching others finds in the terms of a
male Stonechat and a nice adult Rook.
Maridalen is just white with ice, snow and fog and there is
no evidence of spring migrants other than three Whooper Swans which are back.
The bird I feel is most notably missing so far this spring is Mistle Thrush
which was a very absentee on trips out east. I assume there is some cold
weather further south that is holding them, and a number of other species,
back.
Bewick's Swan (dvergsavne). This is the only bird to be seen in Norway so far this year and is a species that I think is a good candidate to become a national rarity not so much as it is difficult to identify but more because it has now become a genuinely rare species in the country. Many records now are, such as this one, of birds mixed up with spring flocks of Whooper Swans and turn up in similar areas each spring suggesting they are returning birds. This one is in the same area as a pair in 2023 and upto three birds last year. I should look at the bill markings to see if it is a bird from a previous year.
The bird was found on Friday amongst 300 Whoopers. I had been there on Thursday when there were only 130 Whoopers and despite it being top of mind did not see anything smaller amongst them.
Lapwings (vipe) have not come to Maridalen or fields by Glomma but there was a big concentration by Hellesjøvannet yesterday with 70 birds considered a very high count nowadays
a pair of Taiga Beans. There was another pair about 50m away but no big flock yet. I wonder if the 12 I had last week were part of the regular flock or perhaps from another population and were just passing through.
White-fronted Geese (tundragås) with Greylags and Canada Geese. The flapping bird has particularly impressive belly barring
there are 10 White-fronts in this shot
today's Rook (kornkråke) with a Hooded Crow (kråke) at Østensjøvannet. A number of records in the Oslo area in the last few days show that the very small spring passage of the species is occuring now
and a nice male Stonechat (svartstrupe) which was in exactly the same area as a bird 3 years ago
these large hairy caterpillars seem to be a very important part of the diet of the early returning Stonchats. That no other insect eating species seem to feed on them quite so much makes me wonder if they are a poisonous species and only Stonechats have developed the ability to eat them
This week has seen the final three members of S Cub 6
arriving for duty with Skylark seen on Tuesday and Snow Bunting and Shelduck on
Wednesday. I am still to see, or hear, a single member of the band in Maridalen
which is still covered in deep snow with no snow free areas yet. There is also
lots of snow at Årnestangen and on most fields around the Glomma in Taiga Bean
land but a trip to Sweden on Tuesday revealed very little snow from the town of
Ski and eastwards. I had hoped that the drive to Sweden would reveal Red Kites
but raptors were limited to just a handful of Common Buzzards and a stop at
Gjølsjøen revealed my first Lapwings and a pair of Taiga Beans alongside many
Skylarks.
A trip to Taiga Bean land yesterday revealed lots of snowy
fields and ice on the river and nothing at all at any of the regular fields
that I visited. However on a stretch of the river north of Årnes there was a
flock of 12. They flew briefly on to a green field by the river where there
were also some Greylags and I have noted previously when they arrive to very
wintery conditions that they seek out fields with autumn sown green crops rather
than trying their luck on stubble fields. With no working GPS collars I have no
idea if the rest of the flock has arrived but expect they have not as it is
still too wintery.
The two female Stonechats are continuing to hang around at
Fornebu and I saw them capturing large hairy caterpillarsso life seems good for
them. A number of new birds have also been found so I hope Maridalen will join
the party next week.
Highlights of the week, and perhaps unsurprisingly for the
time of the year, have been owls but not along Owl Road where visits by others
has revealed no increase in singing Tengmalm’s and if anything fewer birds with
just two birds seeming to be the expected result.
Eagle Owl is a species I have only seen or heard four times
before. Twice in 2013 and again 2014 I visited a nest site in Hedmark and saw, heard
and filmed singing birds just after sunset and was happy with these encounters.
I am not sure as to the current status of this site but believe birds are still
there but a couple of hours drive has for some reason put me off trying for
them again. I do know of a closer site which is the only regular known site in
Oslo and Akershus and visited in 2016. You cannot get close to the birds here
and I only heard one singing distantly – enough for my Akershus list but not
the type of experience that has had me particularly excited about repeating.
Yesterday though I took Jack to listen for it and we didn’t just hear it but
actually saw it!! And now I suddenly want more of them. It sang from when we
arrived at sunset and despite searching and searching with the telescope it took
another half an hour to see it sitting and singing atop a pine tree. Even
though it was now getting quite dark I even managed a photo of sorts. But what
a bird and I think they are very few others who have actually seen these
birds. It was all at quite some range – over 1km – but very enjoyable. When we
first heard the song we were very unsure as to whether it was an Eagle Owl as
it sounded most like a Wood Pigeon and was not how I remember the song and
indeed Merlin also detected it and identified it as a Wood Pigeon…. That ID was
clearly wrong as for starters you wouldn’t hear a WP at such long range but I
must admit finally seeing it was quite a relief. The bird had been clearly
moving from song post to song post as we would hear it from slightly different
places but having now a bit more knowledge of where it is I have hope that a future
visit on a wind free, sunny evening could result in much better scope views.
Seeing it perched in the scope with its big ears sticking up
you realise what a huge bird it is and in reality it should never be confusable
with a Long-eared Owl but with grainy photos the two can sometimes be hard to separate.
Two encounters with Long-eareds this week though have not had me wondering what
they are. I have spotted them flying in the thermal at an expected site but
there has been no singing. There are two explanations for this – either they
have already formed a pair and laid eggs or they have not got into breeding
modus yet. There was still lots of snow on the fields and I am very sure that
they are not yet breeding. The overwintering birds that I followed in 2023 were
present at their roost until the end of February without their being any song
from them. I have previously found a young (non fledged) bird out of the nest in mid May which would mean egg laying at the end of March but this is very
early and you normally encounter young out of the nest in June. I did have a
singing bird on 6th March last year but there was far less snow then
so conditions were different.
We have exciting times ahead of us!
Eagle Owl! (hubro) at over 1km range and 40 minutes after sunset. If this photo leaves you wondering what you are looking at then the head is to the right, the tail sticking up on the left and the wings are drooped.
And a couple of videos taken with the thermal of Long-eared Owls flying around. They fly on very elastic wings and seem to float at times but can also perform quick changes in direction and stoop down at each other. Wing clapping was heard but I am not sure it this can be seen in the videos.
the female Stonechat (svartstrupe) still at Storøykilen
