A change

We’ve finally had a positive (for birders) change in the weather but it really hasn’t been enough to make the difference we all hope for. Yesterday evening there were a few local showers (but they were a lot less than had initially been forecast) and today was cloudy (but the winds were northerly). It is important to remain optimistic though and remember that you have to be in it to win it.

Svellet continues to receive daily visits and today tringas were in triple digits for the first time (220 Wood Sandpipers and 110 Greenshank) although if that was due the change in weather or just the passing of time is open for discussion. The water level is now almost too low and the mud flats risk getting bone dry such that when water levels do rise that they will be covering lifeless mud and therefore be of little use for waders. Ideally we will see daily increases of a couple of centimetres over the next two weeks but what we risk is little change until suddenly around the middle of the month levels are risen by 25cm a day.

Twelve Ruff today included only 4 males but they were lekking a little bit and one of them was a very striking white bird which I would have loved to see at a place where photos were possible.. Yesterday also saw the first Little Gull and Yellow Wagtails of the year so we can now look forward to Black Tern and Citrine Wagtail (as I said it is important to be optimistic).

Maridalen has not hit the same highs offered by the Pochard which was a one day wonder but a little twitch was required today to see a Shore Lark. Only the fourth ever record and in exactly the same spot as the previous three records which have occurred in the time period 26 April to 4 May it is clear when and where to look if you want to find one in Oslo which does make it a little galling that I had indeed looked at the exact same field only 2 hours prior with the said species in mind and had failed to spot it.

Shore Lark (fjelllerke) in the Dale. Only the fourth record following those in 2013,2016 and 2021. There are surprisingly few records of migrating birds in southern Norway but when they are on a field like this (and there are MANY of them) then they are not easy to find.

an slightly aberrant female White Wagtail (linerle). There is an excess of black on the throat and breast and grey instead of white cheeks but I cannot make it into another rarer subspecies. It looked to be paired up and in breeding modus

Wrote too soon

1^st May was it turns out not as bad as I thought. In the afternoon a Great White Egret was reported from Fornebu. A good species but not one to make me rush out of the door. However, in the evening  I had to drop Jr Jr off at a party which my phone informed me was only a further 7 minutes drive from said Egret. I had little belief that it would still be present given it was a Bank Holiday and Fornebu has become more park that nature reserve but when I turned up I immediately saw it. Nice and a Fornebu tick for yours truly 😊

It was an immature due to its yellow bill and was colour ringed although this I only discovered from my photos and cannot make out any code. I am also unsure of the colour of the ring so cannot find what scheme it is from – it looks black but the only scheme listed on cr-birding.org states it rings on the right leg whereas this is on the left.

The Egret can only count as Good as I was twitching but there was a hint of Greatness from two other birds. Three Bar-tailed Godwits had also been reported and I could see two waders sleeping in the bay. I naturally assumed these to be Barwits and paid them no further attention until I was about to go home by which time the evening sun had sunk so much that all birds in the bay were in shade. Their bills were under their wings but never-the-less something didn’t look right for Barwit and I was quite sure they were Blackwits. And indeed they were! They were very brick red and small and were clearly Icelandic birds and I wondered if there had been a mistake with the earlier reports but the two bird theory does apply here. Blackwits are not annual in Oslo and Akershus in spring and most previous birds look to be limosa but in the autumn when the species is far commoner it is definitely islandica that dominates.

Godwits of the Black rather than Bar-tailed variety

the Great (White) Egret was actively fishing and seemed to find a lot of prey

here the rings are visible. A metal ring on the right leg and a dark colour ring on the left leg but what colour is it?

Back to dire

The lack of daily updates is of course because things didn’t continue as hoped…

Despite being at the start of prime time Oslo birding there is still only a trickle of new birds. Greenshank numbers fell again yesterday at Svellet to a dire 15 although the first (3) Wood Sandpipers hinted, hopefully, at things to come. Today though was a tad better, as of course it should be as it is 1^st May and what should by rights be THE best day of the year if only because it is a national holiday and every self-respecting birder has no excuse but to be out finding something. Well either most birders lack self-respect or there was nothing to find..

But, back to Svellet and today. Jack and I had agreed to have our now annual early doors visit to Huk, Bygdøy to record the awesome spring migration that we proved can occur on our 9^th May visit in 2024. 1^st May is too early though and we know it but we have to give it a go…. Fog put a real dampner on things although we could see perhaps 500m. There was however nothing happening either to be seen or perhaps most importantly given the condition to hear with just two Meadow Pipits flying in giving any impression of active migration although a Reed Bunting clearly felt the same as us and was heading south to escape these DIRE conditions. Five Purple Sandpipers were still “wintering” on the rocks although are now in breeding plumage and we did hear a migrant wader when a Little Ringed Plover flew unseen past us.

Huk this morning where a bloody big cruise boat is just visible in the fog

We gave it an hour and then headed to Svellet where even though we arrived before 8am there was already heat haze to contend with. There were however waders with now 43 Greenshank and 24 Wood Sandpiper and 6 male Ruff and 2 Golden Plover provided some variety. Curlew numbers however had fallen to just 13 so total wader numbers did not reach three figures let alone the four figures I am hoping for. Rain tomorrow afternoon may make, and I really pray for, a difference. Water levels are still falling slightly – today down 3.62m - so we can’t ask for much more on that score.

one of the trickle of new birds - my first Whinchat (buskskvett) of the year arrived in Maridalen on the last day of April

a Wryneck (vendehals) in the Dale

a trip to Hellesjøvannet yesterday gave precious little on the exciting bird front but this Brown Hare (sørhare) was only my second sighting of this recent colonist whose numbers took off around 2015 and it is steadily hopping north from Sweden. It was introduced to southern Sweden in the early 1800 so is considered an invasive introduced species in Norway and is an undesirable as it out competes the native Mountain Hares.

Dire, good, great

Birding’s a funny old game. You spend your whole day with the word dire going through your mind and then first one bird and then another, neither of which is even that rare, suddenly makes it a good, indeed great, day.

I am trying to check Svellet daily so as to document its greatness but today (water level has fallen by 3cm to 3.74m) saw a reduction in Greenshank numbers, it may have only been two fewer birds but there goes my exponential growth hopes. The two were replaced by a single Redshank and single Ruff so there is a quantity over quality argument. Tomorrow though….

The greatness came in Maridalen but I did have to work darn hard for it. Dry fields are now being ploughed but that doesn’t mean any new birds – not even any Wheatears yet. With a lack of migrants I found myself in the forests where a pair of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers was nice but it reminded me that otherwise it has been a very poor ‘pecker spring in the Dale. I have only heard Black drumming one, have not found 3 toes and even Great Spots don’t seem to be numerous – I only had one today! I thought I would give a final try for 3 toe though and after drawing a blank at one of the usual breeding sites I tried the other and FINALLY I would one. It was a single female and she wasn’t drumming and gave no real indication of breeding but further visits will hopefully reveal a pair although I am not too confident.

So that was one bird but how about the other? The light and some wind had made looking for waterfowl on the lake difficult but as I was driving out I gave it one last go and saw a group of 7 ducks a long way out. I had to use the scope but immediately saw that I had hit patch gold – a male Pochard with Tufties!!! This has been looooong overdue in the Dale and comes after Ring-necked Duck and a hybrid Pochard x Tufted Ducks. Now Pochard isn’t a common bird in Oslo although sightings are more of less annual at Østensjøvannet where birds can hang around and have probably bred before. Maridalsvannet is by no means a good location for the species but neither is it for Tufties but on migration birds will always stop off for a day before continuing their nocturnal migrations. That it would turn up with a flock of Tufties has always been how I assumed I would find one and it seemed to be interested in a female Tuftie so there may be more hybrids in the works

Pochard is probably the most obvious species we were missing in Maridalen and the valley list is now 228 species as reported onArtsobservasjoner and making it the premier location in Oslo. My Dale list is now 212 and I bloody chuffed with that!

 

If things continue like this then there may be daily updates to the blog!

GREAT. no prizes for the picture but I reckon you can see there is a male Pochard (taffeland) and some Tufties (toppand)

GOOD. Finally a Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett) at one of the normal breeding sites in Maridalen but I only found this female so I am uncertain as to whether there is breeding

a Lapwing (vipe) nest which the farmer has marked. He will be ploughing soon and there was also another nest which I am confident he will find. I counted 7 birds today with these two and their presumed mates nearby, another male who may also have an unseen nesting female and a pair who by their behaviour had me thinking they have failed in their first breeding attempt but are thinking of another go.

in addition to the pair who I filmed mating (see below) but have yet to build a nest there have also been two lone Mute Swans (knoppsvane) on the lake. This one allowed me to read its ring and P578 is the male of last years breeding pair that earlier in the spring was being territorial at Fornebu but now seems to have given up both on breeding and his mate PC79 although more likely something has happened to her (nothing is reported on either of them since 7 April)

apart from a few Meadow Pipits (heipiplerke) these two Ring Ouzels were the only passerine migrants I noted in Maridalen

Svellet feeling cosmic even if all else is dire

Cold nights, a cold northerly wind and blue skies continue to sing a lullaby to both birders and birds and dire is a word that frequently goes through my mind but we are now getting to the time of the spring when no matter what the weather there will be new birds coming although southerly winds and rain would still be much preferred.

 

Svellet is now getting ready to be very mighty. Water levels are perfect (3.77m today) and are rising very slowly, the light in the early morning is good (meaning there is a chance of identifying what is out there) and new waders are coming. Whilst the number of Curlew is now falling with under 50 today the number of Greenshank is rising with the first 2 on the 24^th, 7 on the 26^th, 14 on the 27^th and 25 today, the 28^th – the increase is nearly exponential! No Wood Sands yet but a single Whimbrel and two Bar-tailed Godwits including a brick red male were a sign of things to come. If things stay like this then I think the next two weeks could be cosmic!

A pleasant surprise was finding Kingfisher at a breeding site. This winter has been so long and cold that I think that many birds will have perished and even though we may have far fewer pairs this year than last I think the species is now established and won’t come and go as it used to do.

Svellet 28th April. Water levels are currently perfect but it won't need to rise very much before those mudflat between me and the water disappear.

Bar-tailed Godwits (lappspove) are, despite what the local rarities committee thinks, a proper scarce bird around Oslo and especially in spring. Brick red males are even rarer

3 Greenshank (gluttsnipe) at Maridalsvannet today. An early record here and with water levels currently, and surprisingly given the weather, very high there is no mud so I am not expecting many more waders this spring

male Kingfisher (isfugl) with fish. I saw him twice with a fish which he did not eat himself but flew with it towards the bank that is here hidden by bushes and where I assume there is a nest hole

this female Sparrowhawk (spurvehauk) was in a display flight and calling today in Maridalen. She was displaying above a Goshawk teritory but it did not result in any Goshawks flying up. Note the white undertail feathers which both Sparrowhawks and Goshawks fan out when displaying

my first Whimbrel (småspove) of the year. I had previously reported a bird on 14 April which is an extreme early date. Whilst I was happy with the ID it was distant and I didn't manage to get a photo. I therefore deleted this record after a couple of days as I am a firm believer in that very early (and late) records of migrants should be documented with photos or sound recordings. This applies particularly to species which can easily be confused with a commoner species and include in addition to Whimbrel species such as Tree Pipit, Wood and Common Sandpiper, Honey Buzzard, Hobby, Garden Warbler, Yellow Wagtail and Wryneck (sound records) 

The big lull

It’s been a long while since my last post and it has been an infuriating time but I’m sure I’ve written something similar many times before at this time of the year. We have entered what a lull with sunny, dry weather meaning no meaningful arrivals of birds and also difficult viewing conditions especially at Årnestangen and Svellet where long distances and hear haze become a real issue.

It is spring though and of course new birds are arriving but it is a trickle and there is no volume of birds. Slavonian Grebes have made their annual visit to Maridalsvannet, a visit that seems to come earlier and earlier each year. Other species that have arrived early are Wryneck, Pied Flycatcher, House Martin and Willow Warbler but raptor migration is still a dream despite me trying from a variety of places – I have yet to see a Hen Harrier let alone a Pallid..

I have just had two good days of guiding with Margie and Greg from Wisconsin where we racked up 85 species with Wryneck, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Ring Ouzel and Rough-legged Buzzard amongst them. Despite us starting the day early it became quite hard going after around noon with the sunny weather causing a real decline in activity. This sunny weather is forecast for at least the next 10 days so I fear that the magical Svellet spring that I was predicting may already be unlikely. The day we do get some rain though could end up being one of those days though.

 

After guiding and drop off at the airport I continued north for an evening in owl land. I twitched a Great White Egret on the way which I actually managed to see from the motorway at 110km/h but did also stop to admire a bit better.

Owls are a mixed picture. Ural Owls are giving me my best ever joy with the species with two nest boxes that I have checked now being occupied - this amounts to nearly 10% of the known Norwegian population!

Great Grey Owl though is a different story. I again visited the two nests from last year and found no birds by the natural nest. By the platform the female was still present but not on eggs. She is a strange one though and gave herself away by bill clicking when I was still close to 50m away and had not yet seen her. She is clearly territorial. 

 

One person who knows a lot more about owls than me reckons it is just still early in the season and that birds will nest and lay eggs whereas another reckons the rodent population has collapsed. Time will tell but unless they lay eggs in the next week or two it will be too late. In the Facebook group Ugler i Norden there are updates from a platform that has a camera watching over it. Here birds were first seen coming to the platform already 22 Feb and mating was observed from 7 April but the first, and so far only?, egg was not laid until 2 months later on 21 April. This to me suggests a pair who want to breed but are finding the food situation very borderline.

When in the forests a roadside female Capercaille was a treat and I continue with my tree scratching whenever I see a suitable hole. This time I did get a bird but and a Stock Dove was very unexpected given where I was but why oh why couldn’t it have been a Tengmalm’s?

Six Slav Grebes (horndykker) on Maridalsvannet - an Oslo record count!

a single bird two days later may well have been in addition to the six

Two Ring Ouzels (ringtrost) - it always feel like a big relief when I see these in the spring as it is a species I never feel guaranteed to see in Oslo (but do)

female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (dvergspett) whilst guiding. This bird was making a lot of noise and was I reckon unpaired and getting desperate

my first Wryneck (vendehals) of the year and another good bird to see whilst guiding

a great looking old Black Woodpecker hole that I was sure would reveal a Tengmalm's Owl (perleugle) but instead and for me very surprisingly revealed a Stock Dove (skogdue). At least my tree scratching skills seem to be OK now.

roadside female Caper (storfugl)

Great White Egret (egretthegre)

Great Grey Owl (lappugle) - the same bird as in my previous owl post

Ural Owl (slagugle) - also the same bird as in my last owl post

but he she is with her mate (on the left). I have rarely encountered the male at a nest site and then they are normally much shyer than this bird seemed to be. He flew in after the female called and maybe felt he had a job to do

and Ural Owl nest #2. This box is old and the bottom starting to fall out perhaps suggesting that whoever put it up no longer checks it and I hope it survives the season

Maridalsvannet on Monday morning. Lovely weather but no many birds

a very long, straight road in Hedmark's deep forests

A pair of Ringed Plover (sandlo) is clinging on at Fornebu and here, and in the video, the male is creating nest scrapes for the females approval. The area they were doing it in was very close to paths and roads so I suspect they will struggle.

I finally managed to read the rings on the Mute Swan (knoppsvane) pair that is visiting Maridalsvannet this spring. Surprisingly they are not the same pair that bred last year which have established themselves at Fornebu now. This pair have  been seen together since March 2025 when they were at Østensjøvannet but did not breed . The female P576 was ringed as an adult in 28km away in March 2017 so is a mature lady. She bred in 2022 with another mate but did not raise young whilst the male was ringed as a juvenile in November 2023 11km away and is so young that he wouldn't have been expected to breed before now

I have also seen Long-eared Owls (hornugle). They were a pair by an old Crow's nest but it did not appear that eggs had been laid yet

Mid April and expectations are rising

It is the middle of April and the next six weeks are the most exciting of the year (in the Oslo area at least). In addition to many new birds for the year there are also new birding sites to reacquaint myself with and I have now competed my first walk to the end of Årnestangen for the year as well as my first grilling of the mighty Svellet.

Conditions today at Svellet were magical and I have a small but growing hope that this will be one of those Svellet springs that are entered into the history books, or at least get remembered on this blog. Today the water level (3.61m) was perfect and there were enormous areas of shallow water and wet mud. 2000 Teal and 234 Curlew were both good counts and the quality came in the form of a male Garganey, a Bar-tailed Godwit plus two very early Ruff and a Redshank. The weather over the coming weeks will be key to whether conditions remain perfect and we need just enough rain such that the mud doesn’t dry up but not too much rain (or sun that causes lots of melt water to flow down the river) such that water levels do not rise too quickly. I hope every birder in Oslo and Akershus is praying to the Birds Gods.

Svellet from the eastern side. Even though I describe conditions as perfect the distances are very long and a scope is essential and even then not always enough to identify all the birds out there

and some of the Teal (krikkand) and also the Garganey (knekkand). As I said they are a long way away

Årnestangen has also delivered with another very early wader in the form of a Whimbrel, an early Swallow and a good selection of raptors including a Red Kite which flew low over my head without me seeing it but that I then caught up with in the scope at about 6km range…

Taiga Bean Goose and Greylags at Årnestangen today. This is a relatively late bird as were the 4 Tundra Beans I saw yesterday

the bird was close to the Geylags in size and had a long slender neck and long thin bill with thin lower mandible.

I had a very enjoyable and successful morning guiding Barbara from Canada on Monday and we saw 60 species including Jack Snipe, Black and Red-throated Divers, Lesser Spotted and Black Woodpeckers. And if you don’t believe my description then read Barbara’s 😊

one of three Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) at Fornebu. This bird has been regularly feeding in the open and to me looks very much like a Broad-billed Sandpiper...

and a more expected shot of a Jack

and a Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin)

male Kestrel (tårnfalk) in Maridalen

and a Mistle Thrush (duetrost) in The Dale

Little Ringed Plover (dverglo) are back at Fornebu and will hopefully breed again this year

and Ringed Plovers (sandlo) are also back at last years nest site although they have less and less space available to them

Stock Dove (skogdue)