Saturday 31 December 2016

2016 The Year That Was II

And now April - June (the exciting time of the year!)

April
I have concluded that this male harrier that I saw at Årnestangen is a Pallid x Hen Harrier which is the first record of an adult male in Norway although there have been a few autumn juveniles 
Twite (bergirisk) pass through Maridalen in the spring


huge numbers of  Common Crossbills (grankorsnebb) bred in Southern Norway in 2016 as a result of the a large crop of spruce crones. In Maridalen they could often be seen licking salts from bricks
this Long-tailed Tit probably bred in Maridalen and the dark head markings show it not to be of the regular scandinavian race but rather an intergrade with the continental race

highlight of the year was finding this Short-toed Lark (dverglerke) in Maridalen 
closely followed by this 2nd summer Med Gull


these Shore Larks (fjelllerke) were only the second record in Maridalen 
this male Steller's Eider in the company of a Common Eider was an amazing record in the inner Oslofjord


the breeding Kingfishers in urban Sandvika 
April is always a good time for finding Green-winged Teals in Southern Norway although this was the only one I saw in 2016


a most unexpcted find in Maridalen was a pair of Little Ringed Plovers (dverglo) that favoured a ploughed field for a couple of days (the same field that had held Short-toed and Shore Larks earlier)

May

My best ever views of Hazel Grouse (jerpe) - a species which I now have a number of sites for in the forests around Oslo
breeding Black Woodpecker in Maridalen


a fine male Bluethroat (blåstrupe) in Maridalen - it is not often one sees spring migrants 

singing Wryneck (vendehals) in Maridalen 
my first Dotterel (boltit) for Akershus


Icterine Warblers (gulsanger) are one of the last migrants to arrive 
a pair of Red-breasted Flycatchers (dvergfluesnapper) returned to Sørkedalen in 2016 but then promptly vanished


Sørkedalen also hosted breeding Red-backed Shrikes (tornskate) 
this Wood Watbler (bøksanger) is a rare example lacking most of the yellow tones and thus resembling a Bonelli's Warbler


Common Rosefinch (rosenfink) is now a regular breeder around Oslo
a very scarce migrant Broad-billed Sandpiper (fjellmyrlper) at Årnestangen


Østensjøvannet hosted this smart 2nd summer Little Gull (dverglerke) for a few days amongst the breeding Black-headed Gulls

June

my annual early summer trip to Hedmark included a trip over the border into Sweden where with the help of GPS tags I was able to locate some of the Scottish Taiga Bean Geese on their breeding grounds
Hedmark has lots of exciting breeding birds including Ortolan (hortulan)


Siberian Jay (lavskrike)
Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett)


Ural Owl (slagugle)
and the last remaining Rustic Buntings (vierspurv) in Norway


this youngster being possibly the only known one this year 
mum



and Red-necked Phalaropes (svømmesnipe)
back home I had my best ever view of Corncrake (åkerrikse)


obliging breeding Long-eared Owls (hornugle)


twitched my first Norwegian Terek Sandpiper 
and enjoyed breeding Marsh Warblers (myrsanger) in Maridalen

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