OSLO BIRDER: Kittiwake

Monday, 1 October 2018

Kittiwake

I have checked the fields in Maridalen at different times of the day both yesterday and today but despite the small Common Gull flock still being there (it builds up during the day) I have not seen the Med Gull again unfortunately. The Whooper Swan youngsters can clearly now fly as on Sunday they were feeding on a field a good distance away from the breeding site. Unusually they were only with one parent and I feared that something had happened to the other. I found the other back at the breeding site where it had no obvious injuries, but it allowed quite close approach and then swam off calling but did not flap its wings at all. I wonder if it is injured on some way such that it can’t fly or perhaps it is waiting/searching for the youngster that disappeared quite recently? Time will tell as it will have to join the rest of the family soon especially if snow and ice comes. If it is injured then this clearly points to something rather sinister having happened to the swans this year. They have gone from 7 iyg to 4 large young and then lost one just before fledging whereas in previous years have raised large broods with hardly any birds lost after hatching. It could of course be natural predation (there is a recent report of wolf in the area plis of course fox and mink) but it could also be from dogs or humans. I have not seen any carcases or piles of feathers in the area to help me work out this puzzle.

I did see an interesting gull today though. It is autumn half term and the girls, and I enjoyed a sunny but slightly chilly walk around Fornebu (we had an overnight frost). Here a 1^st winter Kittiwake showed at very close range and perched. It flew strongly enough but when perched didn’t look that strong so is probably not fully fit which would also explain why a normally pelagic species is hanging around urban areas.