OSLO BIRDER: September 2023

Saturday 30 September 2023

Back in Oslo

Returning to Oslo after being on Værøy is invariably going to be a big let down and so it has also been in 2023. Whilst I was away there had been some decent seabirds seen in the Oslofjord but the winds had died down by the time I got back and the seabirds had returned to the open sea so I have had to make do with a few auks and a surprisingly high number of terns. I squeezed in a final trip to the Taiga Bean Geese who had increased by three birds to 104 and continuing into Aurskog Høland I had a late Yellow Wagtail but little else of note.

Guillemot (lomvi) on the fjord off Fornebu

a surprisingly large number have also ended up inland. This one was on Bogstadvannet and I have also had 7 on Maridalsvannet and a couple of birds randomly flying over the city

a young Common Tern (makrellterne)

and a far more distant young Arctic Tern (rødnebbterne)

a late Yellow Wagtail (gulerle)

and a more expected Wheatear (steinskvett)

The Taiga Bean Geese with a few Canada Geese

my first Great Grey Shrike (varsler) of the autumn, a bird of the year

Kingfisher (isfugl) at Fornebu

Tuesday 26 September 2023

Værøy 2023 Day 5

So that’s it - Værøy 2023 is over. Did it live up to expectations? Yes it did but perhaps because I intentionally don’t build them up too high. Good weather, good company, good food, sufficient beer and a smattering of decent birds is more than enough for me.

The trip finished with 2 hours birding in the morning in the north of the island where an Olive-backed Pipit that flew up from my feet a few times in dense vegetation was the highlight along with a few flocks of Barnacle Geese heading south and a young Pomarine Skua harrying Kittiwakes out at sea.

I had been looking forward to the 3 hour ferry ride back to Bodø and it didn’t disappoint at all. If it had been a seawatch in the Oslofjord then it woulf have been described as epic! I had 2 Sooty Shearwaters, 1 Manx, a Storm Petrel, a White-billed Diver plus quite a few Fulmars. Full eBird checklist is here.

Barnacle Geese (hvitkinngås) heading south along the eastern side of Værøy with the mainland just visible on the horizon

Sunrise

My seawatching site from a comfy seat inside on the ferry

White-billed Diver (gulnebblom)

A few Fulmars (havhest) flew along the side of the boat whereas the shearwaters unfortunately flew south very fast past the front of the boat

Surprisingly good photos through a dirty window

Arriving in Bodø

Sunday 24 September 2023

Værøy 2023 Day 4

As it turned out Day 3 was not over when I blogged yesterday evening. I decided to go out with the thermal imager at 2130 and didn’t get back until 0030!!

First I found feeding Common Snipe, Jack Snipe and Golden Plover. Then I noticed the northern lights above me, then I started hearing nocmig (Redwing, Song Thrush, Snow Bunting and Reed Bunting) and then I joined in Storm Petrel ringing. It was a very succesful session with me seeing what I thought was an impressive 13 birds but the session carried on until 5am with 44 caught including 4 with Norwegian rings from before.

I was then buzzing a bit too much and couldn’t sleep until gone 2am and was awake at 7 so am rather tired now. BUT today m, or at least the early morning, has been a good day. When you walk out the door and the first bird that greets you is a clearly newly arrived Yellow-browed then you know the day has potential. New birds were discovered in quick succession with a Little Bunting, an Olive-backed Pipit and then a Red-flanked Bluetail all before breakfast. It felt natural to assume that once we searched more of the island as the day wore on that we would find something big. But in fact there was precious little to see after that. Two Grey-headed Woodpeckers were decent enough but not of the calibre that the morning glory had promised.

Red-flanked Bluetail (blåstjert). As can be seen this bird was caught and ringed (in a mist nest). Not quite as cool as finding one in the field but a great chance to see it up close