The sightings and occasional thoughts of an English birder in Oslo
Sunday 9 June 2024
Maridalen's first ever Great Northern Diver
Since coming back from Valdres I have been really trying to
find some more “night singers” in Maridalen and to have more sightings of the
Long-eared Owl but the owl has not been seen again and it is only Marsh
Warblers, with now 4-5 males singing in the valley, that reveal themselves.
Blyth’s Reed Warblers seem to be arriving in good numbers close to Oslo so
there is still a chance one of these will turn up.
Day time visits have been revealing though. The young
Lapwings are now all back together under the protection of a single adult but would
be interesting to know what had caused the split before. The crop is now
getting too high to see them most of the time but I had all four on a rainy day
on the 5th when they were all trying to seek cover under mums wings.
The Whooper Swans finally had young on the 6th
which I think were hatched that day. It took me a while to be certain of the
identity of the young but they were Whoopers and not Mute so the exciting
scenario I had hoped for of Whoopers raising Mute young has not transpired.
Interestingly a (the?) pair of Mutes was on the breeding island whilst the
Whooper family had moved into nearby bay. This is my first sighting of Mutes
here for a few weeks and it seems amazing that they would return on the day of
the eggs hatching. The Whoopers did not chase the Mutes off as both parents
seemed too busy with shepherding the cygnets but when the Mutes decided to fly
off the Whooper pair did their usual calling and wing flapping to celebrate
their “victory”.
I have saved this weeks Maridalen highlight until last. The
end of the week saw lots of strong southerly winds and rain which even resulted
in a Fulmar being seen over the city but in Maridalen a couple of Common Terns
had been all I could must up until yesterday evening. I squeezed in a trip
after dropping off Jr Jr at a friend which also coincided with a break in the rain.
I noticed a diver in my bins which I couldn’t quite place. On collecting the
scope from the car I was shocked to see a 1st summer Great Northern
Diver!! This is the first record in Maridalen and probably only the fourth in
Oslo (following on from the bird Jack and I saw at Huk on May 9th). Maridalen’s
list according to Artsobservasjoner.no is now 226 species (although now passed
away old boys regaled me with stories of 3 species not entered there –
Dotterel, Ural Owl and Caspian Tern) with me having seen 210. Presumably blown in by the winds it was at times associating with Canada Geese
and allowed close approach. In the field I saw nothing wrong with the bird but
in my pictures there are possible signs of oil on its breast.
1st summer (2cy) Great Northern Diver (islom) on Maridalsvannet! Mote what may be oil on its breast
it really was quite close even though it is only a dot in this photo taken with my phone
with Canada Geese and a Canada x Greylag hybrid.
look at that foot!
Whooper Swan (sangsvane) family
the pale legs and bill show them to be Whooper and not Mute
the Mutes flying off and the Whoopers celebrating
the four Lapwing (vipe) young reunited and seeking shelter from the rain under mums wings
two new Canada x Greylag hybrids have turned up in Maridalen in addition to the gander that has been here all spring and bred unsuccessfully with a Canada Goose
more Canadas have turned up in the last few days presumably to moult. These two with varying amounts of leucism in the face may well be related
Common Tern (makrellterne)
I have also discovered where the Wrynecks are breeding which seems to be in an old Lesser Spotted Woodpecker hole which is right below an old Great Spotted hole – this tree has clearly been of value to peckers 😊
Wryneck nesting hole in the middle with a larger hole above
And finally, an unsuccessful session trying to find if Honey
Buzzards are breeding again resulted in hearing the trumpet call of Two-barred
Crossbill which becomes Oslo #185. There have already been records on the west
coast so it looks like this may be an invasion year.
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