This week I have twice guided to Hedmark and it has been unusually easy! Ortolan was a target on both trips and both times the bird was spotted singing from roadside wires and all that was needed to do was wind down the window to enjoy its lovely song. After over 5 weeks on territory he still seems to be unpaired although on the first visit I thought I could hear two birds calling although on the second visit there was nothing to suggest more than one.
Great Grey Owl was only a target of the second trip and that only required stepping out of the car to hear the young begging for food. I knew the young had left the nest 10 days ago and was prepared to have to search for them but no, they were waiting for me 😊
We found only 2 large young and it therefore looks like one has been lost but we had both parents although in an hour and a half saw only one delivery of food so it may be that the vole population has crashed.
Falling water levels have allowed me to get an overview of the Lapwing breeding situation in Maridalen. The remaining birds have moved from the breeding field to a nearby muddy bay and here I was able to find 8 young from 4 broods. 1 was fully grown, 1 quite large, 3 small and another 3 very small. I expect more will be lost but this was a better situation than I expected although from 5-6 pairs it is hardly great.
The Oslo Honey Buzzards are on the nest 10 days earlier than last year although we are still to see them in the air despite quite a lot of watching - they are sneaky birds!
I have only videos to add to this post as I seem to have lost the still photos I took. There is also a video of 2 Little Terns that are only my second sighting in Norway and which I twitched at the (again?) Mighty Svellet.
No comments:
Post a Comment