My new favourite Maridalen fields were jinxed by my last
post and have been almost empty since! Fog also covered the valley on Wednesday
and until early afternoon on Thursday but today we had sun from the get go and
I had sky high expectations. With a light southerly wind I was expecting Falsterbo
heavy but had to wait a looooong time for my first raptor. In the meantime a
number of small flocks of Pink-footed Geese headed north but I really thought
there should be raptors. We have not had a raptor migration day yet this spring
and by my reckoning there should be thermals full of Common Buzzards and
Sparrowhawks waiting to head north. Well, my reckoning doesn’t seem to count
for much.
There were NO Sparrowhawks, and none of the four Common
Buzzards that eventually passed in front of my field glasses looked to be
actively migrating. One of them, a very pale bird, looked to be the same as I
have seen in previous years. There was one raptor highlight though that then brought
a little rush. I picked up a young Golden Eagle heading very slowly west over
the north of the valley whilst I was stood at Nes. I drove up to the north and
did not find it but did pick up a Kestrel and a White-tailed Eagle heading
north so there was some quality if no quantity. Along with Goshawk I had five
species of raptor today and am already up to to nine for the year in Oslo.
The first Adders are also out showing themselves and my
first butterfly, a Small Tortoiseshell was on the wing today so spring is
springing!
a young Golden Eagle (kongeørn) at far too long range but you can see what it is
One of 4 Common Buzzards (musvåk) none of which was actively migrating. This very pale bird looks to be the same that has been in the valley in previous years
Goshawk (hønsehauk)
Goldcrests (fuglekonge) look to have really suffered due to the cold spell so it was nice to find this bird which was also singing
Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers (dvergspett) are making themselves known singing and drumming and I have seen a pair together. Here the male
and here the female who was reacting to the male in the next door tree
Pink-footed Geese (kortnebbgås) - one of a number of small flocks heading north today
The last week saw the greatest migration day of the spring,
at least as far as quantity is concerned, when the Pink-footed Geese decided
that conditions were favourable and took off on mass from Denmark early in the
morning before passing over Oslo some hours later. Thursday was the day and is
the earliest ever date for the big day which 30-40 years ago used to occur in
the first week of May. Over the course of 3 hours I counted over 9000 birds
heading first NNE over Maridalen and then after the wind changed from southerly
to northerly they started heading ENE. I made a real effort to check every
flock hoping for something white or red but could only find a few Barnacles and
just a single Greylag amongst them. When you spend so long scanning the skies
you expect to notice other signs of viz mig but amazingly apart from some Wood
Pigeons and some gulls I just had a single Buzzard and two Sparrowhawks which
were probably local birds.
Passerine migration has picked up slightly with a few Mistle
Thrushes, Twite and Reed Buntings now around in Maridalen but it can feel very
birdless at times.
My major excitement this week has been with owls again but
they will be the subject of their own post very soon.
hundreds of Pink-footed Geese (kortnebbgås) streaming over Maridalen on Thursday
here with a Barnacle Goose (hvitkinngås) amongst them
the juvenile Common Crossbills (grankorsnebb) are growing and will probably leave the nest within a week. Note however that they have yet to develop the crossed bill of their parents
food time
with the sunny days there are suddenly insects and Goldcrest (fuglekonge) are appearing openly in bushes to exploit this new food source
Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers (dvergspett) are getting quite vocal as they search for mates. I had two very noisy birds yesterday which as far as I could see were both females
a pale Buzzard (musvåk)
my first Adder (hoggorm) of the year
and my first Oslo Small Tortoiseshell (neslesommerfugl)
I headed today for Huk, Bygdøy with the hope of finding a
Long-tailed Duck to be my #Oslo2024 species number 202 and therefore mean post
redpoll lump that I would still be >=200 species. There was no Lt Duck and
not even any scoter so is clearly still a bit early for these hardy ducks to
have been forced off their mountain breeding grounds. But the Bird Gods were
feeling generous today and a pipit calling from one of the skerries turned out
to be a Rock Pipit 🥳🍾😅
I must admit to having forgotten about this species which
should definitely be on the cards in October but always good to have a
surprise.
With 202 species now there are 12 species reported on
eBird or ArtsObservasjoner that I have not seen. Of these I still have a more
than 50:50 chance only of seeing Capercaillie so if I am to add many more
species then they need to be ones not yet seen in Oslo this year. I still
reckon the following species could show up: Long-tailed Duck, Pine Grosbeak,
Hawk Owl, Mediterranean Gull, Glaucous Gull and Iceland Gull.
You can deduce then that I have given up on both Yb Warbler
and Tengmalm’s Owl but after finding my first Pygmy Owl of the autumn yesterday
in Maridalen I had to have one more unsuccessful attempt for Tengmalm’s in the
evening. But that really has to be the last.
Trips out of Oslo to Nordre Øyeren and Fornebu have not been
particularly productive.
Rock Pipit (skjærpiplerke) my species 202 in Oslo this year and one I had forgotten about. This is not a species I see annually in Oslo but late autumn and early spring are prime times to find one
the result of seeing Rock Pipit. In 2019 I added another 8 species between today and the end of the year although cannot see that happening in 2024
a Shag (toppskarv) alongside a Cormorant (storskarv) and Herring Gulls (gråmåke)
yesterday's Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)
I'm sure you know what you are supposed to find in this picture
this is what you have hopefully found - Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin)
close up of the mantle feathers
Great Grey Shrike (varsler) in Maridalen today. Lack of a wing bar and an all black bill should make this an adult male and definitely a different bird to the one from 3 weeks ago
this bird was at Nordre Øyeren yesterday and is a 1st winter
Nordre Øyeren had little in the way of water birds so I photographed passerines instead. Here a Goldcrest (fuglekonge)
and a Lesser Redpoll (brunsisik) which as of today's date is counted as a species in eBird but will disappear in the big redpoll lump before the end of the year
Marsh Tit (lovmeis) - a species that remains a rarity in Oslo despite occuring just over the county line and one I am missing in Oslo this year but which has been reported
