The first snow of the autumn

No new reunions this time although I have strengthened my acquaintance with the subjects of my last two posts.

The Med Gull has clearly hung around and was seen at Østensjøvannet on Thursday before disappearing again. A family walk around the lake on Sunday revealed it was back but it was gone again on Monday. It was together with Common Gulls and was feeding together with them on football pitches looking for worms rather than the bread eating Black-headeds. There are plenty of places in Oslo that attract Common Gulls searching for worms but that will change once temperatures fall below zero. If the Med Gull decides to stay the winter then it will probably out of necessity become a gluten lover.

the picture I had hoped to take last week - 1st winter Med, Common and Black-headed Gulls together

Med and Common Gull

looking for worms

Talking of temperatures below zero the first snow fell on the hills around Oslo at the weekend although it has turned warmer again now.

no snow in this photo of a very autumnal Maridalen yesterday

I have now found two Pygmy Owls in Maridalen with both still in the forest and there has been a bird in another place so currently three birds is a good start to the winter season. Two more sightings of Great Grey Owls close to Oslo also give me hope for an owl winter. One was hunting from wires along a busy road in farmland which is a sure sign of how bad the rodent situation is in the forests. I had a nocturnal session in Maridalen last night with high hopes for a Tengmalms or two but it disappointed with only a single Tawny and surprisingly no noise at dusk from either of the Pygmys I had seen earlier in the day.

Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)

No sooner than the photographers filled up the feeders for the winter season and Marsh Tits are back in Maridalen although I am sure they never left and will most likely have bred unnoticed. No Waxwings yet but there are still lots of Rowan berries and plenty of time for both them and Grosbeaks to come.

Smew (lappfiskand)

Back in Oslo and a Med Gull reunion

Due to the almost viral success of my Reunion posts I am sure that you, dear reader, are overjoyed to see that you have yet another one to read….

This one concerns a species that looked like it would become an annual if still rare guest in Oslo before suddenly vanishing from the record books. From 2011 there were almost annual records of Mediterranean Gull including three observations in Maridalen and there was even a breeding attempt a Fornebu in 2022 but after a bird in the autumn of 2023 there has been a complete stop in records, that is until yesterday (my bird at Nordre Øyeren earlier in the autumn doesn't count as Oslo). 

Yesterday' bird (it has not been reported so far today) was at Middelalderparken where the fresh water lake and lawns are very attractive for gulls to wash in and rest on. It gets too little attention though from birders though probably because we have lost our greatest larophile (Sindre Molværsmyr who found Norway's first Pallas's Gull nearby in 2014 has moved away from Oslo) and since his departure the number of interesting gull sightings especially those of the Large White-headed variety has fallen off a cliff. There are a couple of ringers who occasionally find an interesting gull or two but seem to be uninterested in disseminating the news to mere mortal birders. I do think though that there has been a real reduction in the frequency of rare and scarce gulls in Oslo - white wingers definitely are much less frequent not just in Oslo but in Norway generally. The one birder who does still look for gulls on a fairly regular basis, including trips to the tip at Alnabru, is Stig Johan Kalvatn so it was fitting that he found yesterday's bird on his lunch break. After he put out the message it was an easy bus ride for me with the bus leaving 3 minutes walk from one stop and being 3 minutes walk from another - maybe I should be looking for gulls myself...?

There were not huge numbers of gulls in the park yesterday possibly because the lake has, for a long time, been drained for maintenance and mostly resembled a muddy puddle but there was an interesting array of Lesser Black-backed Gulls of all age classes and appearance.

1st cy Med Gull (svartehavsmåke) when I first set eyes on it.

with Common (fiskemåke) and a Black-headed Gull (hettemåke)

three species in one photo. If the BhG had also been a 1cy then it would have been a very educational shot

the gull in the middle and another couple of admirers watching it

A young Black-headed Gull (hettemåke) that I think did a quite good Slender-billed Gull (smalnebbmåke) which seems to be in quite an advanced and abraded plumage for early October

a fairly pale young Herring Gull (gråmåke).  Species is easy enough (unless it is a Great Black-backed Gull in which case I will get my coat..) but what age is it? A 2nd cy due to the rounded primaries? With the uncertainty I have over these birds it is no wonder I normally stear well clear of them...

and a much darker bird that I have to admit to being unsure as to its identity. I had assumed 1cy Lesser Black-backed (sildemåke) when I took the photo but looking at the details on the tertials and great covert feathers I am unsure and it may be a  dark 1st year Herring Gull (gråmåke). A photo in flight would have nailed the ID

a 2cy Lesser Black-backed Gull (sildemåke)

and another 2cy LBbG

and what I believe must be a 3cy LB-b Gull but I wonder why it still has such pink legs. This bird is exceptionally long winged which is a feature associated with ssp fuscus. It were to be a fuscus (which is recorded extremely rarely in southern Norway) then it would have to be 2cy but I am now really getting out of my depth so will stop talking about gulls..

the first Great Grey Shrike (varsler) of the autumn was in Maridalen

Tomorrow I am off to Værøy!!! 😊 😊

This will be my first trip since 2019 and I am super excited. I will have 4 full days birds birding and have chosen to take the ferry rather than the helicopter from Bodø which will reduce the available birding time on the arrival and departure days but will hopefully give some seabirds. It will be fantastic being there in the company of good friends and sharp birders but I have to admit that the weather forecast doesn’t leave me with high hopes for any big rarities. But as long as I get to see, but more importantly hear, a Yellow-browed Warbler then I think I will be happy.

The last week has been quiet on the birding front around Oslo with summer migrants thinning out very quickly with just a few Swallows, Chiffchaffs, White Wagtails and Blackcaps left but I did pay another visit to the Taiga Bean Geese yesterday and found 101 birds which is the same as my previous count and shows no new arrivals and also none seem to have been shot (or perished of natural reasons). I have always expected that they may be shot at by pot lucky local hunters but this year at least that doesn’t seem to be the case as in addition to their numbers being unchanged there have also been no sudden and unexpected changes in roost pond or feeding field.

a family of Taiga Bean Geese with the two young in the middle

and another family of four

they were using a new field which was readily visible from a road and a few Canada Geese were mixed in with them

viewing from the road

the Maridalen Whooper Swan (sangsvane) family. After failed breeding last year they have 3 large young this year (down from four that hatched). I have not seen them since 4 September and have no idea of where they have been as the young probably can still not fly. I did see a picture of one of the young walking over a car park and I suspect that the whole family may have gone on a long walk through the forest somewhere.

the young are still far from fully grown and it would surprise me if they can fly yet

The adult Med Gull (svatehavsmåke) was again at Fornebu today - can you spot him?

perhaps a bit easier in this shot

Med Gull

The weather last 4 days has been unusual. It has been warm with a southerly wind (but often no wind at all) and lots of mist and low cloud. This has had its effect on the birds as well with hardly any to be seen or heard. We spent the weekend at the cabin at Hulvik by the fjord south of Oslo and the few times I could see over the fjord there was hardly even a gull to see.

On Friday and Monday though I did see a good gull on the sea though. On Friday I found a Mediterranean Gull offshore at Fornebu and yesterday again at Gressholmen. This is the same bird first found on 27 August at Bygdøy and then seen a couple times quite a way south in Asker. There is quite a lot of life in the fjord at the moment with clearly a lot of fish of some kind encouraging gulls and Cormorants to feeding frenzies. There has also been a record influx of Shags and I have seen up to three different individuals.

Adult Med Gull (svartehavsmåke) with Black-headed Gull (hettemåke), Herring Gull (gråmåke) and Eider (ærfugl). Gressholmen yesterday

It is in active wing moult 

and when I found it on Friday at Fornebu.

the wing moult matches the bird at Gressholmen

the black o the underwing coverts and along the edge of one of the primaries makes me wonder if this is younger adult

a late young Common Tern (makrellterne). One of 6 I saw as well as an Arctic Tern (rødnebbterne)

four of the six

the Curlew Sandpiper (tundrasnipe) at Fornebu showed much better on Friday and its legs were back as they should be so must have been covered in mud previously

Dunlin (myrsnipe)

Ringed Plover (sandlo)

3 Common Seals (steinkobbe)

Shag (toppskarv)

and another

we did get some sun at the weekend and I found this Brown Hairstreak (slåpetornstjertvinge)

with the mist it was suddenly possible to look at the sun

and here it was almost like looking at a blood moon

a Queen of Spain Fritillary (sølvkåpe)

and a Wall (sørringvinge)