More August Guiding

In a sign that Europe is getting on top of Corona I was guiding French couple Patrick and Francoise yesterday. Vaccinations and the accompanying certificates are now allowing people to travel once again which means foreign birders can again visit Norway. It is too late to save this year for me but hopefully next year will be better – I had initially thought that people would travel less once the crisis had passed but I now actually believe that in the first year, at least, people will be very hungry to travel again as staycations do lose their appeal after a couple of years...

Yesterday’s guiding was focused on photography and although there was surprisingly little avian activity we did see (and photograph) a good numbers of species including Red- and Black-throated Divers, Goshawk, Whooper Swan, Red-backed Shrike and many other commoner birds plus nice encounters with Roe Deer, Adders and butterflies. We also got to enjoy the lovely scenery that Oslo has to offer and an enjoyable (if slightly wet at times) day was had 😀

Whilst guiding I do not prioritise my own photos but did mange some shots I was happy with.

this family of Red-throated Divers (smålom) has given me lots of enjoyment over the summer and will be the subjet of their own post later in the year. If you would like to see/photograph them then let me know

a young Goshawk (hønsehauk) screaming for food although I think the adults have left her to her own devices now

another young Goshawk with a full crop which is hopefully a sign that it has mastered the art of hunting

young Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)

Spotted Flycatchers (gråfluesnapper) seemed to be everywhere and many young were seen

White Wagtails (linerle) were also very numerous

Whooper Swans (sangsvane)

Adders (hoggorm)

Black-throated Diver (storlom)

Goosander (laksand) on Maridalsvannet

Silver-washed Fritillary (keiserkåpe) on devil's-bit (blåknapp)

a pair of Roe Deer in a field of oats. It is mating season for Roe Deer and they are very easy to see (and hear)

August guiding

 Today I was guiding Heidi from New York (check out her great digiscope videos on Twitter @heidicleven).

We had a great morning and saw a number of good birds really well including Goshawk, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Whooper Swan and Red-throated Diver.

adult Red-throated Diver (smålom) with a fish it is taking to young on a smaller lake somewhere in the forest

Mink are very much unwanted in Norwegian nature but have become very much at home and show little fear of humans

an adult Goshawk (hønsehauk) in wing moult. A male judging by small build

and a fresh juvenile which was a much bulkier bird and therefore a likely female

Cormorant (storskarv) of the subspecies sinensis

two adult Buzzards (musvåk) which were displaying

Bugs & Shrikes

 I have yet to see either the Purple or White-letter Hairstreaks nectaring but a trip to Fornebu yesterday to allow the Beast to run around socialise within the fenced in dog park gave me at least 5 Brown Hairstreaks (slåpetornstjertvinge) which were all nectaring and showing ridiculously well. I saw the upperwing of 4 and all these were males suggesting that they had only just emerged (males usually emerge before females). This is a very good count for this species in Norway and the planting of lots of ornamental plant including Blackthorn seems to have been good for them and Fornebu may well be one of the very best locations for the species.

I also saw 3 musk beetles which is an enormous species of longhorn beetle. There were not many birds to see although I did flush a migrant Great Snipe from long grass whilst searching for butterflies.

Today I was in Maridalen and came across quite a few Red-backed Shrikes. First I had a male with three young begging for food. It is normal that it is the male that looks after the young once they leave the nest and the female normally disappears very quickly. It was therefore surprising when I later found an adult female feeding a single youngster. Had the male been predated and she was left to bring up the young on her own?

male Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)

juvenile and male

a headless youngster

and an adult female with a youngster

Brown Hairstreak (slåpetornstjertvinge)

all brown upperwing shows it to be a male

a Common Blue (tiriltungeblåvinge) and a slightly obscured Brown Hairstreak

Musk Beetle (muskosbukk)

Peacock butterfly (dagpåfugløye)

Green-veined Whites (rapssommerfugl) attempting to mate

Rain means waders

Since my last post we have had a few days of rain but this has resulted in my birding activity increasing as rain at the end of July means good falls of waders in Nordre Øyeren. Fathering responsibilities and decorating chores have not given me time to walk all the way out to Årnestangen but Svellet has been very productive even though the viewing distances involved are at the absolute maximum for what can be described as acceptable for ID purposes. I have managed to see Broad-billed Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Bar-tailed Godwit, Knot, Great White Egret and Mandarin so it has been quite acceptable though.

When the rain stopped briefly on Friday I was able to continue my search for Hairstreaks in my local neighbourhood and this time located multiple Purple Hairstreaks (eikestjertvinge) on oaks at two locations and saw egglaying at both sites. This was mid-morning and I think the butterflies were keen to be active after a few days written off to rain. In the afternoon when it was very hot I only saw a single Purple Hairstreak in the same areas showing just how difficult these species are to find. I also had two small butterflies flying high up in elms but they never stopped such that I could see them so I couldn’t ascertain what they were.

I'll start with a male Common Crossbill - there are lots of cones in the forests and this winter could be good for finches. In addition there seem to be lots of rowan and asal berries so we could have lots of Waxwings and hopefully some Grosbeaks this winter

a local rarity - Mandarin Duck

and a now expected annual rarity a Great (White) Egret at Nordre Øyeren

finally good views of Purple Hairstreak (eikestjertvinge)

a driving lesson for Jr in Maridalen gave this very unusual sighting of Moose - unusual for two reasons - I don't remember ever before seeing a bull with antlers here before and it is perhaps only my second ever mid summer sighting in the Dale

If you have read this far then you may also be interested in some pictures of dragonflies..... a small local pond that has been part of my dog walking / hairstreak searching route gave me a three very similar species on Friday from only 5 observed individuals. To see the differences between them you need to look at the leg colours and patterning on the side of the breast (I had to ask for help):

here a Ruddy Darter (blodrødhøstlibelle)

and a Black Darter (svarthøstlibelle)

and a Vagrant Darter (sørhøstlibelle)