And here are the videos I promised
First 3 videos of the Ural Owls. A Director's Cut, a 1 minute of the adult female including her calling and then a 1 minute of the young in the box.
The song and calls of the Ortolans taken with my mobile phone
And the Caspian Tern and waders including Turnstone at Svellet (long range)
If you are reading this expecting an account of my time in the mountains and pictures of Bluethroats, Great Snipe, Dotterel and the like then you may end up being disappointed. If however you were just hoping to read about amazing Norwegian birds then I think you will be satisfied.
My trip with Conor to the cabin in the mountains had
to be called off due to illness and I was left with the family not expecting me
to be around and lots of birds waiting for me to see them. Instead of heading
off to the mountains I decided to hit Hedmark on Friday. I used to do this trip
at least once every year but have not done so since 2018 with Corona having put
a stop to it for the last 2 years. My target with the trip was owls and Ortolan
Bunting. Normally I would also try to see Rustic Bunting but this seems to have
disappeared as a breeding bird in the south of Norway (although interestingly
seems to be establishing itself in the very far north). Ortolan is also in
danger of disappearing with just 6 pairs found last year at 4 sites. I visited the
main site where as recently as 2016 I heard 6 singing males and only found a
single pair. It is possible that it is still early in the season and more birds
will arrive but this is not good news for the species. The pair did seem to in
breeding mode though so if they raise a couple of broods then there is some hope.
They were surrounded by Yellowhammers and it is difficult to understand what
differentiates these species and stops them competing with each other.
After enjoying the buntings in their sandy farmland
habitat it was time to entire the endless commercial forests where clearings
and the provisions of nest boxes and platforms has proved to be good for two of
our largests owls: Great Grey and Ural. Great Grey is the commonest but I
failed to find any birds although if I had stayed until dusk then I would
surely have done so. Ural Owl with under 20 pairs known in Norway is
nearly as rare as Ortolan and is also similarly predictable in where to find it
as they regularly use the same nest boxes. I visited a nest box I have seen
them in before and where I know a bird was singing earlier in the spring only
to find lots of recent foresty work and the tree holding the nest box felled. A
frantic phone call to a man in the know revealed that the nest box had been
moved and when I started searching where I believed it to be I was found by
mummy Ural who flew towards me calling! She luckily kept her distance and I
then saw the nest box which ultimately revealed itself to be holding three
large young who will no doubt soon be leaving the nest at what seems like an
early date. I kept a safe distance and mum calmed down and the young started peering
out of the hole. At one stage dad sang from nearby and was answered by mum. I
saw him briefly and hoped I would see food delivered but this did not happen
and after a little while longer I took this as my cue to leave them.
The area also held Capercaillie, Black Grouse, Cuckoo,
Redstart and Parrot Crossbill aswell as my first mosquitos of the year so was
all in all a good stop.
I was pretty knackered by all the driving on Friday
and had an uncharacteristic lie in on Saturday despite it raining and me
knowing this was perhaps the greatest chance of finding something good this
spring. On checking my phone I saw loads of messages of good birds and decided
to head for a place where no messages had come from but which must hold
something, namely the (once) mighty Svellet. I was glad to see there were
waders and set about trying to work out what they were although the distance,
light and rain made it difficult. I was hoping for Broad-billed Sandpiper but
had to settle for a couple of Turnstones and Temminck’s Stints amongst Ringed
Plovers, Dunlin, Redshank and Ruff. It is very interesting how there were no
Greenshank or Wood Sandpipers which in the first half of May are the dominant
species here and number in the hundreds. After 5 minutes I was joined by Reidar
Myhre and whilst I kept looking through the small waders and ignoring the large
white birds (gulls) in the area, he calmly asked me what I made of the tern
sleeping amongst them (he knew what it was). Looking one meter behind the
waders it was clear there was a Caspian Gull there and I felt a real sense of déjà
vu to my visit on 16 May 2017.
After this very good result I thought there was a
chance of something in the Dale. There were no large numbers of waders but 2
Ringed Plovers were only my second record there and caused Halvard to appear in
a flash for a Maridalen tick. A singing Cuckoo was lovely to hear as I fear
that every year will be the last time I hear one there.
As usual I took far too many pictures and video and
have only managed to go through the pictures so far. The videos will come soon
and there should be good ones there I think 😊
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| male Ortolan (hortulan) |
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| female Ural Owl (slagugle) |
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| distant Caspian Tern (rovterne) at Svellet |
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| female Ortolan - a quite male like bird |
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| same female |
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| and the male again |
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| the Ortolan pair |
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| Yellowhammers (gulspurv) were side by side with the Ortolans |
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| Ural Owl |
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| three young in the nest box |
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| not much room left |
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| waders at Svellet including Turnstone (steinvender), Dunlin (myrsnipe), Ringed Plover (sandlo) and Temminck's Stints |
Tomorrow I am off with Conor to Valdres for a repeat of last years trip although we are travelling a week earlier so it will be interesting to see if all hoped for birds are back. The weather forecast is not so good so we might struggle on the Saturday at least to see anything at all..
Today I had a short walk with the Beast that showed
no new birds had arrived over night except for my first Icterine Warbler of the
year. There was great excitement on the Lapwing field where young have hatched
from the first two nests. With three birds still sitting and the presumed
failed nest we have a 50% increase over last year and also much earlier
hatching. Hopefully many young will fledge.
A trip to Nordre Øyeren showed there were still mud
(sand) banks but it was all rather disappointing with 6 Temminck’s Stints, 4
Dunlin and 2 flyover Golden Plover headling. A particularly talented Whinchat
had me thinking I had heard my first Rosefinch of the
year before I frustratingly realised all the different noises were coming from one and
the same bird.
Another confusion came when I thought I had found a
Great White Egret at 3km range on the other side of Svellet. It was not at the waters
edge but in some rough grass close to a cabin. The heat haze made it look like
it was moving (see video) but after 10 minutes I had to accept that it was a plastic
heron (or perhaps sun bleached flamingo?). I was very close to sending out a
message on the egret but am glad I waited 😉
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| a single Lapwing (vipe) youngster by its mum who is still on the nest presumably waiting for the other eggs to hatch |
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| the other female with legs sticking out of her breast! her nest was on the stubble (saved by the farmer) in the foreground |
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| a Great White (Plastic) Egret at 3km range |
Yesterday, 17 May, was Norway’s national day and not normally a day when I would get in anything other than incidental birding but due to having been the designated driver when we went to friends for a BBQ in the afternoon I found myself able to drive upto Maridalen just before it got dark to look for a couple of Ruff reported earlier in the day. The message did not say if they were males or females but I suspected they were going to be the later which they were but as they were only my third Maridalen sighting I was not going to complain (too much). Four Temminck’s Stints together was also very satisfying.
Today, there had been an almost complete clear out
of migrant waders although rain in the afternoon got me hoping that some (or even
some terns) would drop in but that wasn’t the case. Otherwise the numbers of
Garden Warblers, Swifts and Spotted Flycatchers have increased noticeably.
I discovered a fourth Lapwing nest that the farmer
had saved today and which I had somehow not noticed before so along with the
two that have nested since the farmer ploughed that makes 6 nests although one
of the saved ones was not occupied today (was occupied 2 days ago). Whether that
means failure or perhaps young that have already hatched I am not sure but 6 nests
is more than I can ever remember. I have never noted more than 10 birds so wonder
if there is an excess of females and perhaps polygamy.
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| 2 female Ruff (brushane) - a Maridalen rarity |
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| with a Wood Sandpiper (grønnstilk) |
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| 2 Ruff and 2 Wood Sands |
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| 4 Temminck's Stints |
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| 2 Temminck's with 2 Mallard |
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| a Garden Warbler (hagesanger) looking very strange! |
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| Goosanders (laksand) |
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| this male Little Ringed Plover (dverglo) seems to be unpaired but the pair is still present although do not look to have laid eggs yet |
A first visit to England for nearly three years (thanks Covid!) was much needed and very enjoyable but made me a bit nervous as it would mean I was away from my beloved Dale during perhaps the most exciting period of the year. I did not seem to miss much but as Halvard was also away there was not much coverage. However, on landing on Sunday afternoon my phone pinged with a message of a Med Gull in the Dale. It took me longer than wanted to get there (a Beast had to picked up from a kennel and a drive thru McDonalds proved to be anything other than fast food) but after finally getting up into the Dale I located it in my scope together with a large flock of Common Gulls just seconds before everything in the area flew up and the gulls then proceeded to fly around very high up for the next hour and I never saw the bird again…)
Whilst hoping that the gulls would land again I had
a great experience involving a Wood Pigeon and a cast of predators. I saw a
small group of Wood Pigeons flying over the lake with a Goshawk in pursuit. The
hawk picked out one of the birds and stooped at it. I managed to take pictures
but in the process lost sight of the birds. A minute or so later the call of
Hooded Crows drew my attention to the Goshawk flying low over the water
quite long way away and the Pigeon was flapping
in the water. A number of Hooded Crows came to mob Goshawk who gave up on its
dinner and headed over the water straight towards me. After the hawk
disappeared the Wood Pigeon tried to flap its way towards land but it was a
long way and then a Great Black-backed Gull showed an interest in it. They
normally swallow their prey whole but that wouldn’t be the case here and it
just started stabbing at the pigeon and soon there were feathers all over the
water and the bird was no long flapping. I couldn’t really see how much the gull
was getting to eat but then an Osprey! took an interest in what was going on
and dived down possibly to see if there was a fish for it to eat but it then
started mobbing the gull which turned the tables before the Osprey again chased
the gull. Quite a scene!
A visit on Monday revealed a new arrival of Wood
Sandpipers and Greenshank showing that wader passage is far from over (and
water levels continue to fall) and my first Swift, Garden Warbler and Wood
Warbler of the year also all showed. There is still a pair of Little Ringed
Plovers and they were engaged in their nest scraping display whereby the male
was calling and scraping a nest and the female then came to investigate it
whilst he stood over her. He clearly then wanted to mate and although she
resisted at first she then allowed him to approach before an overflying
Sparrowhawk seemed to put them both out of the mood.
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| Goshawk (hønsehauk) chasing Wood Pigeon (ringdue) |
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| The bay at Kirkeby is attracting lots of birds |
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| There are now 5! Lapwing (vipe) nests at Skjerven and I think there is an additional pair that have not nested yet |
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| Great Black-backed Gull (svartbak) chasing Osprey (fiskeørn) |
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| the tables are about to turn |
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| and have turned now |
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| Greenshank (gluttsnipe), Wood Sandpiper (grønnstilk) and Lapwing (vipe) |
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| male Whinchat (buskskvett) |
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| Whinchat and female Redstart (rødstjert) |
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| Wood Warbler (bøksanger) |
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| there are now some more butterflies and this tiny Grizzled Skipper (bakkesmyger) was only my third in Oslo |
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| this Comma (hvit C) was really large and I didn't work out at first what it was |
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| Crane (trane) - it looks like the Maridalen pair has failed in its breeding attempt yet again |
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| Greenshank (gluttsnipe) |
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| I was surprised to find Greenfinch (grønnfink) young already out of the nest |
