I have previously had two blog posts about my 24 hour
trip in mid June which resulted in a number of very exciting birds and
butterflies and I also wrote that “I literally stumbled on nesting pairs of
what must be Norway’s two rarest species of breeding birds”.
Those of you who have followed this blog for a while
may well have guessed that the two species were Ortolan and Rustic Bunting. Both
species have been on a steep and long decline in Norway with trapping for food
in passage and wintering areas being blamed. The official survey of Ortolan
resulted in only 3 singing males at 3 different sites this year so obviously
things do not look good for the future survival of the species. Things have got
so bad for Rustic Bunting that there is no longer any official survey and the
last breeding that I am aware of in the southern breeding grounds is from 2016.
However (and something I forgot when I made my bold claim), in the last
few years Rustic has started breeding in the far north of Norway in Pasvik on the border
with Finland and Russia so my claim only relates to the historic southern
breeding range.
I found the Rustic whilst searching for butterflies
in a forest bog. I was in the middle of the bog getting wet feet when I heard
what I was sure was the song of a Rustic from the woodland at the edge of the
bog. I forgot about butterflies and made my way to the woodland. The song was
coming from something like 30 metres into the woodland and as I made my way
towards it I was suddenly aware of intense ”ticking” which is a noise I have
heard before and knew straight away was from an angry Rustic Bunting. Quite
soon I saw the source of the noise and a female Rustic was in a tree by me and
then suddenly a male appeared. The intensity of their annoyance at my presence
meant either a nest or young nearby. As I did not hear any other birds (young) calling
then I think it was the nest (when I previously came across a young only just outof the nest it made a lot of noise) and I therefore made sure to check where I
was walking as I tried to put a bit more distance between me and the birds. They
calmed down but did not reveal where the nest was so I returned to the marsh.
It
was a bit strange that the male was singing when he should have had his focus
purely on feeding young. Either he was thinking of a second brood and trying to
get the female in the mood or it was a different, and unmated, male that was singing.
I heard a bird singing again later and I would actually think it more likely
that it was an additional male but cannot say either way. What I can say was
that it was an unexpected and fantastic experience and one that I had never
thought I would again witness in Norway. Finding these beautiful
birds on their taiga breeding grounds is really special 😊.
This video has the sound of the singing male and ticking pair.
The female Rustic Bunting (vierspurv)
and the male when he suddenly announced his presence right over my shoulder
I looked for Ortolans where I have always done so.
After a bit of waiting I thought I had heard a distant singing bird but was not
convinced. I cupped my ears hoping to hear better when a much closer bird flew
past me and made a call that I was quite sure was Ortolan. It landed in nearby
trees and as I went closer it started alarm calling. I walked back trying to
give enough distance that I would not be viewed as a threat but also allowing
me to see what was going on. Another bird suddenly appeared and also called and
I could see that both had caterpillars in their bills – clearly there were
young that needed feeding! After a little wait the female dropped down before
perching in a birch sapling and then dropping to the ground right by a
regularly used farm track. I was able to reposition myself and saw the
approximate area she flew up from. Walking along the track it was quite easy to
find the nest which was only half a metre from the track! There were 4 young in
the nest and all looked healthy but you have to wonder why they chose to nest
there when there are piles of branches nearby which I believe are left specifically
to offer protection for nesting Ortolans. I decided to contact the relevant
people to inform them of the good news of breeding and also to share my worry
for the nest given how close it was to where people, tractors and animals
regularly passed. The information was received with enthusiasm and I felt good
for my discovery. About a week later though it was reported on social media
that an Ortolan nest had been “destroyed” and the blame was laid at the feet of
“photographers”. Contacting the poster it was clear that he was referring to the
nest I had found and I felt very much that I was somehow being blamed. It was
also clear though that the use of the word “destroyed” was something that the
poster had himself chosen to use in an attempt provoke as he himself had not
seen the nest and had only received some information from the person I had informed
about the nest. Contacting him I heard a very different story – he had checked
the nest first 5 days after I had found it and he then found an empty nest with
absolutely no sign of either predation or destruction. As Ortolan young are
only in the nest for ca.12 days and the female broods them for 3-5 days then the
young I saw could very easily have been (and indeed their appearance I think
confirms it) more than 7 days old when I found them meaning that 5 days later they
would have left the nest and of course the nest would be empty. My attempts to
explain this to people who should know better fell unfortunately on deaf ears but
let us hope I am right and at least one brood of Norwegian bred Ortolans made
it in 2023.
the male Ortolan (hortulan) with food in its bill
and the female just before dropping down to the nest
This last week has been a wet one! Southeastern
Norway has been hit by the extreme weather “Hans” and it really has rained a
lot and there has been a lot of flooding. Nordre Øyeren is over 2 metres higher
than normal and all of Årnestangen is under water with the birding platform
just above the water. This of course means no mudlfats or waders and it may
also mean that the whole autumn wader season there is washed out as it will
take a long time for water levels to fall again. The floods do seem to have
pushed Great White Egrets out from hidden feeding areas as three birds suddenly
appeared.
After the rains stopped a visit to Maridalen was
suddenly very autumnal with the first Yellow Wagtails and a Bluethroat and a
lot of Whinchats. A juvenile Cuckoo was also a less than annual sighting here.
There has been very little weather suitable for
butter or dragonfly watching but on Thursday it was sunny and a visit to Fornebu
gave a number of sightings of Brown Hairstreaks plus the final two butterflies
that I thought I had a chance of seeing this year – Wall Brown and Painted Lady
(there have been very few in Norway this year) which takes me to 61 species for the year.
Otherwise my time has been spent following up on two
late, scarce breeding birds which I will of course write about later in the
autumn.
Sparrowhawk (spurvehauk) and Cuckoo (gjøk) in Maridalen. This picture shows just how alike the two species are and why they confuse both birds and birders alike
and with a Swallow (låvesvale)
the Cuckoo. This bird is a juvenile (the adults are long gone) and as the species has become very rare as a breeding bird around Oslo has most likely come from further north
a distant view of a Great White Egret (egretthegre)
young Bluethroat (blåstrupe) still with a few juvenile feathers
on young birds that lack blue on the throat it is the red on the tail that is the most colourful part of the bird
I again saw three Ospreys (fiskeørn) together over Maridalen and they flew around for a long time. All were adults and not necessarily the same as last time as this bird does not seem to match any of the 3 in my last post
this Roe Deer buck at Fornebu was unusually confiding but to live here they have to accept the close presence of humans
there are not many butterflies still on the wing (and 2 dasys of heavy rain would have taken its toll) but Silver-washed Fritillaries can still be found in the right places. This one looks quite fresh
but this one has wing damage and discolouration
the underside of a female Brown Hairstreak (slåpetornstjertvinge)
and here is a male with a much duller underwing
upperwing of a male
and a female
Wall Brown (sørringvinge)
a toad (nordpadde)
young Whinchat (buskskvett) in Maridalen still with white tipped juvenile feathers
and a juvenile Whitethroat (tornsanger)
Osprey in Maridalen
a juvenile Heron flying over in Maridalen. There have been a few records of a juvenile and adults to suggest that they have bred in the Dale or somewhere very close. I am not aware of any previous breeding records in Oslo
Our summer holidays usually include a week or two
spent at our cabin near Bodø, north of the Arctic Circle but with growing kids it
appears that is no longer something the whole family wants to do. I always love
out time there so miss this greatly but we did have chance to visit the cabin
this year if only for a couple of hours when we went to Bodø for a wedding last
weekend. I had a quick check of my favourite bird and butterfly locations and
found next to nothing especially on the butterfly front which made it a bit
easier to accept not having spent longer there this year.
Around Oslo it has been very variable weather with a
few hours of sunshine and then thunderstorms and very heavy rain. This has made
searching for bugs difficult and if continues like this then I imagine a lot of
species will have a bad season. I have however seen one of my favourite
butterflies and probably the last species I will see this year – Brown Hairstreak.
On the bird front raptors are becoming more obvious
in Maridalen and I have had quite a few sightings of Honey Buzzards and Ospreys.
There have also been concentrations of divers on the lake with up to 7
Red-throated and 11 Black-throated. All are adults and while the Red-throated
are fishing and taking the fish back to their breeding pools in the forest
where young are waiting the Black-throated have no young and are clearly a
concentration of failed/non breeders. There has not been successful breeding on
Maridalsvannet this year with water levels have varied too much and I imagine
the same has happened on many of the larger lakes in the area. Red-throated
Divers probably experience less variation in water levels on the small forest pools
they choose.
Brown Hairstreak (slåpetornstjertvinge)
and another individual. Both these are males
these 3 Ospreys (fiskeørn) were flying together and making a lot of noise in Maridalen. I thought at first they must be a family despite it being an early date for fledged young but as the next photo shows they are all adults
the 3 different birds. All are adults and I think all are males (but am unsure). Perhaps they are young birds that have not yet established a territory or mate or perhaps failed breeders.
all my views of Honey Buzzards were at long range but Maridalen's breeding pair of Buzzards (musvåk) showed well one day although it is a while since I have seen them. I do not know if they have raised any young this year but they were making a lot of noise flying over their nesting area and one was even carrying nesting material. I have no idea what this means.
11 Black-throated Divers (storlom)
the last Lapwings (vipe) an adult Female and a juvenile were in Maridalen until 2 August but seem to have migrated now
an attempt at photography - a daisybird
there are still a few juvenile Red-backed Shrikes (tornskate) but the family groups have broken up and the adult males moved off
dragonflies are tricky. I revisited the sight where I found the Bog Hawker (torvmoselibelle) and saw what I thought were three male but going through my pictures found that a Moorland Hawker (starrlibelle) had also sneaked in amongst them. Bog above and Moorland below
and here a much better picture of a Bog Hawker
the largest pool in the dragonfly bog
a picture from where our cabin is showing the distant Blåmannsisen glacier close to the Swedish border. The ice free areas seem to grow every year (without me having done any proper analysis)
