Nesting raptors

In my last post I wrote that I felt I must have found the Hobby nest – well today I am less sure. Per Christian and I joined forces to try to locate it once and for all but left just as confused as before. We located four different old Hooded Crows nests in a very small area without seeing any bird on any of the nests. Then we heard the male calling and he appeared overhead with prey in his talons. The female then called and flew out of the trees towards him. There was lots of calling but we couldn’t exactly what happened but there was clearly a food pass. The male then sat openly calling whilst the female must have been more hidden whilst presumably eating the prey item brought to her. The male kept calling and flew around a bit before the female then flew out of a tree and calling and disappeared amongst the trees. During all this time we had been keeping an eye on the old crows nests but did not see the female coming or going to any of them. So, either we are not observant enough or else there is a 5^th nest that we have yet to find.

this is the old Hooded Crows nest that I felt certain was being used by the Hobbies but I am now less certain

here, what I think is the male, was perched in the next door tree

A check of the Honey Buzzard nest from last year revealed fresh green branches on it although in nearly 4 hours of watching the nest and skies about I failed to see a bird. So here I have found the nest but not seen the birds…. I do not know whether adding of new material of nest means that there has to be a pair of if just a single adult will add material whilst waiting for their mate to return but this does give high hopes for yet another chance to follow a breeding pair.

a branch with fresh green leaves can be seen on the right hand side of the nest. It is possible that a bird could have been on the nest unseen to me but I think observed the nest long enough that I would have seen some movement

Even though I failed to see any Honey Buzzards I did have good views of a female Three-toed Woodpecker whilst waiting.

female Three-toed Woodpecker

here it has got hold of a larve

and here it is swallowing it

The Great Northern Divers remains and has now been frequenting the northern end of the lake in the last few days.

the Great Northern Diver (islom) is always close to the shore

 There are now two Common Rosefinches in Maridalen, both brown, 2cy males and both seemingly unpaired.

2cy male Common Rosefinch (rosenfink)

The Lapwings are now disappearing in the high vegetation and yesterday I saw none but today the male of the family was clearly keeping guard so I assume there are still some young although I have no idea whether there is still a bird sitting on a nest.

A new Marsh Warbler reminded me that “night singers” can still turn up but I really don’t think I am motivated for any more nocturnal trips.

I bagged a Blyth’s on a night of acro

My negativity towards nocturnal outings didn’t even last a day and Wednesday night saw me out for more pain. It all started when a Great Reed Warbler turned up in a «what is this?» posting on Facebook. It was not in Oslo although it was close to Oslo Airport and normally I would not have gone for it. However, as it happened Mrs OB was landing there in the evening and Jr wanted to surprise her by picking her up and getting some driving practice in. So a little «5 minute» detour on the way home was in order?

 The bird could be heard from the car park and when I walked the 100m to where it was the song was so loud and so constant that I seriously considered the whole thing was a wind up and someone had placed a loud speaker in the reeds! This thought was only strengthened when I was able to walk to what must have been only 5 metres from the bird and it just carried on singing and remained invisible! Eventually though it did clearly change position and then finally flew into a bush where it could just about be seen.

It is a while since I have heard a GRW (this is my third in Norway) and I had forgotten just how loud their song is. In the video you first hear the song and then get a glimpse of the bird

Great Reed Warbler (trostesanger) - a screen shot from the video

Buoyed by this I then decided to do just one more Oslo night singer trip. Maridalen had nothing new to offer but in Sørkedalen the Blyth’s Reed, Oslo #186, that had been quiet in the afternoon was now singing his heart out in the garden of a farm at midnight. Add to that multiple Marsh Warblers and a Reed Warbler and I had a four acro night. I do think this will be my last trip though unless of course someone else finds something for me to twitch. 

 

the Reed Warbler (rørsanger) that is singing in the video above. As can be heard teh bird had a very varied song and I also do not think it looks completely right for a Reed. Could it have some Marsh genes?

In Maridalen I feel I must have found the Hobby nest although am still to see a bird on it (this was also the case for a long time last year).

Hobby (lerkefalk) presumably the male

I could only find two Lapwing young with their parents yesterday and saw no other birds although the crop has become so high that the incubating bird would be hidden if it still present.

mum Lapwing (vipe) on the left and what seem to be now the only two remaining young which as can be seen are soon fully grown and were both frequently flapping their wings

Going on a Blyth’s Hunt

We are now entering a period with lots of rain and thunderstorms forecast which would normally get me excited but in mid-June in Oslo I think there is little that is likely to turn up other than a Gull-billedTern…

I have kept up my nocturnal outings in an attempt to increase #Oslo2024 and even visited Sørkedalen (as well as Maridalen) on Monday night when conditions were perfect but think I soon need to admit defeat. Marsh Warblers are the only birds I am finding although I did try quite hard to turn one into a Blyth’s although cooler heads (or ears) brought me back down to earth. I didn’t hesitate to follow up a report of one in Sørkedalen today although as I feared (being the bad twitcher I am) I failed to find it even though I got there only an hour later (and pictures leave no doubt as to it having been present😊)

 The GND is still on Maridalsvannet and seems to be making short work of the crayfish population. It is now possible to see three species of divers at the same time. The diver went missing on Sunday before I refound it on Monday at the southern end of the lake, around 3km from where it had been on Saturday. It is one thing though for a diver to go awol – they do after all dive - but not the Whooper Swan family which has just vanished. With such small cygnets they surely cannot have gone far but I have checked all likely sites in vain.

 I have managed to find where the Hobbies are breeding though which is a new site although I am not yet certain I have discovered which (Crows) nest they are using.

it really poured down today although the Great Northern Diver (islom) didn't seem to mind

although Monday's nocturnal outing failed to produce any exciting "night singers" I did hear Little Ringed Plovers on a field in Sørkedalen, coincidentally the last field in the valley to hold breeding Lapwings although that is now a few years ago. I visited the next day to find the farmer working on the field and found no plovers but today I located a pair although suspect that their breeding attempt had failed to the tractor.

the male

the female

and the male again

Hobby (lerkefalk)

this 2cy male Common Rosefinch (rosenfink) is the only bird I know of in Maridalen this year although in Sørkedalen there are quite a few. In the video you can hear this bird singing

Maridalen's first ever Great Northern Diver

Since coming back from Valdres I have been really trying to find some more “night singers” in Maridalen and to have more sightings of the Long-eared Owl but the owl has not been seen again and it is only Marsh Warblers, with now 4-5 males singing in the valley, that reveal themselves. Blyth’s Reed Warblers seem to be arriving in good numbers close to Oslo so there is still a chance one of these will turn up.

Day time visits have been revealing though. The young Lapwings are now all back together under the protection of a single adult but would be interesting to know what had caused the split before. The crop is now getting too high to see them most of the time but I had all four on a rainy day on the 5^th when they were all trying to seek cover under mums wings.

The Whooper Swans finally had young on the 6^th which I think were hatched that day. It took me a while to be certain of the identity of the young but they were Whoopers and not Mute so the exciting scenario I had hoped for of Whoopers raising Mute young has not transpired. Interestingly a (the?) pair of Mutes was on the breeding island whilst the Whooper family had moved into nearby bay. This is my first sighting of Mutes here for a few weeks and it seems amazing that they would return on the day of the eggs hatching. The Whoopers did not chase the Mutes off as both parents seemed too busy with shepherding the cygnets but when the Mutes decided to fly off the Whooper pair did their usual calling and wing flapping to celebrate their “victory”.

 

I have saved this weeks Maridalen highlight until last. The end of the week saw lots of strong southerly winds and rain which even resulted in a Fulmar being seen over the city but in Maridalen a couple of Common Terns had been all I could must up until yesterday evening. I squeezed in a trip after dropping off Jr Jr at a friend which also coincided with a break in the rain. I noticed a diver in my bins which I couldn’t quite place. On collecting the scope from the car I was shocked to see a 1^st summer Great Northern Diver!! This is the first record in Maridalen and probably only the fourth in Oslo (following on from the bird Jack and I saw at Huk on May 9^th). Maridalen’s list according to Artsobservasjoner.no is now 226 species (although now passed away old boys regaled me with stories of 3 species not entered there – Dotterel, Ural Owl and Caspian Tern) with me having seen 210. Presumably blown in by the winds it was at times associating with Canada Geese and allowed close approach. In the field I saw nothing wrong with the bird but in my pictures there are possible signs of oil on its breast.

1st summer (2cy) Great Northern Diver (islom) on Maridalsvannet! Mote what may be oil on its breast

it really was quite close even though it is only a dot in this photo taken with my phone

with Canada Geese and a Canada x Greylag hybrid. 

look at that foot!

Whooper Swan (sangsvane) family

the pale legs and bill show them to be Whooper and not Mute

the Mutes flying off and the Whoopers celebrating

the four Lapwing (vipe) young reunited and seeking shelter from the rain under mums wings

two new Canada x Greylag hybrids have turned up in Maridalen in addition to the gander that has been here all spring and bred unsuccessfully with a Canada Goose

more Canadas have turned up in the last few days presumably to moult. These two with varying amounts of leucism in the face may well be related

Common Tern (makrellterne)

I have also discovered where the Wrynecks are breeding which seems to be in an old Lesser Spotted Woodpecker hole which is right below an old Great Spotted hole – this tree has clearly been of value to peckers 😊

Wryneck nesting hole in the middle with a larger hole above

And finally, an unsuccessful session trying to find if Honey Buzzards are breeding again resulted in hearing the trumpet call of Two-barred Crossbill which becomes Oslo #185. There have already been records on the west coast so it looks like this may be an invasion year.

Valdres cabin weekend installment 4

Here are the remaining birds with some Cuckoo images I am very happy with.

singing Cuckoo (gjøk) getting mobbed by Meadow Pipits (heipiplerke)

Siberian Jay (lavskrike)

here we thought it was eating lichen but after reading BWP I am inclined to believe it may have had other food stashed under the lichen

Slavonian Grebe (horndykker)

Cranes (trane) at over 1000moh

why did the Crane cross the road?