Yesterday was a day I had been waiting for all
spring - finally some strong southerly winds and the chance of some
seawatching. Usually I would head for Brentetangen in Østfold but instead I
chose the slightly shorter journey to the Hulvik in Akershus but where numbers
are usually lower.
It
is a bit late in the spring for the best passage but the winds were from the
south west at the bottom of Norway so I hoped that some bird that should have
been in the North Sea had instead been pushed into the Oslofjord. My main hope
was Pomarine and Long-tailed Skuas with maybe a White-billed Diver on the
cards. It also looked good for a flock or two of Pale-bellied Brent Geese which
migrate end May/beginning June from Denmark to their Arctic Breeding grounds.
What unfolded was not quite what I had expected
but was an exceptional event. Pretty much the first birds I saw were a distant
flock of geese. These had to be Brents and sure enough were. Over the course of
the next 4 hours I had in total 10 flocks totalling 4710 birds (very rough
estimates but one flock was of only 10 birds..) which not only smashes any
previous counts in these parts it was also the highest count ever in Norway
until another count from yesterday further south in Norway came in. I had to
stop after 4 hours at 10:13 because I was shivering uncontrollably. Although
not that cold, maybe 10C, and with 3 layers on I had underestimated how cold
the wind would be. If I had held out then I think there would be many thousand
more. By mid afternoon flocks were being seen over Oslo and I scored with a
huge flock from the garden as I was making dinner. This was flock was seen at
various places over Oslo and was estimated to be between 1000 and 1500 birds. I
ended up in the middle with an estimate of 1250 but counting from pictures
shows it to be over 2000 birds! This flock may well have contained birds that I
saw in the early morning.
The flocks I had seen from Hulvik were very unsure
of where to go. Normally they would fly up the west coast of Norway but the SW
wind had led them up the wrong side of Norway. As the fjord got narrower and
narrower they clearly became confused. Many of the flocks turned around a
number of times and spent up to half an hour to work out where to go. The birds
seen over Oslo in the afternoon were very unsure and spent hours flying around
before eventually landing on the sea. They might even end up heading south and
going around the coast rather than heading overland.
It wasn't just geese that were moving though. A
male Garganey was in one of the flocks, 500 Common Scoter were resting on the
sea, over 100 Red-throated Divers including a single flock of 54 were moving
about, 4 each of Scaup and Velvet Scoter went north as did singles of Black and
Common Guillemot. A Marsh Harrier heading south into the wind low over the
water was a strange sight and a single dark phase Arctic Skua heading
purposefully north at least gave me a skua.
After I had warmed up a bit in the car I thought I
would take a detour on the way home to look for a Golden Oriole discovered 2
days ago. It was always going to be a long shot late in the day with it being
chilly and windy and sure enough I did not see or hear it. I did have a new
bird experience though with a rufous phase Cuckoo feeding high up in oak trees
on caterpillars. Only females come in this colour phase which is supposedely
rare and is the first time I can remember seeing one. Also the way it was
feeding so high up is also new for me - I have normally seen them feeding on
the ground.
They never came close for good photos but her their (sub-specific) ID as Pale-bellied Brent Geese (ringgås) is documented
one of the larger flocks at Hulvik heading south whilst working out what to do
the flock of 2000 seen from the garden - you are welcome to count them!
map showing their movements. The green spot is Hulvik and the black line shows the directions most of the flocks followed. The red line shows the movements witnessed in the afternoon
Red-throated Divers (smålom). Quite a few were heading north but most were on the sea and got put up by passing boats
Mountain Marsh Runners aka Broad-billed Sandpipers
have started passing through South East Norway the last couple of days. There
are only a handful of sites with annual records of this scarce species and one
of them is Årnestangen. So, I set off on the long walk with high hopes this
morning. My hopes gradually became lower and lower on the walk out when there
was no sign of any migration whatsoever. Arriving at the end of the peninsula
there was a particular dearth of birds and I had to work very hard to find any
waders at all with just a single Dunlin and Ringed Plover being migrants. This
is all part of the game but at this time of year one always hopes for a bit
more.
On the walk back I did hear a brief snatch of “song”
from my first Corncrake of the year plus seeing my first Swift which is a late
first record. Whilst Beast walking I had a singing Icterine Warbler near the
house which will deserve some more attention.
The lack of birds today is highlighted by the face
that I will show pictures of butterflies instead. Three different Painted
Ladies was a big surprise although there seems to have been an arrival
recently. I always thought of this butterfly as a late summer migrant.
a female Orange Tip (aurorasommerfugl). From above it can be confused with the other whites but the pattern of the underside of the lower wing is distinctive
the first Painted Lady (tistelsommerfugl) I saw. This individual was very tatty and the upperparts which I didn't manage to get a picture of were pale and bleached
the second Painted Lady
which looked to be nice and fresh
and the third one
which was also quite fresh
and a Green-veined White (rapssommerfugl)
it's been a long time since I've seen a Stoat (røyskatt). This one had something in its mouth but I didn't manage to see what it had taken
Friday was Norway’s national day and a public
holiday with lots of parades and dressing up in national costume. For me
highlights were my first ever house Canada Geese flying over plus an also flyover
Common Sandpiper.
Yesterday the promise of rain had me (and others)
out early in Maridalen but the reality was just getting wet and seeing nothing
interesting. Later in the day though I heard a Red-throated Pipit flying over
the house whilst taking the Beast out for some airing.
Today though was the big day. More rain was forecast
early in the morning and I thought that Årnestangen deserved my attentions.
Goal for the day was a mountain marsh runner but at this time of the year anything
can turn up. I parked the car at 6am and had a 45 minute walk in constant rain
that was only enlivened by a mixed flock of waders heading north. I only
managed to identify the large birds which were ca.20 Ruff but this was both a
good and a bad sign. Good that there were waders but bad that they were flying
off in the rain (made me think they had been scared off from the mudbank at the
tip of the peninsula). When I got to the end I could initially not see a single
wader which I thought confirmed my suspicions of everything having been scared
off. I did see three Little Gulls though (an adult, a 2nd summer and
a 1st summer) and 6 Arctic Terns as well as the Common Terns that
breed here and when I eventually got my eye in (the rain and light were not
making things easy) I realised there were waders: Whimbrel, Redshank, Ruff, Ringed
Plover, Dunlin and Temminck’s Stint! I heard a Red-throated Pipit flyover and
after an hour or so hit the jackpot when I suddenly saw an adult Black Tern. The
first in Norway this year and only my second ever in the country. I put the
news out and Anders quickly called as he was already on his way out. I lost
sight of the tern but by the time Anders had walked out over half an hour later
the tern was back on show. Our attention was taken by the Red-throated Pipit
which flew over again with a Meadow Pipit chasing it and with a bit of
enticement it landed not far away and allowed itself to be admired in fine
breeding plumage!
summer plumaged Black Tern (svartterne)
there seem to be 2 generations of primary feathers - which may allow the bird to be aged?
summer plumaged Red-throated Pipit (lappiplerke). Although the species breeds in the far north of Norway it is a very scarce migrant in the south
Two Arctic Terns (rødnebbterne)
three Little Gulls (dvergmåke) resting with 2 Arctic Terns
the adult Little Gull
and the 1st summer and 2nd summer
the first Lapwings (vipe) have hatched in Maridalen. This female had three young
Despite having had Maridalen as my local patch for
over 15 years it is still large enough that I can discover new and exciting
areas and there are also areas that I have forgotten about and then rediscover.
Today was about rediscovering. I was looking for a place to walk the Beast in
the shade (temperatures reached 20C today with little wind) and decided to
follow up a tip about Hazel Grouse which I knew would involve shade – two birds
with one stone and all that.
The same area has previously held Three-toed Woodpeckers
and was close enough to where all the excitement has been this year that I
thought I may relocate the new pair which after having seen off one toe, three toe had
gone missing. I succeeded royally and even witnessed mating! There will eventually be a dedicated post to the Three toes but I'll post a couple of pics now.
And I found a Hazel Grouse 😊
which even allowed itself to be photographed on a dark forest floor but the
camera chose to focus on the sunlight areas either behnd or in front of it.
male Hazel Grouse (jerpe) in habitat
attempts to zoom in did not focus correctly..
but I did get one focused (and cropped) picture but the shutter speed at 1/800s resulted in ISO6400 so it is a bit grainy
female Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett)
and mating!
here the Beast pulled on the lead but the birds just stayed in shot
the male before the act. He is a particularly lazy male and lets the females fight over him and do most of the drumming
Another full days guiding today in Maridalen with a
lot of good birds.
Highlights
were singing Wood Warbler, Wryneck, Three-toed Woodpecker, Black Woodpeckers
feeding young in the nest, Black and Red-throated Divers, Goshawk, and Common
and Wood Sandpipers. The days headache was a warbler that I guess must just be
a Willow with a strange song but you can judge yourself in the video. The bird
looked like a Willow Warbler although was quite a "powerful" looking
bird. The song resembled the start of Willow Warbler although wad louder and
stronger and the end of the song was missing. I played Willow Warbler song
which as you will see in the video caused the bird to come closer wing
shivering. It did not sing in response and after I stopped the playback it
carried on wing shivering for a bit before slowly starting to sing again with
just a couple of notes and then taking quite a while to get into its full song.
If it is not a Willow Warbler then I cannot find another species that it could
be but a hybrid is obviously a possibility. And Greenish x Willow Warbler could
possibly suit the song and plumage.
We
started early hoping that would result in possibly hearing the Ortolan singing
but that was the case although I am pretty sure I glimpsed the female. The
Ring-necked has also gone so I may soon have Maridalen back to myself😊
I
had no battery in the bazooka so it was just superzoom and lots of video today.
Yesterday I was guiding Andy from Florida. We spent
the whole day in Maridalen and despite a very fresh northerly wind the Dale did
not disappoint and we had a very fun and production session.
I was back in the
Dale this morning (where else would I be) to follow up on the Ortolan Buntings.
They have had a steady stream of would be admirers but have been far from
cooperative and I believe many have left without seeing them. It is also only
the male that has been seen (or heard briefly singing) since I saw two birds on
Saturday. Today I found that both birds were still present and in the same area
but again they were not seen together. Over a couple of hours in the area there
was no song and just some very occasional and quiet contact calls. That a male
and female are in what looks to be suitable breeding habitat and have been here
a few days would suggest possible breeding but I don’t think so now. When I
have observed breeding birds in Hedmark then the male has sang loudly and over
long periods of time. Here the male has only sung quietly and for very short
periods. Also on Friday when I found the male I used playback to try to locate him
but this only resulted in the bird moving away which would not be the expected
behaviour from a paired, territory holding male. Also one would expect to see
them together if they were paired but the only interaction with another bird I
noticed today was that a male Yellowhammer twice approached the female Ortolan
who then flew off. One explanation for the lack of singing and lack of
sightings of the female is that they are already nesting and she has begun
laying or is incubating but this would be very early and suggest they have been
around even longer than we have observed them. However today I observed her
feeding over an extended period (45+ minutes) which would be too long for her
to be away from the nest if incubating although as incubation begins with last
egg then she may be laying? Time will tell.
Other good birds included my first Bluethroat and Whitethroat of the year, Great Snipe, Merlin and Wryneck.
yesterday we came across this male Great Spotted Woodpecker which was raiding a Blue Tits nest. The Blue Tits vigourously defended their nest but it looked as though the pecker was eating their eggs in the nest. Ironically enough the Blue Tits were using an old Great Spotted Woodpecker hole so he gives and he takes..
late Bramblings (bjørkefink) with Chaffinch (bokfink) and Yellowhammer (gulspurv)
Common Sandpiper (strandsnipe)
Wren (gjerdesmett)
the Ring-necked Duck is still present. Here with two displaying 1st summer male Goldeneyes (kvinand)
here with a Tufted Duck (toppand). There were 4 Tufted on Thursday when I found him, 40 on Friday, none on Saturday and Sunday and 1 today.
he lifted up his eventually but could have looked at me!
the male Ortolan today. He sat for around 10 minutes in this tree, calling occasionally
and then moved a bit closer before flying off
I found the female shortly after and she perched silently here for over 5 minutes
