Catching up

Before I come with an update of what I’m doing at the moment here are a few pictures from the last 5 days or so that I have only just got around to going through (but not including anymore GGO pictures which you will have to wait for but I promise it will be worth it).

Apologies for an excessive number of Wood Pigeon shots but I did use a long time going through them and I rather like them the (I have released my inner togger 😀).

my first Honey Buzzard (vepsevåk) of the year, a drak female

a singing Redstart (rødstjert) in Maridalen

a pair of Scaup (bergand) on the fjord

Common Scoter (svartand) with 4 Velvets (sjøorre)

Spotted Flycatcher (gråfluesnapper)

Tree Pipit (trepiplerke)

Wryneck (vendehals)

Green Hairstreak butterfly (grønnstjertvinge)

Long-eared Owl

normal male Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)

and one with a pale patch at the basis of the flight feathers

Golden Plover (heilo)

And now those Wood Pigeons (ringdue)..

Owl guiding

Lots of things are happening at the moment and blogging and sorting through pictures (and even worse video) is having to go to the back of the queue.

Since I blogged last I have managed some birding at Bygdøy on Tuesday morning where there had clearly been a seaduck movement in northerly winds (no wonder I can’t predict things) and there were a pair of Scaup alongside clearly fresh in flocks of Common and Velvet Scoter and Red-breasted Mergansers. These were of course not photogenic but for some reason I fired off a couple of hundred shots of bathing Wood Pigeons (the inner togger is clearly trying to get out).

None of this movement reached Maridalen but when the sun came out there was suddenly a movement of raptors. I had 7 species with 4 migrating Honey Buzzards the highlight and a good count in a Norwegian context.

In the evening I guided for owls and the Long-eared showed exceptionally well with both adults exposing themselves and the difference in size and colouration between the two being easy to see. Tawny Owls were harded to find but eventually scolding Blackbirds led us to an adult perched high in a tree.

Yesterday was also about owls but this time I was being guided. At a very secret location I got to see nesting Great Grey Owl. I will just post a couple of pictures now and have a much fuller post later in the yea but the day was absolutely fantastic and I am grateful for the trust shown in me (these birds will NOT be possible for me to guide to).

A day spent in the deep forests of mid Norway always gives a lot and other birds seen included my first Red-backed Shrikes of the year with a pair and another male already on territory, singing Cuckoo and Parrot Crossbills which seem to be the only Crossbills breeding in southern Norway this year. General density of birds was surprisingly low though. We found a LOT of woodpecker holes in aspen trees (these are saved when there is a forestry work which there has been a lot of lately in Norway due to high prices for timber which I believe is driven by Swedish electrcity generation demands). My finger nails got ruined from scratching on many trunks but not a single owl stuck its head out. We surprsingly had hardly any woodpeckers either but did hear young Black Woodpeckers from one fresh hole and a female Goldeneye flying around calling by an old Black pecker nest presumably was using it).

We came across two Woodcocks whose behaviour clearly indicated they had young nearby (both gave a croaking call I have never heard before) and we found three tiny young that just lay motionless in the grass - fascinating!

Butterflies were also flying with 7 species. Holly Blue (vårblåvinge) and Green Hairstreak (grønnstjertvinge) were new for the year. A white sp. seen from the car looked to be a Wood White (skoghvitvinge) which is a species I have only seen a couple of times but had vanished once I stopped and got out of the car. Dragonflies will also start distracting me soon😊

I have only had a chance to glance at my pictures so here are just a few to wet the appetite.

Great Grey Owl (lappugle)

Long-eared Owl (hornugle) - male judging by smaller size

Long-eared Owl youngster

Long-eared Owl female

Tawny Owl (kattugle)

old Woodcock (rugde)

very young Woodcock

More Long-eared Owls

Yesterday I had high expectations for migration in the fjord and planned to meet Per Christian early doors at Huk where we would watch flocks of migrating ducks, divers, waders, terns and skuas. I awoke later than planned and did not get there until 06:30. Rain and a lack of birds soon told me that once again this spring there was a large gap between my expectations and reality. PC arrived at the car park 10 minutes after me and just a couple of hundred meters before he got to me by the sea he saw a Golden Oriole fly in front of him!! Despite me getting there just a couple of minutes after he saw it we could not refind what would have been an Oslo and Norway tick for me. I feel this sums up how my spring has been.

We did watch the sea for a couple of hours but apart from a flock of 15 Red-throated Divers and a Hobby we saw next to nothing.

Today is 17^th May which is Norway’s national day. With Corona restricting how many people could meet up plus it raining I suddenly found that I had some free time mid afternoon. I went to check up on another Long-eared Owl nest I know about and again found a youngster already out of the nest. A quick SMS meant that 20 minutes later and I was guiding to these birds (working on a bank holiday!) and will be able to do so for a while yet as they should hang around the same area for quite a while. Nearby I stopped at a flooded field and found it be full of birds. Six Temminck’s Stint topped the bill with 30 Wood Sand, 6 Common Sands, 1 Green Sand, 4 Little Ringed Plovers, 3 Ringed Plovers and a Greenshank providing a good number of migrant waders. There were also a massive 6 pairs of Lapwings with 5 on nests and one with two recently hatched young. There were also many Yellow Wagtails plus Wheatear and Whinchats. This all gave me a renewed faith that the spring is not over and maybe the next week or two will still produce something big.

Long-eared Owl (hornugle) - it seems to be a good year for them around Oslo with breeding having started very early

two of six Temminck's Stints on a flooded field

it's not often I take a picture of Stock Dover (skogdue)

the (partially) flooded field which held so many birds

Owl update

Things have been unexpectedly quiet on the migrant front (although I have high expectations for tomorrow) so I thought I would use my time to check up on my local breeding owls.

The Long-eared Owls surprised me by already being out of the nest! This is extremely early for Norway and means egg laying already at the end of March. Such early breeding must mean that there was a lot of rodents but it seems that the situation may have changed. I only saw a single youngster plus an adult despite careful searching. Unless the other youngsters have been predated (or eggs never hatched) it suggests that there was only enough food to raise a single youngster to the fledging stage (although that is still a couple of months offs).

Tawny Owl is well known to breed early if conditions are right and I have seen lots of pictures already of young out of the nest. The nest I follow has clearly not been this far advanced but today I heard a quiet squeak from a youngster and an adult was perched up nearby. I reckon it is at least a week before the young will leave this nest.

young Long-eared Owl (hornugle) already out of the nest

adult Tawny Owl (kattugle) close to the nest

not often I see Great Spotted Woodpecker (flaggspett) on the ground

The Mute Swan (knoppsvane) pair in Maridalen whose breeding attempt has failed for the second year running

toads

swan and toad

the Mute Swans are not the only large birds whose breeding attempt has failed. The Crane pair have failed again for the 3rd to 4th year running

Goshawks (hønsehauk) though are doing well (so far) with both nests in Maridalen occupied although seeing the bird form ground level is not always easy