Taiga Time

MC Hammer may have had his Hammer Time but Oslo Birder has Taiga Time and is lucky enough that it is biannual occurrence. Two emails had already pinged into my inbox from Angus in Scotland asking me whether there had been any sightings in Norway yet as Dan in Sweden already had 24 birds on the early date of 9^th August and a whopping 193 on the 23^rd. I may not be Norwegian but it does sting to be outdone by a Swede so I went out looking for the geese last Thursday and then again yesterday. The last working collar stopped transmitting this summer so I have no technical aids to help me in my search which does make Taiga hunting a very different ball game altogether as they have a habit of choosing obscure fields or marshes. On Thursday I checked out previously favoured stubble fields which only revealed that they were indeed stubble and the harvest had happened and yesterday my search of these same fields revealed only a small flock of Canada Geese and Cranes. I knew where I had to go but was hesitant as visiting the often used peat bog would likely mean sinking to my shins in peat (happened), getting crawled on by deer ked (hjortelusflue) which while not being big biters are undoubtedly one of nature’s most annoying creatures (happened) and if I found the geese I would undoubtedly end up flushing them which I hate doing (happened).

What initially looked to be just 6 geese hidden away on the bog turned out to be 129 when they flushed at more than 100 metres range and despite my best efforts for it not to happen. After a pretty constant decline since I started counting them in the autumn in 2013 this is a very welcome increase and must be the result of a good breeding season. Dan had managed to count 31 juveniles in the Swedish staging flock of 193 on Saturday and while I must admit to not being very confident at separating juveniles from adults it is clear from the flight photos I took that there are lots of family groups.

Otherwise , my drive around an increasingly autumnal landscape revealed disappointingly few raptors but there were good numbers of Yellow Wagtails and Wheatears.

I had seen that one bird had a collar when I was in the field but could read no details. Instead I took loads of photos of the flock in flight with the aim of being able to find all ringed birds aswell as identify family groups. After going through my pictures I have been able to see the following:

1. Collar V8 was the only collar in the flock and he had 3 young but no mate. V8 was paired to 05 who carried the last working GPS sender until she sent her last plot on 30 May. The plots had suggested that 05 had nested successfully and it was great to see that is the case but of course sad that I could not see 05 with her mate and young. We will never know what happened to her and whether she perished at the same time the sender sent its last plot or if that happened later.

2. I read a single leg ring (right leg) of a bird that had lost its collar and this was a really exciting find. Y6 is a bird that has used both Norway and Sweden and is I think the only bird that has been documented doing so:
spring 2020 NO
autumn 2020 SW
spring 2022 NO
autumn 2022 NO
spring 2023 NO
autumn 2024 SW
spring 2025 SW
autumn 2025 NO

3. In addition there was a bird with a white ring on its left leg that I could not read but is probably 7V

4. I also saw two birds with metal rings, one on the left leg and one on the right leg. From the pictures it is not possible to see their other legs so they could be the same as 2 and 3.

I have not yet attempted to identify and count juveniles and family groups but will post a number of photos that allow any who is interested to do so.

glimpsing some birds on the bog

the whole flock of 129 birds

the graph shows that this is a high autumn count and indicates a good breeding season but Y6 shows that birds that had used the Swedish route in previous years can use the Norwegian route in the next season so we have to be a bit careful how we interpret these numbers

V8 with 3 goslings but his mate 05 is no longer with us

another picture showing the family of 4 sticking together

Y6

a white colour ring on the left leg with an inscription that I cannot read. 7V is I think the best candidate

a metal ring on the left leg but we don't see the right leg

and here a metal ring on right leg (can't see left leg) and a white ring on right leg which may well be Y6

when I spotted the first birds which were over 100m away beyond the small trees

this is where they had been

there were a few discarded feathers

and droppings

the peat bog was very dry with most pools having dried up

there were a few pools though and it was clear the geese had visited them. In the autumn they often do not visit the river or their roosting lakes at all during the day and when they are using stubble fields I interpret some of their regular visits to this peat bog as visits to drink

And a load of pictures that will help in identifying juveniles and family groups

V8 and his family are at the bottom

V8 and family highlighted

a Cuckoo (gjøk)

and adult Honey Buzzard (vepsevåk) and juvenile Common Buzzard (musvåk)

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?

Rosefinch and Cuckoo in Maridalen

I had a quick visit to Maridalen yesterday in light rain and it gave me a new species for the Dale for the year and also good views of a scarce species.

The new species was Common Rosefinch. There used to be a few breeding pairs but it has become very scarce in the last few years and you are more likely to hear a Whinchat mimicking a Rosefinch than the actual bird. When I heard a short burst of Rosefinch song from an area where a Whinchat has been singing this week I was therefore expecting it to be mimicry but had to check it out to be certain. To my surprise it was actually the real deal that was singing although it was a brown, 2cy male. Whilst watching this bird I then heard a Cuckoo cuckooing not too distantly and was able to get close enough to see it. I cannot actually remember seeing a singing Cuckoo in the Dale so this was a cool experience (although in the mountains over the next few days we should see and hear many).

a male Cuckoo (gjøk) in the rain

male Common Rosefinch (rosenfink). A male because it was singing and a 2cy because it is brown (males do not become red until their 3rd year)

and a male Common Whitethroat (tornsanger) that is still unmated. This year is a good one for the species in the Dale with a number of singing males

Coming to an end

It’s so hot and sunny now that I have almost given up on birds for the year and started on butterflies.

If I am to break my Oslo year record of 191 species, let alone smash the 200 barrier, then some rain and falls of migrants are necessary.

My Oslo list is ticking along with yesterday giving Garden Warbler #165 and Scaup #166 whilst today gave Whitethroat #167, Red-backed Shrike #168, Cuckoo#169 and Kingfisher #170. I have never reached this total so early so things should be looking good. Problem though is that I reckon I have only another 4 species that I can consider certain: Reed Warbler, Marsh Warbler, Common Rosefinch and Honey Buzzard whilst all others will bonuses and this includes species like Redstart, Sand Martin and Bluethroat which I would have expected to see by now and fear I may have missed my chance with. So, I will need to find a lot of Oslo rares😊

Yesterday’s Scaup was a bonus bird and was a pair on Maridalsvannet which is only the third spring record here. Today’s Kingfisher was even more unexpected but could well indicate breeding which I need to follow up on.

pair of Scaup (bergand) on Maridalsvannet - a rare species on spring migration

Wood Warblers (bøksanger) are now back. Although it is never to be found in large numbers I had 5 birds today

Wryneck (vendehals)

male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (dvergspett). I had both these species in the same tree "singing" but did not mange to record it

female Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)

Black throated Diver

Blackcap (munk) have been back a while

but Garden Warblers (hagesanger) are only just arriving. As usual I need to see them to tell them apart as I usually don't hear a difference in their song

an unexpected sighting was this silent flyby Cuckoo (gjøk). I was alerted to its presence by alarm calling White Wagtails

a singing Pied Flycatcher (svarthvit fluesnapper) in the garden is probably last years bird

a couple of Slavonian Grebes (horndykker) I bumped into at a breeding site

whenever I see an old Black Woodpecker hole I scratch the tree trunk hoping a Tengmalm's Owl will stick its head out. That never happens unfortunately but today this Goldeneye (kvinand) did

she had a bit of down stuck to her head

interestingly she has a hole in her beak. I can't imagine what caused it

a Grizzly Skipper (bakkesmyger) was my earliest ever and first unusual butterfly of the year. I have now seen 12 species so far in 2024

a Holly Blue (vårblåvinge)

and a Green Hairstreak (grønnstjertvinge)