A swell day without Svellet

Today I decided to leave Svellet alone and instead visit the Oslo islands. I cannot see that anyone else has visited Svellet today so don’t know if my decision was the right one but I can see that water levels have only risen by  2cm so conditions will still be very, very mighty.

The islands gave a perfectly acceptable account of themselves even if the fjord contained not a single duck, diver, grebe or tern of any interest what so ever. Before I had even got to Gressholmen I saw a massive 4 species of waders (but only one of each)  in the tiny muddy bay by the ferry stop at Lindøya Øst (Redshank, Greenshank, Ringed Plover and Oystercatcher) and this did increase expectations rather considerably. Gressholmen’s muddy bay disappoints (me) more often that otherwise but mid to late May is probably when it is at its best. There had been no rain or southerly winds (they are from the north at the moment) so I did not expect too much but a Bar-tailed Godwit that has been present a few days was still there alongside the same species, but in greater numbers, as I had seen at Lindøya.

A singing Thrush Nightingale in exactly the same scrub as the last two years was my first of the year and a joy to listen to.

A worrying aspect of the trip was quite how few Black-headed Gulls there were. I only found two colonies and the largest was considerably smaller than it has been in previous years. I have also seen that Oslo’s normally largest colony on an islet off Bygdøy is empty this year so unless there is a large colony somewhere else then it looks like a crisis for the species (the inland colonies at Sognsvann and Østensjøvannet are small in relation to the number that normally breed on the fjord).

The absolute highlight and a slight headache came when I was getting on the ferry at Lindøya. I heard angry Hooded Crows and Swallows behind me and turned expecting to see a Goshawk. What I did see was something smaller but after a second I realised it was an owl and must be one of the earded ones. I raised my bins whilst walking and saw the face and was sure it was a Short-eared. I then got on board and reached for the superzoom and filmed whilst the ferry left the dock but only managed 20 seconds before the deckhand said I had to move inside. I was quite happy that I had managed to document only my second ever Oslo Short-eared and decided to look at the video to see if it was any good and of course to see if I had actually pressed record… Well this time I had but the owl proved to be of the longer eared variety. Still a very good bird in an Oslo context. My still only ever record of Short-eared Owl was an equally difficult experience although then I assumed it had to be a Leo and it was only the pictures that allowed me to see it was a Seo… 

a clip from the video showing the grey face and under wing tips that have fine baring and not a particularly black tip all of which say Leo (hornugle)

and here it disappears to the north over Hovedøya and towards the city

The sound of the Thrush Nightingale (nattergal) and a Willow Warbler (løvsanger)

the Bar-tailed Godwit (lappspove) on Gressholmen

The Black-headed Gull (hettemåke) colony on Nakkeskjær where I counted 65 nests although there were undoubtedly more out of sight on the far side

a close up of some of the nests

and here 9 nests on the main part of the island where they do not look to be so safe

a female Wheateat (steinskvett)

In Maridalen it was again difficult to be certain what was happening with the Lapwings but I did see more today. There were 10 adults and five young in broods of 4 and 1. There was also another female acting as though she had young in the long grass and probably two females that were on new nests but that will have to firmed up as a bit more time passes.

the single young Lapwing (vipe) with mum and a "singing" Snipe (enkeltbekkasin)

a new nest

two males have been frequently been squaring off

The annual early spring outing to Gressholmen

Yesterday saw me watching some big owls very well in Hedmark and I will come back to them in a day or so but first an update from a good days birding in Oslo.

Every spring the car needs its service and I use this carless day to go out to the islands and today was that day. I only visited Gressholmen but it was a good trip even though it is still way too early for anything that exciting. However 3 Slavonian Grebes at close range were, as always, a treat and they even displayed a bit. These, a Green Sandpiper and a Great Grey Shrike which even sang a bit were all Oslo’s first records of the year..

After this a trip to Middelalderparken failed to reveal anything rare among the few hundred gulls bathing there (although turnover is clearly high so things can always turn up). A very pale mantled Lesser Black-back and a yellow-legged and slightly dark mantled Herring Gull got some attention. I also managed to fit in a trip to Østensjøvannet before the car was ready to be picked up and thankfully didn’t need any additional work doing to it.

Slavonian Grebe (horndykker) pair

This video has lots of display and interaction between the birds

And this short extract shows some interesting display with what seems to be the unpaired bird trying its luck before being chased off. Note how it dives under water and then starts penguin displaying which gets a positive response from the other bird before its mate turns up

look at the reflection of the black head feathers

all 3 birds which were a pair and I believe a male

the pair of Smew (lappfiskand) still at Østensjøvannet

the yellow-legged Herring Gull that isn't a Yellow-legged Gull...

this pale backed Lesser-black Backed Gull (sildemåke) is ringed and its life history and other pictures suggest is an intermedius with some pigment problems (note that the primaries are not black) rather than a graellsii

Great Grey Shrike (varlser). It was intently staring at the ground in an area with lots of Water Vole holes but I did not see it catch one which would also have been a large prey item

I only discovered this Greylag Goose nest when it hissed at me as I almost stood on it

this young Herring Gull looks to have got some paint on it

there were 6 Ringed Plovers (sandlo) on Gressholmen which probably represent the entire Oslo breeding population

And a video of a drumming female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker from earlier in the week

The last week

The last week hasn’t just been about big owls and rare waders. I have continued visiting Svellet and Nordre Øyeren but despite continued low water levels there have been surprisingly few waders with now zero Wood Sandpipers!!! Water levels are now rising about 10cm a day so the mud at the edges probably just has no food in it. Also with spring having come early and no rain to force birds down many birds are probably also flying directly to their breeding sites. The first Temminck’s Stint and Dunlins have turned up though and Redshank have become the commonest wader.

Yesterday, I had my first visit of the year to the islands and a 2nd summer Little Gull on Gressholmen was a real highlight and gave much better views than the birds in Svellet last week.

when I first saw this gull with an extensive black hood, red legs, a pink wash on the breast and black in the wing tips I thought I had found an adult Bonaparte's Gull. A check in the scope though showed it was "just" a 2nd summer Little Gull.

and comparison the views that I managed at Svellet last week where I must admit to being quite chuffed that I actually got a photo which shows both an adult and a 1st summer. This video gives an idea of the viewing conditions at Svellet:

A Redshank (rødstilk) at Gressholmen was the only migrant wader and for me this has been an awful spring for waders in Oslo with me still not having seen Greenshank or Whimbrel. Water levels are finally falling at Maridalsvannet revealing some muddy edges but I fear it is too little too late

Thrush Nightingale (nattergal) on Gressholmen in exactly the same place as they bred last year so presumably the same male

there were quite a few young birds to be seen on the islands including the first Black-headed Gulls (hettemåke) with three young visible top left

this must be one of the larger BhG colonies left in the Oslo area

at Østensjøvannet which used to hold many hundreds if not thousands of pairs of nesting Black-headed Gulls I could only find 7 occupied nests today with five in this tree. The especially maintained islands that they used to use are now empty

this colour ringed BhG at Østensjøvannet received its bling at Bowness-on-Windermere in the UK in December 2019 and has subsequently been resighted there every winter and in Oslo in the summers

Eiders (ærfugl) have had young very early this year. Normally the adult males would have moved off but here they were displaying to the females

A Dunlin (myrsnipe) and Redshank (rødstilk) at Årnestangen in the same place where I found the dowitcher

and my first Temminck's Stint of the year also at Årnestangen

it is not easy being a breeding Ringed Plover (sandlo) in the Oslo area. This bird at Fornebu had chosen a fenced off area away from human disturbance and has hopefully been succesful. This picture was taken just a few days before the young should have hatched and a visit a week later revealed no birds at all which hopefully means they have led the young somewhere even safter

when on the islands a Ringed Plover flew up in front of me and I saw that it had flown up from a nest which contained 3 eggs

hopefully they will be successfull

in Maridalen there is now a third Lapwing nest. This is one of the pairs that lost their nest to the plough relaying. I still think that the other pair that seemed to lose their nest may actually have young in the long grass although I have yet to see them. A fourth pair is now hanging out at Kirkeby and will hopefully nest there

the Long-tailed Tit (stjertmeis) nest that I found had an adult in it on 8 May and I assumed it was incubating. However subsequent sightings mean she was most likely brooding..

as on 13 May the young were being fed by both parents at the opening to the nest. This must be very early

water levels at Svellet are rising by 10cm every day and the party is ending

this is how it looked on Tuesday 13 May when I last visited and as can be seen on the graph water levels have risen more than 20cm since then which probably means most of the mud is now under water

and the view to the south