Valdres cabin weekend installment 3

This covers passerines excluding Siberian Jay and Cuckoo (if they count as passerines?)

There are not many passerines at altitude but Norway’s two commonest breeding species – Meadow Pipit and Willow Warbler are pretty much ubiquitous and Bluethroats, Wheatears and Yellow Wagtails are also pretty widespread. Shore Lark and Snow Bunting can be found high up and slightly lower down Lapland Bunting but we only had three birds this year and this species is in serious trouble in southern Norway.

male Bluethroat (blåstrupe) right outside the cabin

male Lapland Bunting (lappspurv)

they perform quite long display flights

Shore Lark (fjellerke)

the american name Horned Lark is very descriptive

male Snow Bunting (snøspurv)

female (Grey-headed) Yellow Wagtail (gulerle/såerle)

this Pied Flycatcher (svarthvit fluesnapper) was singing by a nestbox at the cabin in an area with few trees and bushes

Redstart (rødstjert) are fairly common in the mountain birch forest

this male Ring Ouzel (ringtrost) clearly already had young to feed which seems like a very early date

this singing 2cy male Common Rosefinch (rosenfink) at 940moh was definitely unexpected

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)

Beitostølen summer 2023 Birds

The last week was spent as is tradition in Beitostølen. This year we had the company of Sr1 and Sr2 over from Blighty and it was definitely birding lite on my part although I did use a bit of time on butterflies when the weather allowed (which will be the subject of my next post).

It was 5 weeks since I was on Valdresflya with Conor and the hot June had caused all the snow to melt. It was still a late melt though and there were few birds to find with especially passerines such as Meadow Pipit and Wheatear as good as absent from the higher areas. One bird that was absent on our visit in June was Dotterel but I found an incubating male this time right by a path. In fact it was him would found me as he was suddenly, and silently, at my feet doing a distraction display. After walking on he quickly returned to his nest. I wanted to show him to the Seniors but could not find him when I returned (I had expected him to make himself known again) but Sr1 outdid himself by locating him on the nest and he did not once move whilst we watched him. I assume when there is more than one predator close to the nest that sitting tight and hoping the camouflage works is a better tactic than trying the distraction display.

Otherwise we had close encounters with Long-tailed Ducks which were taking insects off the water alongside Tufted Ducks and Teal.

The only raptors (or owls) of the whole week were singles of Kestrel and Merlin. The Merlin was clearly breeding and as a bird specialist it will be far less affected by the lack of rodents that causes the absence of other raptors.

Pied Flycatchers seemed to be very numerous with fledged young seen and a pair was feeding young in a box by our cabin and allowed me to witness the behaviour that I had hoped to watch in the garden this year. The male would feed within 20m of the nest box and found endless quantities of insects and his presence probably was the reason we could sit outside without being bothered by mosquitoes.

I paid just a quick visit to the Great Snipe lek to assure myself it was still in use (which it was) but did not take any pictures.

male Dotterel (boltit)

spot him?

male Long-tailed Duck (havelle)

female

female Merlin (dvergfalk)

male Pied Flycatcher (svarthvit fluesnapper) with a mouthful of food

with a moth

and a male Redstart (rødstjert) with a caterpillar that it was taking to a fledged youngster

we were used to the Pied Flys giving alarm calls whenever Magpies (skjære) were around but one morning it was the Magpies that were alarm calling and the reason was an Adder!