An Easter not to remember

I have often written that Easter is my favourite time of the year for birding in Maridalen and indeed it still is even if that doesn’t necessarily mean it is always as productive. The timing of Easter of course varies from year to year and a late Easter will always be better so this year’s relatively early Easter which has coincided with lots of fresh snow has unsurprisingly not been one for the birding memory books. I have been out early every morning but there have hardly been any new birds of signs of viz mig.

The absolute highlight on that score being three Red-throated Divers flying in high up and then circling the lake calling before landing and displaying on the lake. This is one of the earliest ever records in the Dale but in most years the lake would still be frozen until at least the middle of April so the conditions aren’t normally conducive to any water birds this early. In addition RtDs have only recently established themselves as local breeders so we didn’t previously have birds using Maridalsvannet for more than a day or two whilst on migration (and birds heading further inland will not come through for a few weeks) whereas now they are an expected sight through the whole breeding season.

Tomorrow’s weather forecast does actually look quite promising so I may have written this downbeat post a day too early.

In the absence of any interesting bird photos I will chart the changing weather conditions.

me scoping the lake on Wednesday 1st April when it was till sunny

lots of snow at 8am on Friday 3rd

the fields at Kirkeby on 4th April at 07:18

and the fields at Nedre Vaggestein also on the 4th which unsurprisingly held hardly any birds

Kirkeby again on the 4th but now at 0852 when at least the sun had come out but stil no birds

and Kirkeby at 0822 today the 5th. Not a pleasant morning

and looking over the lake from Nes at 0829. There may have been lots of grounded waterfowl out there but the fog meant their presence or not will remain one of earths great unanswered questions

 

And a video of a drumming Lesser Spotted Woodpecker from before I went to England. A pair is now well established and with luck I will find their nest hole.

Ice is coming

We have now had a few nights of frost and with very little wind and daytime temperatures also staying cold I visited Østensjøvannet expecting it to be mostly covered in ice. In fact the lake was ice free with just some ice on the edges although the wrongly named Wader Pond (just Pond would suffice) was frozen. I was a bit surprised that the first bird I saw was a Scaup as the bird I found on 3 Nov has not been reported since the 8^th. This bird looked to be a 1cy male (a grey feather on the back and hint of green on the head) whereas the previous bird whilst being a 1cy had nothing in its plumage to suggest it was a male but upon looking at pictures I believe it is the same bird but that just come further in its post juvenile moult over the course of a week.

I had been hoping for ice as I hoped this would have concentrated what ever birds were left (and also any new arrivals) but that should come some time next week as temperatures are still forecast to get colder. This will hopefully also push out some snipe which I was unable to find today.

 

Yesterday I enjoyed close views of Red-throated Diver and a feeding Eider at Fornebu. The diver was showing unusually well and was in the same area on Sunday. Rather than being ill I think it is exploiting a food source. The Eider had caught a crab and I was able to watch it remove the legs by holding one leg at a time and shaking the crab until the leg was detached and the body fell into the water. This was done with each leg until there was just the body left which was swallowed after some careful manoeuvring to allow it to slide down. It impressive to think of the stomach acids it must have that will allow it process the crab.

the female Eider (ærfugl) preparing a crab for lunch

the video shows it removing the remaining legs and then eventually swallowing the body

a confiding 1st winter juvenile/1st winter Red-throated Diver (smålom)

a Razorbill (alke) getting ready to dive

and the RtD with a Guillemot (lomvi) when the diver looks surprisingly small

a young Scaup (bergand). The dark green colours coming through on the head plus a grey feather on the mantle show it to be a male

And a video of the Treecreeper in Maridalen that likes searching for food on/in spruce cones

and a comparison of the Maridalen Marsh Tit (løvmeis) and a Willow Tit (granmeis) in sunlight. Notice how the Marsh Tit seems to have a very pale wing panel... a feature that is commonly said to mean Willow

Tromsø

I am currently in Tromsø where I am helping Jr settle into her new life as a student at the university here. Tromsø is a great town (to call it a city is rather overdoing it though and who ever came up with the description «Paris of the north» should take some time out from describing things) and we are currently enjoying very warm temperatures although in just a few months it will be all snow, darkness, hopefully northern lights and unavoidably thousands of foreign, mostly asian, tourists seeking these «exotic» delights.

Now though this town which boasts the most northern football team, and now also McDonalds, in the whole, wide, world is full of nervous students about to start a new life, apprehensive parents, and yesterday the whole circus that accompanies professional cycling when the last stage of the Arctic Race of Norway was held here and myself and Jr managed to photobomb the winner interview, it was my birthday afterall🥳

I have only allowed myself a little birding and am only using the bus to get around but there is a lot of potential up here. Prestvannet, a small lake 10 minutes bus journey from downtown is a fantastic place with many breeding, and noisy, Red-throated Divers, a good variety of ducks, a few waders including Spot Red when I was there (and apparently lekking Ruff in May) and both Common and Arctic Terns. Tromsø is on an island and the surrounding fjord obviously has potential. By the airport there are some mudflats and here I had a good collection of waders including (distant) Red-necked Phalarope, Little Stint and Ruff. Turnstone also breed in the area and I look forward to seeing them next spring. There were hundreds of seaducks too far out for my bins to ID so I may have to bring my scope on future visits as there must be the chance for some interesting species.

Downtown is full of breeding gulls with Kittiwakes nesting on window ledges, signs and more recently especially built «hotels» which allows incredibly close contact with these birds and their nests. Common and Herring Gulls are also common urban breeders and I have never seen such a concentration and variety of urban breeding gulls before.

Prestvannet

A Spotted Redshank (sotsnipe)

Red-throated Diver (smålom) with a surprisingly small young. Others were nearly fully grown

This Common Gull (fiskemåke) was ringed here as an adult in August 2018. In Feb 2022 it was in Hull, UK

This bird was ringed here as an adult in August 2010 and has been seen regularly but only in Tromsø

Langnes near the airport where I searched for waders

A young Ruff (brushane)

An Arctic Tern (rødnebbterne) that clearly had young nearby as it was very unhappy with my presence

A Sedge Warbler (sivsanger)

My first Little Stints (dvergsnipe) of the year

Adult and juvenile Redshank (rødstilk)

Oystercatchers (tjeld)

Whilst many young Common Gulls were already fledged this youngster still has a number of weeks before independence

This Meadow Pipit (heipiplerke) was still feeding young

The Kittiwake (krykkje) hotel

I haven’t yet managed to find out any information about this ringing scheme. It doesn’t cease to amaze me that colour ringing schemes can be so hard to work out - surely you only colour ringing schemes can because you want to get reports of observations

The Arctic Race of Norway

Stonechat in the Dale

Stonechat was for a long, long time my Norwegian bogey bird. I even saw three Siberian Stonechats before seeing my first normal one in 2018. Since then though they have been like buses and I have even seen two in Maridalen (both found by Halvard). On Thursday I made that three and pleasingly found it myself. This was also my third! in Oslo this year so was not an addition to #oslo2024. I would willingly swap two of the chats for a single YbW which is a species I have probably seen close close to 100 times more of in Norway (although only the once in Oslo).

Yesterday saw Jack and I giving the islands some real effort but had nothing eastern for our troubles. Late Swallows and Greenshank, an early Purple Sand and a flyby Kingfisher were the highlights alongside the now expected Shag.

A visit out east on Wednesday gave me my first Rough-legged Buzzard of the autumn and four different Great Grey Shrikes but once again I drew a blank on harriers.

Stonechat (svartstrupe) in Oslo

Rough-legged Buzzard (fjellvåk)

juvenile and adult White-tailed Eagle (havørn). The juvenile was stil begging for food

with an even larger bird

Two Common Buzzards (musvåk). The paler bird of the type that are often mistaken for Rough-legs

Kestrel (tårnfalk)

Purple Sandpiper (fjæreplytt). This is actually the earliest ever autumn/winter record in Oslo

the head of a Red-throated Diver (smålom)

Shag (toppskarv) with Cormorants (storskarv)