Still surprising

I often have posts along the lines of The Dale delivers or The Dale surprises, well it keeps on doing both. Mid June should be a period of few surprises with all birds in breeding modus. Of course there can be some interesting breeding birds but I should have discovered these already by now.

Well over the last 3 days the Dale has given me Red-breasted Flycatcher (surprise), Honey Buzzard, Red-backed Shrike, Spotted Redshank (big surprise), Marsh Warbler, Three-toed Woodpecker, Common Rosefinch plus young Goshawks and Common Terns in seemingly three different ages classes plus loads more.

Red-breasted Flycatchers have bred the last two years so I had high hopes they would reappear this year but visits in May failed to reveal any and with very few having been recorded in Norway this spring I assumed that was that. But on Wednesday I felt sure that I could hear a distant singing RbF and as I excitedly walked closer it became clear that it was one. I then was very interested to see what the bird looked like – could it be the same old male from the last two years? No, was the answer, it was a 2cy male and therefore lacking the red. But this then raises questions. Did the pair whose nest fell down last year breed again unnoticed by us (not for lack of trying) or was this a completely new bird in which case the area has an amazing attraction for the species which otherwise is not recorded breeding annually in Norway. He was singing very actively in the 45 minutes I was with him but was not to be found again yesterday. At this late time of the spring an unmated male probably moves around a lot hoping desperately to find a female in time. The last time I was in the area was 4 June so the bird could also clearly also have been around for a while before I found it.

On Wednesday, I also first had a skydancing Honey Buzzard at some distance and then when I got to the area I had what was most likely another Honey Buzzard 20 minutes later and this one a female was dogfighting with a Peregrine!

I visited the Three-toed Woodpecker nest site just in case they were still nesting. The male was present and I followed him for over an hour during which he stayed within 100m of the nest including on a neighbouring tree but never visited the nest and there was no sign that the female was in the nest so I still believe nesting has failed but can’t be 100% sure.

Both male Red-backed Shrikes are still around and Marsh, Icterine and Wood Warblers singing. Common Rosefinches are present at one site where there is a pair and a male who is trying to get in on the action. Interestingly all three birds could be in the same area without there being any calling or singing but the paired male would actively chase off the other male only for him to return.

Yesterday on the lake three men from the Water Company (Maridalsvannet is the source of Oslo’s drinking water) were out on the main island. I only saw them when they were getting back on their boat so don’t know what they were doing or how long they had been there but the island was empty og birds and lots of gulls and geese were on the water plus also a pair of Black-throated Divers. It did not take long after the men had left for the gulls to return and one of the divers swam towards the island. I then suddenly noticed three waders washing themselves on the waters eddge. The distance was great but they were 2 Greenshank and 1 summer plumage Spotted Redshank! The only previous record of Spot Red here was also in June during rainy weather and these birds are most likely adult females that leave their breeding grounds after the eggs have hatched and leave childcare to the male. I rushed around to get close to the island but in the 15 minutes it took me the waders had continued on their way. I did see though that Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls were back on their nests and there were also at least 4 young LBBGs walking about so if the Water Company people had been trying to remove the birds for pollution reasons (which I understand they are allowed to do) then they hadn’t succeeded. I also saw that a Black-throated Diver was clearly on a nest which goes against my comment from last week that the divers ahd clearly given up nesting due to the high water levels. They have nested late before though and last year young were still being fed by their parents in September.

The final surprise yesterday was provided by Common Terns. This species is very irregular on the lake but yesterday I heard and then saw 4 birds. The surprise was not the number (which is a record) but the ages of the birds. Two looked like standard adults but one was seemingly a 2cy and the other was not quite adult and therefore I assume to be a 3cy. Non adult birds normally stay in the winter quarters so it is rare to see younger age classes in Norway.

Things are going well in both the Goshawk nests after both failed last year. In one nest there are 4 youngsters and in the other which is much higher up I saw one large youngster but there could well have been more.

Today I decided to spend some time watching the island with the breeding gulls and divers. I spent three and half hours there from 0925-1255 and can report that during that time the sitting diver did not leave the nest, none of the baby gulls were fed by their parents and that baby gulls are very good at hiding in grass. Oh, and you get a numb bum sitting on a rock for so long….

It looks like a female Red-breasted Flycatcher (dvergfluesnapper) but it sang so is therefore a 2cy male

female Honey Buzzard (vepsevåk) and Swift (tårnseiler)

with a 2cy Peregrine (vandrefalk). Here the HB looks very like a Common Buzzard (musvåk)

a male Blackcap (munk)

4 young in one of the Goshawk (hønsehauk) nests

a nest last used 3 years ago which now has grass growing out the top

the mother of the 4 young

and the other Goshawk nest where only one youngster was visible. Note how both the nests have fresh green branches placed on them

a Spotted Flycatcher (gråfluesnapper) on its eggs

male Three-toed Woodpeckers (tretåspett) and its seemingly abandoned nest hole

it is typical for this species to feed low down and also have a nest low down

Whooper Swans (sangsvane)

the 2cy Common Tern (makrellterne)

an adult Common Tern

same bird

and a bird which is possibly a 3cy due to a dark bill and black on the secondaries

female Goldeneye (kvinand) and young

female Mallard (stokkand) and young

male Lapwing (vipe) who clearly had a youngster nearby

and here letting me know my presence was unwanted

one of the Red-backed Shrikes (tornskate)

it is difficult to grow tired of Common Rosefinches (rosenfink)

a pair

and the female who is very non descript

I'm not quite sure whether this Sand Martin (sandsvale) has some sort of insect growing out of it or whether it is a tumor. I am also unsure whether it is missing its lower mandible or not

taken at 2km range this shows the Spotted Redshank (sotsnipe) flanked by two Greenshank (gluttsnipe)

Whitethroat (tornsanger) with food for young

and a male Yellowhammer (gulspurv) on the same errand

and here a newly fledged Yellowhammer

nesting Black-throated Divers (storlom) 

the nest is quite a way from the water but the horizontal line on the rock shows the (high) water level until recently. I waited 3 and a half hours to see this bird walk down to the water but it had more patience than me...

Herring Gulls (gråmåke) with 2 young

3 young Lesser Black-backed Gulls (sildemåke)

and a single youngster presumably just hatched as the adult was still sitting on other eggs

these 6 Lapwings (vipe) briefly landed on the island. It was unclear whether they were local birds or migrants but a concentration this early in the season suggests failed breeding

Oslo Red-breasted Flycatchers in 2018

I had a long post in December last year detailing the real life soap opera that Red-breasted Flycatchers entertained us with in 2017. 2018 was a bit less racy but there was still drama.

In 2017 we had record numbers of Red-breasted Flycatchers around Oslo including the second recorded successful breeding record. In the regular Sørkedalen locality we had two singing males but no sign of a female and in Maridalen we also had two males plus a female (who at various times was paired with both males) and 3 young that successfully fledged along with four young Pied Flycatchers that believed their dad was a Red-breast… I was therefore very excited to see what 2018 would bring. How many Red-breasted Flycatchers would return, and would there be some Pied Flycatchers that sang like a Red-breasted Flycatcher?

I have already alluded to the fact that Red-breasted Flycatchers did indeed return and last years old male returned to Maridalen on 8 May which made him the first bird recorded in Norway in 2018 and must be considered an early date regardless of year. The black spot in the left eye ring confirmed his identity.

He sang in vain for a long time and checks of Sørkedalen revealed no birds there so it looked like 2018 was going to be a shadow of 2017 but finally on 24 May a female turned up (she was definitely not around on 22 May based on the males behaviour but could have arrived 23 May when I did not visit). She was a very well marked bird (old?) with an orange wash on her throat which meant I initially thought she was a 2cy male. I was able to watch their courtship which included the male taking her to potential nest sites which she tested out. Things developed very quickly and the female soon disappeared and the male stopped singing all of which indicated she was on eggs but it was not until 5 June that I located the nest.

The nest was in exactly the same type of place as last year – at the base of a piece of bark that was falling off a tree. This looks such a precarious site but was successful last year and perhaps does suggest that it is the same female? I followed the nest as regularly as I could and it was lower than last years so easier to see but the female was so deep in the nest that all that could be seen was her tail or beak tip. It wasn’t until 15 June that the behaviour of the birds changed and it seemed clear that young must have hatched. I put the camera on the extended tripod and holding this over the nest was able to get a picture showing three just hatched young and three eggs!

With an assumed incubation time of 14 days then the last egg would have been laid on 1 June and with 6 eggs (and one egg laid per day) then the first egg would have been laid on 27 May. With the female arriving on 24 May (possibly 23^rd) then they must surely have started nest building already that day if they were to be able to lay eggs just 3 days later (BWP gives nest building as 3 days).

On 16 June both parents were coming regularly with food to the nest (although I did not try to find out how many young had finally hatched). A visit on 21 June revealed disaster though. The bark and nest had fallen down and were lying on the floor. This had probably happened a few days before and there were no remains of eggs shells or young. Why did this happen? We had some very strong winds that could have blown it down but a predator such as a Red Squirrel of Great Spotted Woodpecker could easily have caused this damage.

This was of course not the outcome we wanted but nest failure is part of the game and research in Poland showed that only 51% of clutches resulted in at least one fledged youngster and of the failures 82% were down to predation.

The male was heard singing in the area again on 22 June and then on 24 June I saw the pair engaged in courtship behaviour so a second breeding attempt seemed to be on the cards despite the late date but we had no more observations after 28 June so don’t know what happened.

Although I did not observe or hear any Pied Flycatchers that I suspected were the ones raised by the RB Fly last year there was a female Pied Fly that raised young alone (as far as I could see) and I did see the male Rb Fly around her nest box. I did not see any interaction between the two birds but he did react aggressively to a male Pied Fly in the area so he may have been up to his old tricks.

Some interesting papers on Red-breasted Flycatchers in Poland:

Breeding success and nest-site characteristics ofRed-breasted Flycatchers Ficedula parva in aprimeval forest

Polyterritoriality and the First Record of Polygyny in the Red-BreastedFlycatcher Ficedula parva in a Primeval Forest

Natural nest sites of the Red-breasted Flycatcher Ficedula parvain a primeval forest

the same old male as last year, individually identified by the black spot in the bottom of the right eyering

large caterpillars were definitely the prefered food

although smaller insects were also eaten

the nest site

the female. She was unusually well marked on her throat and upper breast which is presumably a sign of old age 

the male coming with a rather large larvae on 15 June the days the young hatched

male and female on the nest

the nest from above

three very newly hatched young and three eggs