Losing the edge

 The last few days have seen a couple of very good birds in my beloved Maridalen neither of which I saw and given I was nearby when both were seen (and photographed) has made me wonder whether I am losing it – to use Top Gun terminology I may be holding on too tight and have lost the edge.

First I Golden Eagle was seen flying very low over some fields and then a Hawk Owl was looking from food atop a dead tree – how difficult is it to not notice birds like that 😉

What I have been noticing though is the Pine Grosbeaks which have kept me very much amused even if the Beast does not think it is so much fun being dragged to see them and then being expected to stand still whilst I takes photos. And a LOT of photos were taken. Great birds, sun and red berries kept the shutter finger hot although none of the pictures were exactly what I hoped for.

it was something like this with falling snow that I was hoping would make for a great image

in front of the Norwegian flag

resting in the top of a Pine. I have also seen them eating buds from pine trees

here eating buds in a birch tree

and 20 birds in a rowan tree

Blackbird (svarttrost)

the view looking south from the Grosbeaks

Fieldfare (gråtrost)

I have also been on a local twitch. Nothing super scarce but it was something different to do. This Red-necked Grebe (gråstrupedykker) was the first I have seen this year which is a result of much less travelling and most importantly no time spent at the cabin in Bodø. Amazingly though I have also not seen Slavonian Grebe this year which is also a result of far fewer local records

Holiday snaps

Some more pics from the north. Birds first

Red-necked Grebes (gråstrupedykker)

Long-tailed Skua (fjelljo). This bird was in the mountains but I don't think was breeding (or had failed)

Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin)

female Brambling (bjørkefink)

juvenile Brambling just out of the nest

Dunnock (jernspurv)

Willow Warbler (løvsanger) with food for young

Common Sandpipers (strandsnipe)

Holiday videos

Here are a couple of videos from the north featuring Great Northern Diver(islom), Red-necked Grebe (gråstrupedykker), Velvet Scoter (sjøorre) and Scaup (bergand). The backlog is reduced slightly.

First post from the cabin

The drive up from Oslo to Bodø with stops in Røros and Grong gave few birds other than the Red-necked Phalaropes and Slav Grebes that I have already shown. One reason for this though was that I “sacrificed” (for the sake of family harmony) two of my usual bird stops for a new butterfly stop in Junkerdalen. This valley on the northern edge of Saltfjellet is renowned for its flora and fauna but for unknown reasons I have never visited before. A bit of research though had shown the possibility for a number of rare northern butterfly species and with it being sunny with little wind I thought the omens were good. Unfortunately, there were few butterflies and the ones that allowed themselves to be identified were common as.

I have already had two early morning trips to the bird rich bays at Fauske but have yet to locate Knobby. There are good numbers of birds and it is interesting to see how species and locations vary from year to year – for example I have not had any Long-tailed Ducks this year and at Klungset the seaducks are much closer to land this year but at Røvika much further out. Best birds so far have been two summer plumaged Great Northern Divers (the first time I have seen them here), 9 summer plumaged Red-necked Grebes, Scaup and male King Eider but of course I am still hoping to find something much rarer amongst the over 1000 moulting seaduck (mostly males Velvet Scoter and Common Eider) in the area. Perhaps rarest bird I have found was a Yellow Wagtail that looks to be of the Blue-headed type (subspecies flava) but these things are never easy and this far north it may well be something from much further east.

Butterflies continue to interest me and I have seen my first Purple edged Copper (purpurgullvinge) and Mountain Argus (sankthansblåvinge). Also by looking at every single Blue in the area I have found Mazarine, Idas and Cranberry flying together. Orchids are very plentiful and very variable around the cabin but I still find them extremely challenging. I'l show the butterflies and maybe orchids in a separate post

Velvet Scoter (sjøorre), Common Scoter (svartand) and Scaup (bergand)

Great Northern Divers (islom) 

Red-necked Grebes (gråstrupedykker)

Velvet Scoters and a single female Common Scoter. Velvet Scoters are over 90% male whereas amogst the much smaller numbers of Common Scoter it is females that are in the majority 

a single male Common is amongst this flock of Velvets

2 male and a female Scaup

Red-throated Diver (smålom)

male Bluethroat (blåstrupe)

and a female

adult Curlew (storspove) with a worm

and one of 3 youngsters it was guarding over

male Yellow Wagtail (gulerle) of the scandinavian race thunbergi 

and a female thunbergi

an early juvenile Yellow Wagtail

and what appears to be a male Blue-headed Wagtail (flava)