A change

We’ve finally had a positive (for birders) change in the weather but it really hasn’t been enough to make the difference we all hope for. Yesterday evening there were a few local showers (but they were a lot less than had initially been forecast) and today was cloudy (but the winds were northerly). It is important to remain optimistic though and remember that you have to be in it to win it.

Svellet continues to receive daily visits and today tringas were in triple digits for the first time (220 Wood Sandpipers and 110 Greenshank) although if that was due the change in weather or just the passing of time is open for discussion. The water level is now almost too low and the mud flats risk getting bone dry such that when water levels do rise that they will be covering lifeless mud and therefore be of little use for waders. Ideally we will see daily increases of a couple of centimetres over the next two weeks but what we risk is little change until suddenly around the middle of the month levels are risen by 25cm a day.

Twelve Ruff today included only 4 males but they were lekking a little bit and one of them was a very striking white bird which I would have loved to see at a place where photos were possible.. Yesterday also saw the first Little Gull and Yellow Wagtails of the year so we can now look forward to Black Tern and Citrine Wagtail (as I said it is important to be optimistic).

Maridalen has not hit the same highs offered by the Pochard which was a one day wonder but a little twitch was required today to see a Shore Lark. Only the fourth ever record and in exactly the same spot as the previous three records which have occurred in the time period 26 April to 4 May it is clear when and where to look if you want to find one in Oslo which does make it a little galling that I had indeed looked at the exact same field only 2 hours prior with the said species in mind and had failed to spot it.

Shore Lark (fjelllerke) in the Dale. Only the fourth record following those in 2013,2016 and 2021. There are surprisingly few records of migrating birds in southern Norway but when they are on a field like this (and there are MANY of them) then they are not easy to find.

an slightly aberrant female White Wagtail (linerle). There is an excess of black on the throat and breast and grey instead of white cheeks but I cannot make it into another rarer subspecies. It looked to be paired up and in breeding modus

The mountains - Valdres

We have had another long weekend and with good weather forecast on Saturday I decided to head to the mountains on Friday evening. Normally I would have had a boyz weekend in the mountains around this time but circumstances have conspired to mean that wouldn’t happen this year so I rather spur of the moment packed a sleeping bag in the car and headed off on my own. In the end I was out for 27 hours and had 2 hours of sleep, 30 minutes of which was a rather necessary power nap on the way home…

I surprised myself with how much energy I had although on the way home I was counting down the kilometres.

After 3 and a half hours driving I started the birding at my Great Snipe lek. After a blank last year I was hoping that was just a bit of bad luck but there were no birds again this year and I now reckon the lek has been abandoned. Why is more difficult to answer. It is close to a path and a ski lift but has always been so and I cannot see any changes in the immediate area that would affect the birds. The Beitostølen area has seen lots and lots of building of cabins but the lek is above the cabins, perhaps though the nesting females have always used areas that are now being developed and the general area is no longer attractive for them. Alternatively the species itself is suffering a significant decline due to factors in winter and passage areas and this has causes some leks to disappear as the birds concentrate in core areas. These are my maximum counts at the lek since I discovered it in 2012 and the downward trend is obvious:

the (former) lek site

 There were very few birds around the lek otherwise and the vegetation was still very brown. There was little snow and only lakes above 1300m had ice but I think this is from a warm period 2-3 weeks ago but since then it has been cold and windy so vegetation has not yet started developing.

I drove a long stretch of road during the night with frequent stops hoping to find Great Snipe other places but did not succeed. There was a lot of other life though. Between midnight and 1am I was surprised by how much activity there was from other waders and grouse and also a Short-eared Owl that perched in my headlights.

I had my hour and half sleep in the car and awoke at 3:30am to lots of noise. All manner of birds were singing and displaying and over the next 6 hours I feasted my eyes on Dotterels, Temminck’s Stints, Shore Larks, Lapland and Snow Buntings, Bluethroats, Long-tailed Ducks, Scaup, Common and Velvet Scoters and more. It is clearly not a rodent year in this area and aswell as no Long-tailed Skuas I just had a single Rough-legged Buzzard, another Short-eared Owl, 2 Kestrels, a Golden Eagle and a White-tailed Eagle.

 

After this as the sun warmed things up I concentrated on butterflies  and I took a slight detour to visit a site of the rare Large Grizzled Skipped (alvesmyger). I did at the time think I had found them but my pictures show I saw, or at least the ones I managed to photograph, were ordinary Grizzled Skippers which I didn’t realise occurred there. Their large cousins do fly later and the end of June is the time most people see them so I will have to try again later… I did have another good species but none were new for me so I am a bit disappointed but will I hope have a butterfly post soon.

Dotterel (boltit)

it was only displaying females that I saw but they were very active

Golden Eagle (kongeørn) and a mountain

I heard quite a few (although not lots of) Bluethroats (blåstrupe) but saw none at close range

I only had Lapland Buntings (lappspurv) at one site but 5! males were singing and song flighting within 100m of each other

a Ptarmigan (fjellrype) at 11pm

male Shore Lark (fjellerke)

and his mate

one of the two Short-eared Owls (jordugle) I saw

Snow Buntings (snøspurv) were unusually numerous this year

male

female

03:39 at my hotel

my now favoured raptor watch point was a bit disappointing this year with just 4 birds of 4 species: Golden Eagle, White-tailed Eagle, Rough-legged Buzzard and Kestrel

Beitotsølen wrap up

The second half of the week in Beitostølen added a few new birds with a 2cy male Hen Harrier and Siberian Jays the highlights. I had another sighting of a Long-tailed Skua and 9 Rough-legged Buzzards one day with 7 in one sweep of the horizon. They were all hunting and I saw 2 take small rodents so it looks like rodent numbers may be on the way up.

 

Back in Oslo dog walks resulted in nice views of Purple and White-letter Hairstreaks with the later nectaring on a thistle which is the first time I have seen this.

this male Lapland Bunting (lappspurv) was singing in exactly the same place as the beginning of June and was probably unpaired

a Long-tailed Skua (fjelljo) showing off its amazing tail

a Meadow Pipit (heipiplerke) which clearly had young nearby

a Scarce Copper (oransjegullvinge) - note the tiny rip in the wing.

Roughlegged Buzzard (fjellvåk)

and another one

a 2cy male Hen Harrier (myrhauk) in exactly the same place I saw a male Pallid Harrier in  July 2017

Shore Lark (fjellerke)

Slavonian Grebe (horndykker) pair with 3 young. This is the first registered breeding in the Beitostølen area although I have long expected to find them on this lake

a female Teal (krikkand) with 4 young

The Beast is now a learner driver

fresh snow fell over about 1700m one morning

a Purple Hairstreak (eikestjertvinge) on an elm

as it was on an elm I first thought it would be a White-letter but I don't think they ever rest with their wings open which Purple's do frequently

and a White-lettered Hairstreak (almestjertvinge) on a thistle

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