Nightjar becoming «common» and some terns

Male Nightjar (nattravn)

The Nightjar pair I mentioned in my previous post were not to be seen at the same site again although I did have a pair nearby and believe they were moving around and prospecting for a nest site although it is rather late in the season now. Nightjars proved to be rather common in the area with at least 4 territories along a 1.5km stretch which is in start contrast to up until 5 years ago when I had none on my nocturnal trips from the cabin and it is only 2 years ago that I first recorded a bird along this particular stretch. This is a species which along with Great Grey Owl seems to directly benefit for the surge in forestry work this last decade or so.

I have engaged in some sea gazing whilst having my morning coffee and usually saw nothing but yesterday two Sandwich Terns went south - this will presumably now become a species I bump into «all» the time after having waited 24 years for my first in Norway - and today a Caspian Tern went north😊. Apart from these three quality terns I only had 3 Common Terns in total during the week so definitely a case of quality over quantity.

Sea gazing from the cabin is a very comfortable affair but the area of sea that can be viewed is very narrow however I am building up a good list of birds now with these two scarce terns adding to Pomarine Skua, White-billed Diver and Surf Scoter.

Butterflies have again taken up more time than birds although I have also read a book and gone for walks and spent time with my family☺️. After a couple of days with rain it was sunny on Wednesday and it was noticeable that new species were emerging for the first time with especially Ringlet (gullringvinge) appearing in the area for the first time this trip and being numerous overnight.

Sea gazing with coffee, OJ, The Beast and a minute before 2 Sandwich Terns (splitterne) which I did not manage any photos of.

The Caspian Tern (rovterne) did however allow itself to be recorded for prosperity

A Linnet (tornirisk) flying out of this conifer by the cabin had me suspecting a nest

And sure enough there was one. The parents were very secretive when visiting the nest although the male would be perched nearby singing when the female entered with food

Three Great Days

The last three days having been shockingly good!!

All you need is some rain and then the wind to change to southerly and boom.

Fridat started naturally in Maridalen where 19 Temminck’s are yet another record but stubbornly refuse to attract any other calidris to join them. On Thursday though I finally had Greenshank there and 4 Golden Plovers so this springs wader list is very respectable and on Saturday 4 Redshank also dropped in. A short visit to Østensjøvannet gave lots of feeding hirundines in the cold northerly wind which was nice to see after a couple of years where an insect absence has meant there has hardly been any there. House Martins were the scarcest and I am worried about this species. Black-headed Gulls continue to suffer and I could see just 2 nests still occupied. Highlight was a pair of Garganey found by Jack the day before and excitingly their behaviour suggested to me they will try to nest.

After this I announced to anyone who wanted to listen that I was off to Nordre Øyeren to find a Broad-billed Sandpiper and that turned out to be a good prediction😊. I stopped first at Merkja where the american Green-winged Teal is back and a good selection of waders included 18 Temminck’s (still beaten by Maridalen). Svellet again had absolutely no waders but it was Årnestangen where the excitment was. A Bar-headed Goose on the walk out was a tickable piece of category C plastic after the Norwegian records committee has recently «upgraded» it from pure plastic category E.

The real action was to be had at the end though where an initial sweep of the dry mud flats revealed nothing… but a second sweep showed a wader walking around the corner from an unviewable bit of shoreline. Eventually a few others joined and they turned out to be 4 species with a Broad-billed headlining, 11 Sanderling being a very high spring count and 2 each of Dunlin and Ringed Plover being more expected.

But that was only the beginning of the day! In the evening I was guiding to GG Owls. This allowed me to take in a Caspian Tern at Hamar and then the owls completely outdid themselves with the male bringing 3 voles in the course of just an hour which mum fed to three hungry chicks. Happy days!!

So, after such a long day I could be forgiven a little lie in yesterday morning on what had all the hallmarks of being THE day this spring with rain and strong southerly winds forecast. I decided to allow others the joy of walking out to Årnestangen and instead went first to Maridalen where 19 Temminck’s were still present and now even displaying and 3 Greenshank and 4 Redshank were new. I reckoned it was sea gazing that was the best option today and positioned myself at Halden Brygge, Fornebu from 10:30 where a kiosk provides great shelter when it blows from the south. A flock of 30 Oystercatcher heading north as I got out of the car was a promising sign and then a minute later the sight of a flock of 21 Kittiwake was a sure sign that birds were moving. This flock headed north over the city and then a bit later a new flock of 23 came from the south and eventually landed on the water. Red-throated Divers were moving high up with 141 in total and I grilled every tern I saw with all being local Common Terns until suddenly the closest tern of the day turned out to be a Sandwich. This was big - finally after 24 years by far my biggest bogey bird in Norway had fallen😊 and I even got photos. It was heading south and as I watched it a large flock of Brent Geese came into view heading north!! It was all a bit too much. These were pale-bellied birds which usually fly up the west coast of Norway on their way to Svalbard but occasionally take a wrong turn and head up the east coast. They were obviously very confused and eventually turned around and headed south again. After this there were some smaller flocks including one which did head north and I last saw it heading over Maridalen.

Today has been a wet day but I have of course been out. In Maridalen rising water levels and a night with no rain had caused all but 3 of the Temminck’s to move. The fjord didn’t seem to have any interesting birds with the wind having turned easterly and rain making visibility bad. So Nordre Øyeren beckoned. I chose not to walk out to Årnestangen after Svellet only had 8 Temmincks to offer but Merkja had the goods with 2 Mountain Marsh Runners having already been found and feeding alongside Dunlin and Temmincks with the Green-winged Teal also still present and showing well😊

Here are videos and pictures of everything bar the GGO which I will have to come back to.

finally - Sandwich Tern (splitterne)!! and I found it myself :-) 

sea gazing from Halden Brygge

confused Brent Geese (ringgås) over Oslo

here we see they are the Pale-bellied subspecies

I have not counted but reckon they are around 300

Kittiwakes (krykkje)

female Garganey (knekkand) giving unusually good views

male

Caspian Tern (rovterne)

these are probably my best views in Norway much better than the Svellet experience

Bar-headed Goose (stripegås) with Canada Geese and a Canada x Greylag hybrid

a Dunline (myrsnipe) and Broad-billed Sandpiper (fjellmyrløper) - trust me!

Sanderlings (sandløper)

Green-wnged Teal (amerikakrikkand) with normal Teal

quite a collection of birds at Merkja

a male Ruff (brushane) with 4 other wader species

Temminck's Stints 

the Broad-billed Sandpipers at Merkja were much close than at Årnestangen but I still failed to get good photos

2 Mountain Marsh Runners with a Temminck

Dunlin and Temmincks

Green-winged Teal

Mid summer Caspians

This spring and early summer has been very hot and very dry in southern Norway and there have recently been news reports that farmers already fear failed crops and bankruptcies. So a forecast of lots of rain yesterday was certainly greeted by farmers but also by myself and like-minded birders because as we all know rain in the summer can bring down lots of otherwise high flying migrating waders. Now mid-June is not exactly peak migration time and in fact there is a possibility that some birds are still migrating north (e.g Ringed Plovers) whilst others are definitely going south already (Curlew, Ruff and Spotted Redshank being obvious examples). Rain at this time of the year is perhaps most likely to result in an interesting tern though but either way Årnestangen and Svellet are the obvious choice of locality to visit. A walk out to Årnestangen on a humid summers day is not to be treated lightly. The plagues of mosquitos mean that one has to dress in long sleaves and trousers and spray liberally with mossy spray. This means that ones gets soaked (by sweat) even if it doesn’t rain (which of course you hope it does).

Yesterday I arrived at the end of Årnestangen before it rained and chalked up a singing Corncrake on the way (this species has become VERY scarce in the last couple of years). At the tip there were a few waders: Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers, Dunlin, a Ruff, Curlew, Snipe, Lapwing and Wood Sandpiper but no big numbers. Whilst I waited for the forecast rain to arrive I checked out a pair of breeding Yellow Wagtail which Erling H had suggested I do as the male looked very much like a Blue-headed. And indeed it was, for me it ticked all the boxes and could be safely called a flava: it had a bluey grey head, a very bold white supercilium and a very obvious white subocular patch. The female appeared to be a thunbergi based on having dark smudges on her breast although females are not straightforward. A mixed subspecies pair would explain the many intermediate birds that are seen in lowland, southern Norway.

When the rain finally came the only new waders that turned up were a handful of Curlew and Greenshank and after half an hour I decided to head back to the car. As I walked along the river I noticed to “gulls” flying towards me but as they got closer I realised they were terns and terns that large could of course only be Caspians. I had to get my camera out of the bag but managed to record this auspicious moment but sending out a message in the rain with wet fingers and a wet phone proved to be a task nearly beyond my abilities. In the evening the terns were found resting at then tip and a Red-necked Phalarope was a quality wader find.

My eBird checklist is here.

In Maridalen the last brood of Lapwings numbers three tiny young and on the same field a large youngster is already flapping his wings and flying a few metres. Fingers crossed that there are still other young hiding away and that these that decide to show themselves make it to fledging.

I have finally found the nest of one of the Wryneck pairs and they are using the same nest as two years ago but which was used, and walled up, by Nuthatches last year. The young have hatched and the parents are busy bringing ants and larve and removing shit bags.

Caspian Tern (rovterne)

the 2nd bird

both birds

male Blue-headed (Yellow) Wagtail (sørlig gulerle)

wet adult Wryneck (vendehals)

food going in

shit coming out

this Sand Martin (sandsvale) in Maridalen was close to where single pairs have previously bred in holes in a wall and perhaps they are doing so again (otherwise this species seems to have disapeared as a breeding bird in Oslo)

3 tiny Lapwings (vipe) just 2 days old

and a much larger youngster probably around 3 weeks old

Easing into (the) autumn (of my life)

Since posting last time I have been keeping tabs on my late breeders and the young have now left the nest but have not wandered far and will still be reliant on their parents for another 3 weeks or so.

I have been spending quite a time gazing skywards in Maridalen and have noted a number of Sparrowhawks and regular Ospreys with a couple of sightings each of Kestrel and Hobby but I have only seen 1 Common Buzzard and no Honey Buzzards confirming my suspicion that these species have had a bad year locally.

The odd migrant wader has dropped in with Greenshank, Redshank and Wood Sandpiper noted and of the breeding species the odd Common and Green Sandpiper is still around and a group of 3 young Little Ringed Plovers looked a bit lost after their parent have left them (I wonder how many broods these 3 are from).

A singing Quail was a real surprise but as usual I did not get to see although it was very close as can be heard on this mobile phone video.

A twitching trip to Svellet yesterday when I turned 50 (entering the autumn of my life?) gave me Caspian Tern (which I saw in flight and fishing) and Black-tailed Godwit.

There are extremely few butterflies around but I have managed to see Silver-washed Fritillary and got good views of one of my local Purple Hairstreaks.

Caspian Tern (rovterne) - my third bird in Norway and all of them have been at Svellet. This is the first one though that I have seen in flight

it caught a fish which it seemed to swallow in flight

a montage of 4 shots of it landing

female Purple Hairstreak (eikestjertvinge)

my first Silver-washed Fritillary (keiserkåpe) of the year. I would normally have seen many by now

female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (dvergspett) in Maridalen

female Scarce Copper (oransjegullvinge)

and a male

Brimstone (sitronsommerfugl)

3 young Little Ringed Plovers (dverglo)

young Sparrowhawk (spurvehauk)

Whinchats (buskskvett)

Wood Sandpiper (grønnstilk)