Snow Buntings

The last two days have been promising in Maridalen: the first flocks of Pink-footed Geese have migrated north and on the fields I finally caught up with Snow Buntings (others have been seeing them for a few days) as well as having my first Linnet and Reed Bunting of the year. Chaffinches are now all over the place, 3 Lapwings are back and with temperatures reaching double figures in the afternoon spring feels like it has sprung.

Last night I took Conor owling and we heard Pygmy Owl, Tawny Owl and Tengmalm’s Owl although activity was very low which surprised me as conditions had seemed perfect although it did cloud over which may have been the nail in the coffin.

male Snow Bunting (snøspurv)

the same male in the front and a presumed female behind

Goldfinch (stillits)

my first Lizard of the year

Two Buzzards (musvåk) in Maridalen

A flock of Pink-footed Geese (kortnebbgjess) heading north with 6 Barnacle Geese amongst them. These are probably proper will Barnacles on their way to Svalbard and it has become more common over the last few years to see Barnacles amongst the Pink-feet although the normal migration of Svalbard Barnacles is much later.

3 of the Barnacles

and a close up of one of the Barnacles with 3 Pink-feet

a caterpillar of Ruby Tiger Moth (rustvingespinner). The species overwinters as a caterpillar and they emerge early in the spring and then look for a suitable place to pupate

Unexpected July birds

Yesterday saw fairly good weather and a walk with Beast in Maridalen revealed a few odonata with the first Darters of the year now on the wing. Butterflies though were limited to many whites in active flight over a crop field with the only one I saw well enough to identify being a Green-veined (rapssommerfugl). A nettlebed was alive with Small Tortoiseshell caterpillars though.

On the lake a family of Black-throated Divers with two small young suggests a new and late nesting attempt as there was no suggestion that the initial attempts by either pair had been succesful with changing water levels being the likely culprit. Six adult Red-throated Divers were made of a group of 4 vocal birds who were I assume failed or non-breeding birds whereas two others including one in flight looked more like birds finding food to take to young on a distant pond in the forest.

A scolding Marsh Warbler indicated young nearby and a male Red-backed Shrike had at least one begging youngster in tow.

One doesn’t need to take lunch into the field at the moment with enormous quantities of wild raspberries and mushrooms although blueberries are scarce around Oslo this year.

Today the rain took me to Nordre Øyeren and Årnestangen. There is now also some mud in Svellet and this also held good numbers of waders. In total I had 19 species of wader with three new species compared to Sunday (Spotted Redshank, Oystercatcher and Lapwing with just Golden Plover absent today).  Totals of interesting species were 27 Grey Plover, 12 Barwits, 6 Knot, 4 Ruff, 5 Curlew Sands, 5 Sanderling, 119 Dunlin (all adults still) and 2 Spotted Redshanks.

An afternoon trip to Ikea where I spent more time queuing to get in (50 minutes) than inside allowed me to check the fjord at Fornebu on the way home. A summer plumaged Guillemot and a Pink-footed Goose were most unexpected.

Pink-footed Goose (kortnebbgås), Barnacle Geese (hvitkinngås) and Greylag Geese (grågås)

adult summer plumaged Guillemot (lomvi) which is not expected offshore Oslo in July

Nutcracker (nøtekråke) in Maridalen yesterday. This bird had mu on its bill and had probably been burying hazel nuts

and a juvenile Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)

Small Tortoiseshell (neslesommerfugl) caterpillars

the forest's gold

A distinct improvement

I braved Fornebu again today this time in sunny conditions and was rewarded by a nice selection of scarce birds. I don’t think any new birds had arrived and indeed most of the Yellow Wagtails had moved on but the warm weather and increased insect activity just made the birds more visible as they fed out in the open.

Pretty much the first bird I saw was a Wryneck which was sunning itself in the dead bush normally favoured by a Red-backed Shrike and later in the morning the Wryneck had been substituted and a shrike was in the same place. Tw of my all-time favourite birds in the same bush means the birding day has been a success. In the same small area were 3 Redstarts, 4 Spotted Flycatchers and 4 species of warblers so it felt very good and spurred me to check the rest of Fornebu with high hopes only to find out that the small area held nearly all the birds there were to find!

On the water in Storøykilen I saw the Little Grebe that has been present for a week or so and in the reeds I heard the Water Rails calling so tried to see them. I settled down in a good place and waited. I had two birds (possibly three) calling very close by but only managed to see one bird. It was actually quite close but the encounter was so brief that I just managed a blurred photo.

A short stop in Maridalen gave me just a single raptor but it was a new one for the autumn namely a Kestrel.

 

Wryneck (vendehals) with a curious Willow Warbler (løvsanger)

Wryneck

Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)

same shrike

Reed Warbler (rørsanger). note long primary projection and weak supercilium compared to the Blyth's Reed from Maridalen

my first migrant Chiffchaff (gransanger) of the autumn. Note the short primary projection compared with the Willow Warblers I have photo'ed recently. This bird also pumped its tail a lot which is a good Chiffchaff character and first drew my attention to it

a blurred Water Rail (vannrikse)

Wheatear (steinskvett)

very distant Little Grebe (dvergdykker)

Three Greenshanks (gluttsnipe)

yet another caterpillar of Bedstraw Hawk Moth (hyles gallii) (mauresvermer). Note the ant hitching a lift

My first Kestrel of the autumn in Maridalen with three Swallows mobbing it

a load of bull in Storøykilen

 

Where are the Willow Warblers?

I managed short trips to Maridalen and Fornebu today in overcast conditions and really noticed how few Willow Warblers there are. At this time of the year this species should be in every bush but I could not have had more than 10 during the whole day. I have been hoping that the low numbers are due to breeding being delayed due to the late spring but now I fear that breeding success has just been catastrophically low and there are very few young birds around. I also had no Bluethroats today which I had hoped to find although it is still early days for this species.

Not all insect eating species seem to have had a bad season though. Swifts (tårnseiler) and Swallows (låvsevale) seem to be abundant as are White Wagtails. Red-backed Shrikes also, and surprisingly, seem to have had a good season and in addition to the 3 young birds still in Maridalen I had three youngsters at Fornebu. Two Redstarts and a Pied Flycatcher were unusual autumn migrants to find at Fornebu and maybe these species have also had a god year.

In Maridalen I glimpsed a Honey Buzzard and heard a Redshank which is an unusual autumn record here.

one of the Red-backed Shrikes (tornskate) at Fornebu

 

 

 

Redstart (rødstjert) at Fornebu

 

can you see the 3 wader species in this shot from Storøykilen, Fornebu?

 

Lesser Whitethroat (møller) and Whitethroat (tornsanger) from Fornebu

 


this newly fledged Blackbird (svarttrost) was still being fed by mum. It is quite a late date but the mum had a very easy job collecting food. They were sat in a berry tree and she just collected berries and dropped them in juniors open mouth

I'm not sure which species this caterpillar will grow up to be but is I assume a moth rather than butterfly. A google search of "caterpillar red spike tail" suggests it is a Bedstraw Hawk Moth (hyles gallii) (mauresvermer)