Mid April and expectations are rising

It is the middle of April and the next six weeks are the most exciting of the year (in the Oslo area at least). In addition to many new birds for the year there are also new birding sites to reacquaint myself with and I have now competed my first walk to the end of Årnestangen for the year as well as my first grilling of the mighty Svellet.

Conditions today at Svellet were magical and I have a small but growing hope that this will be one of those Svellet springs that are entered into the history books, or at least get remembered on this blog. Today the water level (3.61m) was perfect and there were enormous areas of shallow water and wet mud. 2000 Teal and 234 Curlew were both good counts and the quality came in the form of a male Garganey, a Bar-tailed Godwit plus two very early Ruff and a Redshank. The weather over the coming weeks will be key to whether conditions remain perfect and we need just enough rain such that the mud doesn’t dry up but not too much rain (or sun that causes lots of melt water to flow down the river) such that water levels do not rise too quickly. I hope every birder in Oslo and Akershus is praying to the Birds Gods.

Svellet from the eastern side. Even though I describe conditions as perfect the distances are very long and a scope is essential and even then not always enough to identify all the birds out there

and some of the Teal (krikkand) and also the Garganey (knekkand). As I said they are a long way away

Årnestangen has also delivered with another very early wader in the form of a Whimbrel, an early Swallow and a good selection of raptors including a Red Kite which flew low over my head without me seeing it but that I then caught up with in the scope at about 6km range…

Taiga Bean Goose and Greylags at Årnestangen today. This is a relatively late bird as were the 4 Tundra Beans I saw yesterday

the bird was close to the Geylags in size and had a long slender neck and long thin bill with thin lower mandible.

I had a very enjoyable and successful morning guiding Barbara from Canada on Monday and we saw 60 species including Jack Snipe, Black and Red-throated Divers, Lesser Spotted and Black Woodpeckers. And if you don’t believe my description then read Barbara’s 😊

one of three Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) at Fornebu. This bird has been regularly feeding in the open and to me looks very much like a Broad-billed Sandpiper...

and a more expected shot of a Jack

and a Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin)

male Kestrel (tårnfalk) in Maridalen

and a Mistle Thrush (duetrost) in The Dale

Little Ringed Plover (dverglo) are back at Fornebu and will hopefully breed again this year

and Ringed Plovers (sandlo) are also back at last years nest site although they have less and less space available to them

Stock Dove (skogdue)

An attempt at a seawatch

It has been commented that I moan about the weather nearly as much as I write about birds and that is no doubt correct and to prove it – the weather is just wrong at the moment! +12C night and day, southerly winds, overcast and drizzle and not a good, out of season bird to show for it…I’m hoping for Pallid Swift, Hoopoe, Desert Wheatear or at the absolute minimum a Firecrest…

I’m not sure if out of desperation or a real expectation that there would be something good but I found myself sea gazing at Krokstrand yesterday. The site of many a good seawatch a decade or more ago it now serves as a reminder of how autumn weather patterns and arrivals of seabirds have changed. For the nostalgia value it was good to be there and remember previous visits with skuas of all 4 species, Brunnich’s Guillemot, Sabines Gull, Grey Phalarope and all the more expected but still for these parts unusual stuff. Yesterday wasn’t a disaster and there were birds and not just sea to gaze at but it was not a day that will be remembered in a week’s time let alone a decade’s time. Three Kittiwakes were the best of the bunch and there were double digit numbers of Guillemots along with three each of Razorbill and Little Auk but I could just as easily have seen the auks in Oslo.

A nocturnal visit into Maridalen with the thermal imager revealed unsurprisingly that Woodcock are still around with 4 seen along a short stretch. Slightly more unusual was a single Common Snipe and two Fieldfares that were seemingly roosting on the ground in a stubble field. Nearby at least 20 Magpies were roosting together in some isolated bushes. A Tawny Owl called but I picked up no other owls hunting over the stubble fields despite there seeming to be increasing numbers of mice.

Krokstrand looking south towards more open sea

and looking north towards Oslo and the end of the fjord

Woodcock (rugde) taken just with the aid of my head torch

and here using the camera's inbuilt flash. Note how far up the mud goes on the birds long beak showing quite how deep it has been probing for worms

a Fieldfare (gråtrost) one of two which I believe were roosting on the ground rather than nocturnal feeding

and a Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin)

an unusually easy to observe Little Grebe (dvergdykker) on the park lake at Valle Hovin. In Norway it is unusual to see one so well

Little new but still quality around Oslo

Birding around Oslo continues in a very predictable manner. I did have a small flock of Wood Pigeons seemingly migrating north but they may also have been some of the small number of wintering birds just moving between sites. Otherwise it has been same old, same old with Jack Snipe, Scaup, Kingfisher, King Eider, Hawk and Pygmy Owl and the occasional Shag that have been receiving my attention, as they have most of the year.

we haven't had much sun recently so it was pleasing to be able to see the Hawk Owl enjoying it 

Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin) is always more in the open and feeding when I find them unlike the Jack Snipes which are hidden amongst reeds

Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin). 

These videos show how the birds slowly relaxes after I disappear from view and also how quickly it reacts when I reappear

a Shag (toppskarv) at Bygdøy together with a couple of Cormorants (storskarv)

a Blue Tit (blåmeis)

a man, his dog and a Hawk Owl

distant Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)

Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin) on a very cold morning but it had found some open water

Snipes

I have been drawn back again and again to the Jack Snipe at Fornebu and by using the thermal imager they have been easy to find and there are not just two but three birds and also a Common Snipe which is a far rarer mid-winter bird in these parts than its tiny cousin. Interestingly the Jack Snipe are always on floating reeds rather than muddy edges but they may well use other more open areas at night.

I managed to find the King Eider again at 2+km range and Hawkie remains in the Dale. A Greylag Goose at Fornebu was an early spring migrant and the first bird that I can apply that label to so far in 2025.

Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) in the open. It must have been feeding here and froze when it saw me

can you see two birds?

close up of detail with flash on

and a Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin)

only my second sighting of Waxwings (sidensvans) in 2025. 

Hawkie in the Dale

the King Eider (praktærfugl) is a bugger to document at >2km range but is at least identifiable in the video

Shag (toppskarv) and Cormorant (storskarv)

A surprise sighting of a daytime, mid winter Beaver in Maridalen. This stream had been frozen until just a few days ago and the Beaver was presumably using the opportunity to get some fresh food.