Oslo 28.07-02.08.2024 - At last som birding

On 28 July we spent the afternoon looking for mushrooms in the forests close to Oslo, suffice it to say there were a lot more mushrooms than birds. The woods were almost birdless with just a few Common Crossbill grankorsnebb, a Willow Tit granmeis, a few Wren gjerdesmett, small numbers of Siskin grønnsisik and a few of the usual tits.

However, all was not lost. Downtown Oslo produced flocks of Swifts tårnseiler which increased from around 20 when I arrived to over 40 by the time I left. Wonderful to see these urban birds swirling around in the skies close to the city centre in numbers bigger than I will ever see out in Øygarden.

I took the first boat out to Gressholm on 30 July and was absolutely not disappointed. This was the first morning out birding for way too long so there was not much chance of  disappointment. One of the first birds was a Bar-tailed Godwit lappspove which was closely followed by an Osprey fiskeørn. Just under 40 species in a couple of hours in Oslo in late July meant that this counted as a resounding success.

Barnacle Goose hvitkinngås - a "fake" goose Oslo where they are a common breeder

Bar-tailed Godwit lappspove - one of few waders present and probably bird of the day

At least one Osprey fiskeørn put in an appearance - the first I have seen on Gressholmen

Lots of White Wags linerle about

Rixy appears to have developed quite an unhealthy relationship with this island but to me she is just a back-up island and not the only one, not even the main one:) But any island is better than no island - especially in Oslo.

Colour ringed gulls in Oslo rarely give any interesting results for me and today was no exception. A Common Gull fiskemåke on Gressholm has only ever been seen in Oslo. Where it goes in the winter would be interesting though!

Colour ringed Common Gull fiskemåke

Previous sightings of this bird

 

Engerdal 08-15 June 2021 - Catching up in the east

An all too short week in one of my favourite places, Unfortunately this was home office not holiday so pretty frustrating to say the least.

We arrived late Friday and I did my usual round on the Saturday morning. A cracking morning but nothing much to write home about. Nestng Ospreys fiskeørn, a small flock of Velvet Scoter sjøorre, a Herring Gull gråmåke, a pair of Cranes trane, a Green Sandpiper skogsnipe, Willow Grouse lirype and Woodcock rugde were among the almost 50 species noted.

Black-headed Gull hettemåke at Vurrusjøen

Common Gull fiskemåke at Galtsjøen

Cranes trane

Male Wigeon brunnakke

On Sunday 09 June I headed higher up. Breeding Great Grey Shrike varsler, Crane trane and the usual selection of tringa waders were among the species seen. Excellent views of four male and one female Black Grouse orrfugl and a pair of Willow Grouse lirype were other highlights. The drive up along the gravel track produced Mistle Thrush duetrost and Kesrel tårnfalk among other things.

Black-throated Diver storlom

Willow Grouse lirype

Wood Sandpiper grønnstilk

After this it was back to walk. An afternoon walk at Heggeriset on 10 June produced a fishing Osprey fiskeørn, an occupied nest of Great Spotted Woodpeckers flaggspett and a family party of Common Crossbill grankorsnebb with recently fledged young. 

Common Crossbills grankorsnebb

Osprey fiskeørn

 The following day all I managed was a very quick afternoon hike up to Kvitvola. Very few birds about at all but a pair of Ptarmigan fjellrype saved the day and a Kestrel tårnfalk put in an appearance.

Ptarmigan fjellrype (female above and male below)

On 12 June I was up bright and early for a pre-work trip to Svarthammaren. Here too it was rather too quiet with few birds to be seen, a couple of pairs of Golden Plover heilo, a couple of Whimbrel småspove, a Ring Ousel ringtrost, a lone Cuckoo gjøk and a couple of Wheatear steinskvett were almost all there was to be seen. Picked up Common Redstart rødstjert on the drive up. Really didn't want to go home, would have much preferred to keep going to Blakksjøen and beyond.....

On Friday 14 June I drove up to Sorken after work. Mostly just the usual suspects here including a Common Tern makrellterne.

On our last I did a morning tour covering a number of my usual localities. This proved quite productive with at least four Osprey fiskørn seen simultaneously at one location, two new pairs of Crane trane and a pair of breeding Slavonian Grebes horndykker were the highlights.

Slavonian Grebe horndykker

Galtssjøen held Goosander laksand, seven each of Velvet Scoter sjøorre and Common Scoter svartand, three Long-tailed Duck havelle singing Icterine Warbler gulsanger and plenty more. Although it was nice to see these seaduck inland these should really have been somewhere higher up on their breeding grounds instead of lower down. Failed breeders or frozen lakes higher up - either way not really a good sign.

Garden Warblers hagesanger, Tree Pipit trepiplerke and Common Redstart rødstjert were among the species singing at Isterfossen but not much in the way of waterfowl other than a couple of Black-throated Diver storlom.

At Drevsjø a Red-throated Diver smålom on the lake flew off after a short time - no doubt breeding close by and using the lake for feeding. Five Arctic Tern rødnebbterne also fed here.

The rest of the day was spent on the road. A stop in Hamar produced a singing Common Rosefinch rosenfink at Ridabu whilst Akersvika was rather quiet.

xx

Øygarden 13-19.04.2024 - Raptor lunch break

On Saturday 13 April I did a quick round at Herdlevær before heading home to change over to summer tyres and get the garden ready for the season.

Herdlevær was fairly quiet but migrants included a Brambling bjørkefink, a pair of Teal krikkand and a few White Wagtails linerle. Encouragingly both Curlew storspove and Snipe enkeltbekkasin were displaying.

Lesser Black-backed Gull sildemåke at Herdlevær

White Wagtail linerle at Herdlevær

On the way home two Goldfinch stillits at Kollsnes and a Chiff-chaff gransanger singing at Sture.

The next day I did a few hours at Skogsøy. It was a relatively quite day migration wise with few of the usual movers. Decent numbers of Shags toppskarv heading south (ca 300), a small movement of Kittiwakes krykkje, a Black Guillemot teist, a lone Great Northern Diver islom, small numbers of Red-throated Divers smålom, an unidentified pale phase skua heading north and a dark phase Arctic Skua tyvjo attacking Kittiwakes were seen.

I spent a lot of time looking at other stuff and therefore probably missed a bit of the passage. Two all dark corvids headed out to sea before turning and coming back. Distant views in the scope showed one of these to be a Rook kornkråke and the other may have been a Carrion Crow svartkråke although I could not be certain. Chiff-chaff gransanger and Wheatear steinskvett also now present here too:)

Female Stonechat svartstrupe

On the way home I picked up the now resident Stonechats svartstrupe. My first Lesser Redpoll brunsisik of the year at Tjeldstø and during the tyre change back home Twite bergirisk, a couple of Siskin grønnsisik and more flew over. In the evening another Guillemot lomvi turned up on the sea at Nautnes.

Guillemot lomvi at Nautnes

On Monday 15.04 a Goshawk hønsehauk flew over during a session with my chainsaw and a pair of Goldfinch stillits visited my garden again. The next day was spent entirely in front of the computer.

Goldfinch stillits have been regular in the garden recently - a species rapidly colonising Øygarden.

The weather on 17.04 was just lovely and I spent my lunch break at Tjeldstø. Initially I was happy just to be away from the computer and to see some Teal krikkand, watch a pair of Wheatear steinskvett and see my first Swallow låvesvale of the year. However, scanning with my scope picked up first one, then two Goshawk hønsehauk and a Sparrowhawk spurvehauk. These were quickly followed by an Osprey fiskeørn which I followed for some time before losing it. Frantically searching the skies to re-find it I picked up a Golden Eagle kongeørn drifting south - always a good bird out here at the coast. Finally and more mundanely the far commoner White-tailed Eagles havørn showed up. On my way home I heard the first Willow Warber løvsanger of the year:)

Curlew storspove at Dåvøy

Herom gråhegre at Dåvøy

Twite bergirisk at Tjeldstø

On Thursday 18.04 I took the morning off work and headed to Hernar for the second time this year. Although nothing remarkable was seen it was a very nice morning out with plenty of activity and over 40 species recorded. Small numbers of Twite bergisik and Linnet tornirisk had returned. Singles of Goldfinch stillits and Brambling bjørkefink, a couple of Siskin grønnsisik, a few Chiff-chaff gransanger, Skylark sanglerke and good numbers of Wheatear steinskvett.

I had three Otters in front of my house and a couple more whilst waiting for the boat to Hernar:)

Linnet tornirisk

Meadow Pipit heipiplerke

Raven ravn

Twite bergirisk - showing the importance of "weeds" early in the season

Otter too close to photograph:)

Typical eating of smaller prey

This made me regret not having my "real" camera with me. Could have been a pretty good image:)

Skogsøy 08 May 2022 - A very different seawatch

Another day predictably spent seawatching at Skogsøy, much lighter winds and altogether more pleasant to sit there.

Quite a bit passed further out and the make up of the species was rather different - more variety and rarely a dull moment - over 1220 birds were logged. A Manx Shearwater havlire was the best bird and the first for the county this year. The Whimbrel småspove passage was close to record breaking with 192 birds seen on the move.

The totals for an 8 hour seawatching marathon which flew by in great company were:

Red throated Diver smålom N 349

Great Northern Diver islom S 1 2cy

White Billed Diver gulnebblom N 7 (all adult as usual)

Manx Shearwater havlire N 1

Northern Gannet havsule N 75, S 12 (more today despite less wind!)

Great Cormorant storskarv N 20, S 5

Eurasian Shag toppskarv N 23, S 70

Greylag Goose grågås N 1

Teal krikkand N 1

Tufted Duck toppand N 12

Eider ærfugl N 3, S 14

Long tailed duck havelle N 28

Common Scoter svartand N 99, S 21

Velvet Scoter sjøorre N 14

RB Merganser siland N 9, S 4

Oystercatcher tjeld N 128, S 6

Whimbrel småspove N 192 (just shy of the record 218!)

Turnstone steinvender N 1

Arctic Skua tyvjo N 1 pale phase

Black headed Gull hettemåke S 2

Common Gull fiskemåke N 78

Great black backed Gull svartbak N 6

Black-legged Kittiwake krykkje S 9

Arctic Tern rødnebbterne N 3

Razorbill alke N 17

Atlantic Puffin lunde N 3 

A few LBBG sildemåke feeding in the area

Oystercatcher tjeld catching the first rays of the morning sun

Oystercatcher tjeld

Red-throated Diver smålom passed in good numbers again, although further out on average today

The rare two-headed form of Tufted Duck toppand was also noted

Obviously intent on obtaining better views of some migrating Velvet Sctoer sjøorre

A mega day for Whimbrel småspove migration!

On the way home a surprise find was an Osprey fiskeørn heading north over Tjeldstø. Result!!

Osprey fiskørn heading north over Tjeldstø