Targeted tick

This post will cover yesterday which was a day when I did not see Hawk Owl and even though I did see Pine Grosbeak I contained myself and didn’t take any pictures. Going cold turkey was easier than I imagined 😅.

 I did however add another species to #Oslo2024 taking me to 207(205). It was a targeted trip to Huk that resulted in Long-tailed Duck with a few recent sightings on the fjord making me feel I had a good chance of seeing one. I did in fact see 4 with a distant flock flying past which I believe were in Oslo air space. Also here were 2 Rock Pipits which showed surprisingly well for this species.

In Maridalen even though the Hawk Owl evaded me I did see a Pygmy Owl which amazingly enough is rarer this autumn.

Rock Pipits (skjærpiplerke) Huk, Bygdøy

an all too fleeting sighting of a Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)

1 of 2 Mistle Thrushes (duetrost)

an absolute beast of a Goshawk (hønsehauk)

Rock Pipit means I survive the big lump

I headed today for Huk, Bygdøy with the hope of finding a Long-tailed Duck to be my #Oslo2024 species number 202 and therefore mean post redpoll lump that I would still be >=200 species. There was no Lt Duck and not even any scoter so is clearly still a bit early for these hardy ducks to have been forced off their mountain breeding grounds. But the Bird Gods were feeling generous today and a pipit calling from one of the skerries turned out to be a Rock Pipit 🥳🍾😅

I must admit to having forgotten about this species which should definitely be on the cards in October but always good to have a surprise.

With 202 species now there are 12 species reported on eBird or ArtsObservasjoner that I have not seen. Of these I still have a more than 50:50 chance only of seeing Capercaillie so if I am to add many more species then they need to be ones not yet seen in Oslo this year. I still reckon the following species could show up: Long-tailed Duck, Pine Grosbeak, Hawk Owl, Mediterranean Gull, Glaucous Gull and Iceland Gull.

You can deduce then that I have given up on both Yb Warbler and Tengmalm’s Owl but after finding my first Pygmy Owl of the autumn yesterday in Maridalen I had to have one more unsuccessful attempt for Tengmalm’s in the evening. But that really has to be the last.

Trips out of Oslo to Nordre Øyeren and Fornebu have not been particularly productive.

Rock Pipit (skjærpiplerke) my species 202 in Oslo this year and one I had forgotten about. This is not a species I see annually in Oslo but late autumn and early spring are prime times to find one

the result of seeing Rock Pipit. In 2019 I added another 8 species between today and the end of the year although cannot see that happening in 2024

a Shag (toppskarv) alongside a Cormorant (storskarv) and Herring Gulls (gråmåke)

yesterday's Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)

I'm sure you know what you are supposed to find in this picture

this is what you have hopefully found - Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin)

close up of the mantle feathers

Great Grey Shrike (varsler) in Maridalen today. Lack of a wing bar and an all black bill should make this an adult male and definitely a different bird to the one from 3 weeks ago

this bird was at Nordre Øyeren yesterday and is a 1st winter

Nordre Øyeren had little in the way of water birds so I photographed passerines instead. Here a Goldcrest (fuglekonge)

and a Lesser Redpoll (brunsisik) which as of today's date is counted as a species in eBird but will disappear in the big redpoll lump before the end of the year

Marsh Tit (lovmeis) - a species that remains a rarity in Oslo despite occuring just over the county line and one I am missing in Oslo this year but which has been reported

a Twite (bergirisk)

Only 3 to go!

My dream of seeing 200 species in #Oslo2024 has taken a major step towards being reality over the last four days and I am now just three species away with four months to go. Starting on Friday afternoon we have had strong southerly winds with gusts of up to 25m/s and this is what you hope for if you want to add seabirds to your Oslo list. A message on Friday evening of a Fulmar was just the excuse I needed to take the scenic route back from dropping Jr Jr off at a friend. I had an hour at Huk before it got dark and although I did not see the Fulmar I did experience some impressive waves and two adult Little Gulls which were species #195.

During the weekend it remained windy but nothing exceptional but this morning gusts of over 20m/s were again forecast so I headed for Huk again. There were white tops to the waves and although there were not lots of birds it was definitely a case of being in it to win it with time put in being rewarded – it was also warm and dry which is unusual when seawatching. A Kittiwake was a good bird although not new for the year but a Fulmar was and became #196. Eventually I saw 2 Fulmars and 3 Kittiwakes. A young Arctic Tern showed really well and some waders headed south low over the waves with a Golden Plover being a very decent Oslo bird but two Sanderling were Oslo gold with in addition to being #197 were also a full fat Oslo tick for me and my species #253 in #Osloever. Amazingly enough it also looks to be the first ever record in Oslo and the 296^th species recorded in the capital city!! So a pretty good session! It could have been even better if I had seen the Ruff that was reported just 9 minutes after I left but that would have just been greedy.

 

With only three species left to reach #200 I will need luck, good friends and to put in the hours. There are a lot of likely species though including Ruff, Long-tailed Duck, Jack Snipe, Water Rail, Capercaille, Tengmalm’s Owl, Mediterranean Gull, one or more of Glaucous, Iceland, Caspian or Yellow-legged Gulls and then hopefully an invasion species like Pine Grosbeak or Hawk Owl. Maybe I should be going for 210 😊

my first view of a Fulmar (havhest) was at surprisingly close range although flying away from me

it did do some proper shearwater like flying

here it is seemingly flyinh over an unidentified birder who was watching from Rolfstangen on the Fornebu side of the fjord

a 1cy Kittiwake (krykkje) with the offices of Equinor at Fornebu as a backdrop

a 1cy Arctic Tern (rødnebbterne) that came ridiculously close

it was also windy in Maridalen but there were some raptors on show. This male Honey Buzzard (vepsevåk) is of the same plumage type as the breeding male I am following but has no missing feathers showing him to be a different bird

a very funky Common Buzzard (musvåk) of the type that gets mistaken for Rough-legged Buzzard (fjellvåk)

the view from today's chosen spot at Huk which gave shelter from the wind

To hang em or not to hang em?

 

Do you see anything hanging on that hook?

No?

That’s because today delivered big time 😊

 

Today really did feel like a make or break day for (my) Oslo bird year. If the forecast southerly winds, cloud and showers did not deliver on 9^th May then there would be no chance of this spring having a big day especially as the forecast for the next 10 days just looks to be sun. I had been thinking of playing away and seawatching at Brentetangen followed by Kurefjorden and then Dotterel searching but in the end decided, with Jack, to keep it local and stare at the fjord at Huk from sunrise. I have only done this once before but the efforts of Per Buertange a decade or so ago proved that there was potential in it. We got there at 0450 to see that there was a fairly low, and heavy, cloud base and a decent southerly wind blowing into our faces. Now we just had to sit down, keep warm and wait to find out what the bird gods had in store for us.

the view at 05:27

For the first hour or so I was thinking that I would be hanging my bins on that hook as apart from a large flock of Common Scoter resting on the sea and a Bar-tailed Godwit (Oslo #157) that had been roosting on the rocks when we arrived there was really no sign of any movement. But then things did move. First Jack picked up a skua and a dark phase Arctic (Oslo #158) passed at relatively close range. Then we heard a Greenshank calling above us and in our attempts to find it (there were 13 of them) we saw a large flock of Red-throated Divers (60) and then over the course of the next couple of hours we had a numbers of other flocks and ended up totalling 323 birds which absolutely blasts away any previous counts from south eastern Norway. We also had migrating flocks of Whimbrel which totalled 53, a huge flock of 200 Golden Plover which flew north before turning around, 70 Velvet Scoters, 3 Guillemots and an Arctic Tern (Oslo #159). Rarest though was a flyover Red-throated Pipit (Oslo #160) which we identified on call although our views did confirm it was a pipit.. and a Great Northern Diver (Oslo #161) which is an Oslo tick tick for me, #251.

One disappointing and really strange feature of the morning was the complete lack of passerine migration with not a single Yellow Wag or Wheatear for example.

 

We packed our bags after 5 hours and then headed to Maridalen. Here it was raining and with the low cloud expectations were not low but there was little to see although a singing Icterine Warbler (Oslo #162) and Hobby (Oslo #163) heading north were notable and new for the year.

There were 30 or so Swallows feeding over the lake so we thought Østensjøvannet could be a good call for hirundines and maybe terns or Little Gulls. There were a few Swallows and House Martins but 3 Swifts (Oslo #164) were the best we could conjure up.

So I had 8 Oslo year ticks today and I am now approaching the number of species I feel are guaranteed so if I am to have a record year I need a rush of scarce and rare birds.

Arctic Skua (tyvjo) heading towards us with Common Terns (makrellterne) behind

as close as it got and despite the gloom these are I think my best pics of the species close to Oslo

60 odd Red-throated Divers (smålom) @06.59

and part of an even larger flock @08.56. The flocks were flying high and didn't seem to be sure of where to go

some of the 400+ Common Scoter (svartand) that were offshore

and ca.200 Golden Plover (heilo) that first flew north and then turned and went back south

there were good numbers of Common Terns (makrellterne) and amongst them at least this one Arctic (rødnebbterne)

some of the 70 Velvet Scoter (sjøorre) we saw

a couple of the 53 Whimbrel (småspove) we saw stopped for a rest and here this one looks tiny next to a Great Black-backed Gull (svartbak)

an early singing Icterine Warbler (gulsanger) in Maridalen

and the first Hobby (lerkefalk) of the year