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Nature photography by Frode Falkenberg

Kingfisher breeding in Norway

30/5/2016

Comments

 
The Common Kingfisher is a rare breeding species in Norway with about 20 records since the first in 1962. All are from southeastern Norway. The discovery of a pair copulating in suitable habitat in Sandvika near Oslo during late April, turned out to be the first confirmed breeding record for ages in Norway.
Picture
I visited Oslo last weekend, and took my bins for a walk on Saturday morning. Shortly after arrival the male showed well, briefly sitting on a branch near the nest. During the next 90 minutes both the male and female were out fishing, returning with small items in the bill. The first chicks had apparently hatched during the last days.
The size of the food items the male brought back to the nest were pretty small. Indication of recently hatched chicks?
Picture
The slow floating river proved to be perfect for a Kingfisher, with branches covering the shallow riverbed. The nest was placed below the closest trees.
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White-winged Tern in Trondheim

16/5/2016

Comments

 
Following some days of warm weather from the southeast several rare birds showed up in Norway during mid May. One of them was a White-winged Tern near Trondheim in middle Norway. A few days after the discovery I was visiting my family in Trondheim to celebrate Constitution Day on 17 May. Slightly surprising the tern stayed for several days, and I was lucky to see it twice during my stay. These pictures were shot in the afternoon 15 May.
212A1165
The bird was mostly feeding in the salt (brackish) waters along the shore, but did also go terrestrial from time to time, when it fed on the recently sown fields inside the shoreline.
Identification of adult summer White-winged Tern is pretty straightforward. The underwing pattern, with contrasting black underwing coverts and greyish white primaries, is probably the most obvious way to separate it from the slightly similar Black Tern. The contrast between the blackish back and bright grey wing is also missing in the generally duller Black Tern.
White-winged Black Terns are rare in Norway with about 65 records. Most birds have been found in May and June, and during the late summer.
Picture
Gaulosen river delta. The White-winged Tern favorite patch was at the shore in front. The area was very good at the moment with hundreds of Redshanks (236 birds in one feeding flock!), lots of Greenshanks and several Green Sandpipers, Whimbrels and Gadwalls to mention a few.
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    Storymaps

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    August 2024: Tracking Norwegian Black-tailed Godwits (NO) 
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    July 2023: Black-tailed Godwit fieldwork in Northern Norway (NO) 
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    June 2023: Great Snipe fieldwork at Hardangervidda, Southern Norway (NO)
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    November 2018: ​Fieldwork in three IBA's in Nepal (EN)

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