A mild day here in Malvik and I’ve just heard my earliest singing woodpigeon ever, 19 days earlier than the previous record from 2021. 30 years ago this was an unusual overwintering bird here but nowadays quite common. I even heard one singing at the botanical garden (Ringve) in Trondheim at the end of January….
The picture is from another occasion. There’s only one patch of old snow at the moment.
Category Archives: Birds
Goldfinches on the Veranda
Success!! The local flock of overwintering goldfinches (stillits) have found the food I’ve grown on the veranda! I grow burdock (borre) as a root vegetable in a large bucket on the veranda, which attracts a wide range of other organisms, both pollinating insects and other insects that are dependent on Arctium species, insectivorous birds feeding on aforementioned insects in summer and, the highlight, the beautiful goldfinch whose main food is the seed of burdocks in winter here. They could have taken sunflower seeds instead, but they still prefer wild “organic” food to the industrialised supermarket alternative! Goldfinches have even started breeding in small numbers in this area.
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Bullfinch feeding on Guelder Rose
Bullfinches (dompap) feed on a wide range of natural foods in winter from the seeds of berries like rowan to maple and nettle seeds and shoots and buds of many different trees and bushes. However, this was the first time I’ve recorded them on guelder rose (korsved) berries, Viburnum opulus. They eat the seeds, discarding the flesh. I’ve only seen waxwings (sidensvans) on these berries before.
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Goldfinch on snow-covered burdock
Goldfinches are experts at neither getting burrs attached to them nor a face full of snow when feeding as here on burdock (borre) in the garden (filmed from the living room). The burdock were deliberately grown here so that I could see these mainly winter visitors feeding from the comfort of the living room!
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Siskin visit
The first time a siskin (grønnsisik) decided to pay me a visit, found yesterday inside the house (a young bird)! 
Silent Spring / Den Tause Våren
Rachel Carsons Den tause våren er her i Malvik, iallefall på jordene rundt Malvik sentrum og Vikhammer, men jeg har ikke kunne lese noe om dette i avisene. For meg som følge tett med naturen og særlig fuglene våre er det dramatisk! For første gang siden jeg flyttet til Malvik i 1981 (43 år) er et av de vakreste sangene HELT BORTE fra lydbildet. Det dreier seg om storspoven, en stor fjære- og dyrkamark tilknyttet fugleart (se videoen helt nederst for å forstå hva som er borte):
Dette er en fugl jeg gleder meg til å høre hver vår når den dukker opp vanligvis i første uke i april og ofte hver dag frem til begynnelsen av juli hører jeg den nede i Malvikbukta eller trekkende over huset mot Vikhammer. Den etterhvert eneste par i Malvik kommunen har letet etter mat både på dyrkamark og i fjæra, nedenfor huset mitt i Malvikbukta og på Vikhammer. I år var ankomsten rekord tidlig og jeg hørte sangen allerede 29. mars, men det er blitt helt stille siden, noe som gir meg stor natursorg. Hva som er årsaken til dette vet jeg ikke sikkert, men nedbygging av dyrkamark på Vikhammer, økt ferdsel i fjæra der og motorveiutbyggingen ved Leistad jordene der det mistenkes at fuglene har hekket i en årrekke har sikkert alle bidratt. Jeg har vært urolig for at dette kunne skje i flere år. Vi mistet en annen fugl tilknyttet dyrkamark for ca 8 år siden – vipe, en art som er nå regnet som kritisk truet i Norge . Ifjor 8. august oppdaget jeg noe merkelig i at en ung storspove satt på et hustak nedenfor huset mitt i Malvik sentrum mens foreldrene letet etter mat på mudderflatene nedenfor (video)! Forhåpentligvis blir ikke dette den siste storspove-unger i Malvik….
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Jeg savner stort lyden av storspove og vipe! Jeg savner også sangen av låvesvalen over hagen min, en art som nå er helt bort som hekkefugl fra Malvik til Hundhamaran siden det ikke lenger er hekkeplasser å oppdrive for arten, stæren har også blitt en sjeldenhet og gulspurv er kommet på rødlista som sårbar. Nedbygging av dyrkamark på Vikhammer kan også truer det største overnattingsted for kaiene (en liten kråkefugl) slik jeg har skrevet om tidligere. Fellesnevnen for alle disse artene er at de er tilknyttet dyrkamark og er avhengig av vår hjelp!
KONKLUSJONEN: DEN TAUSE VÅREN HAR ALLEREDE KOMMET TIL MALVIK…
Til slutt en liten minne av storspove sang tatt fra huset mitt i Malvik like før soloppgang 20. april 2020 der man kan høre en rekke andre fuglearter i hagen like før soloppgang! Jeg håper at politikerene i Malvik gjør alt mulig for at dette er noe fremtidig generasjoner også vil kunne glede seg til!
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Sleepless night counting geese flocks
Not much sleep last night as the year’s biggest migration of pinkfooted geese this year (kortnebbgås) went on from 2230 to 0400! Counting flocks of geese doesn’t put you to sleep, it has the opposite effect and I’m not complaining…altogether 30 flocks passed over in this time (will have missed a few as I dosed off occasionally) with somewhere between 3000 and 6000 birds passing eastwards along the fjord before heading north to their pit stop on agricultural land just north of here!
The bright light isn’t my moth trap, it’s the one owned by the workers electrifying the railway :)
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First Chaffinch
With relatively warm weather continuing, it was nice to hear an early chaffinch (bokfink) in full song this morning in the garden. You can also hear an unusual breeder, coal tit (svartmeis) and one of several great tit (kjøttmeis) pairs defending territories at the moment in the garden; the coal tit is singing (higher pitch) from the top of one of the spruce trees.
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Balcony fieldfare
1 or 2 fieldfares (gråtrost) normally overwinter in the garden and this winter has been no exception. They appear in autumn attracted to the cultivated and wild fruit. Fallen apples then become most important as the winter progresses. When the first deep snow arrives, I help them by putting out a few apples that makes it easier for them. The birds are very territorial, defending their cache of apples quite aggressively against other fieldfares. I put out apples in two parts of the garden which has lead to two birds overwintering. They are quite shy and have good vision, so only slight movement in windows puts them up. I’ve gradually moved the apples closer to the house and yesterday I put some apples on my balcony only a couple of metres from where I work….to my surprise, it wasn’t long before a bird found them and I made this video today!
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Whooper Swans in Malvikbukta
Every couple of years, whooper swans (sangsvane) stop in the bay, usually just for a few hours, once for a couple of weeks in march/april 2010. I see them most frequently flying over, moving between their main overwintering locations around the Trondheimsfjord (see the map showing observations of over 100 birds).
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