Owls, Owls, Owls!

On Sunday night myself, Jack and Jr had planned a new trip to Owl Road but the forecast kept getting colder and colder and in the end I decided it would just be too cold to be out trying to get photos and film which was my main aim. The forecast later in the week was for warmer, but still minus temperatures so we decided to plan on going another day.

As things transpired Jr Jr needed to be picked up from a friend later in the evening from a place which was about a quarter of the way to owl road so I, spur of the moment, decided to go owling on my own. And that turned out to be a good decision despite nearly getting frostbite in my fingers.

It was dead still, with not a breath of wind and cloudless although the moon wasn’t up. Temperatures were about -16C which isn’t that cold but holding on to metal objects without gloves does soon lead to great pain. I also find I don’t function that well in the cold and dark when I am trying to operate a camera which requires me to have my glasses on when viewing the screen, no gloves to operate the screen, pointing a headtorch in the right direction whilst also looking at the camera, having to switch to and operate manual focus at times, and also having to hold me breath as I was producing so much cloudy “breath” that the light of the head torch would just reflect back off it. I did manage to take a lot of film and pictures though with surprisingly few ending being immediately placed in the trash. Unfortunately I discovered fewer videos on my phone and camera than I thought I had taken so clearly had my usual problem of not pressing the record button when I thought I had.

I managed to see Tengmalm’s Owl well this time and eventually get some footage  of two males although my initial attempts were fruitless and I was close to giving up. I also heard and recorded a male giving a call very similar to Tawny Owl which I have heard only once before. A presumed female also gave a “tsjuck” call whilst a male was singing.

This was only the starter though. There had been very little traffic along the road and I had not seen any other owlers until quarter past nine when a car pulled up next to me as I was trying to film a Tengmalm’s. After working out who we were (not easy in the dark and with hats on) I was informed that there were Great Grey Owls also to be heard that night… And it turned out not just heard but also, it turned out a half hour later, to be seen 😊

 

I consumed that main course slowly and with great delight but had to wait until Monday morning for dessert which was Hawkie selling its wares again in the Dale.

 

Owls, Owls, Owls!!!!!

singing Great Grey Owl (lappugle)

footage of the GG from the bazooka:

footage of the GG from the phone:

Tengmalm's Owl (perleugle)

video from the bazooka:

this video has song and also the Tawny Owl like call:

Hawk Owl (haukugle)

and various pictures from my phone:

filming the GG

Tengmalms's

Drumming Three-toed Woodpecker and salt licking Crossbills

A drive around Maridalen this morning revealed temperatures down to -19C. Perhaps because of this there was very little to see or hear and it is now four days since I last saw Hawkie and I expect (s)he has now moved on (or died). Common Crossbills are by far the commonest bird and have been down on the roads quite a lot in small groups of mostly males (females presumably being on eggs). They are known to take grains of sand from forest roads to help with their digestion but in this instance that does not seem to be the case. Rather they seem to be licking at the snow/ice and I am quite sure it is salts they are after which is a well known behaviour in crossbills. I have not seen them on the road in Maridalen which is liberally  salted (and where there is no snow or ice) but they are common on the side roads where I believe they are taking salt that arrives on the tyres of cars.

On Friday I also had a male Three-toed Woodpecker who drummed for a long time and allowed himself to be watched well including some interaction with a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Great Spotted Woodpecker (flaggspett) and Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett). The Three-toed had been drumming and the GS came to investigate although did not drum itself

The male Crossbills (grankorsnebb) gather whilst their mates are already on eggs

they did not appear to be picking up grit/sand but rather licking salts

Hazel Grouse

 Winter has regained its grip on the land and nighttime temperatures in Maridalen are falling to -13C and it remains negative in the day despite blue skies and sunshine. Many of the resident birds are very active singing and displaying but any hope of early migrants has been put on hold.

In the forest I spent some quality time with the male Hazel Grouse that we viewed last Tuesday when guiding but now I have been able to watch him in sunlight. He appears to be unpaired but has a good territory that has held Hazel Grouse in at least the two decades I have visited the area.

Hawfinches have returned to breeding areas in Maridalen and are banging out their squeaky “song” and I was able to see some quite well at a feeding station.

male Hazel Grouse (jerpe)

it doesn't seem right to see such a large bird clambering around on such thin branches

female Hawfinch (kjernebiter)

and a more colourful male

the male with a Greenfinch (grønnfink) that seems tiny in comparison

Crested Tit (toppmeis)

female Greenfinch

and male

female Siskin (grønnsisik)

and male

male Brambling (bjørkefink) - unusually many have wintered in and around Oslo

Bullfinch (dompap) and Bramblings

female Blackbird (svarttrost) - I don't remember so many wintering in Maridalen before

Jays (nøtteskrike) are starting to "sing" and can sound like Goshawk, Buzzard and Tawny Owl

Nuthatch (spettmeis)

Starling (stær)

Hawkie

and some arty shots

an ice butterfly