Someone talked!

There will be some serious words said in the Pine Grosbeak (konglebit) roost tonight. Someone couldn’t keep their mouth shut today. In the middle of the day with the tops of the trees bathed in a gorgeous golden sunlight I went back to the location in Maridalen where I saw six Grosbeaks yesterday. At first I couldn’t see any but then I heard the “we are about to move on” call from about 100metres away. I had to walk through a line of spruces to a horse field with some scattered spruces. It took a while to locate the birds but then I found three or four at the top of a tree. I walked closer and suddenly they moved to an adjacent tree. Three of four became at least 20! The birds were very skittish and were not easy to see but they were calling regularly for once which made it easy to keep track of them as they moved from tree to tree. I counted 26 birds in flight and had some good views but then suddenly they were gone. There are clearly good numbers of Pine Grosbeaks in Maridalen at the moment even if they are not easy to find. Judging by the other reports on artsobservasjoner Maridalen is actually the best place in Norway right now to see this bird.

Pine Grosbeak (konglebit) 1cy and adult male

12 of the 26 birds are visible in this picture

The lake still has open water but this didn’t stop some people ice skating – I hope they know what they are doing. 

I didn’t get any true clarity on the swan situation. Yesterday I recorded 9 adult and 6 juvenile Whooper Swans and a single 2cy Mute Swan whilst other observers reported 8 adult and 5 juvenile Whooper Swans and 3 Mute Swans. Today I had 7 adult and 4 juvenile Whooper Swans and 5 Mute Swans all of which seemed to be adults. So three separate reports all of in total 16 swans but all of a different make up of age and species!  That there is still movement of swans is the only conclusion I can come to.

At one the feeding stations a Treecreeper (trekryper) gave a rare photo opportunity