Don't blame it on the sunshine

In contrast to yesterday today ended up being a gloriously sunny day without a breath of wind. The morning started though with a freezing mist which left some roads incredibly slippery after yesterday’s rain.

I had hoped that a trip to Fornebu would reveal something good but had to make do with a squealing Water Rail (vannrikse) and the male Kestrel (tårnfalk) back on his winter territory. A flock of Long-tailed Tits (stjertand) was another confirmation of the good numbers this autumn and although they would not come too close I was able to get a much better picture than my recent attempts due to the good light. A Common Seal (steinkobbe) offshore was unexpected but there do appear to be good numbers of fish around Fornebu at the moment which presumably attracted it.

I dropped into Østensjøvannet and ended up spending far too much time photographing a Goldeneye (kvinand) which really was not close enough.

long-tailed Tit (stjertmeis). Note this bird is ringed and most likely at Fornebu 2 days ago

male Goldeneye (kvinand) - the best of about one hundred pictures I took - not really worth the effort

Greenfinch (grønnfink) are feasting on rosehips at the moment

where did my head go?

male Kestrel (tårnfalk). A male has wintered at Fornebu the last few winters but is not necessarily from the breeding pair

as usual I struggled with a decent flight shot although did at least manage to get this one in focus, just a shame you can't see the head!

here is a head though

Canada Geese can sometimes look nice even if they are black listed