The Green Birder

I’m worried that I ‘m losing it. Yesterday I met up with Marianne Skogsholm from Nordland to help her find the Two-barred Crossbills in the Botanical Gardens. I was unable to find them in an hour of looking (after also having drawn a blank on Monday) but she was able to find one later in the day and then Rune found there were still three there today.  And today when I was at Fornebu and couldn’t find any Bearded Tits another observer heard them just minutes after I left.

I was carless today so was doing one of my Oslo by foot and public transport days – good for the environment and good for me. Fornebu was very quiet (for me) with 8 Long-tailed Tits (stjertmeis) and the male Kestrel (tårnfalk) the highlights. On the water a tight flock of 26 Tufted Ducks (toppand) were new arrivals pushed off some frozen inland lake. I got to grill some Redpolls today and one was a very frosty bird but none were of the Arctic variety.

Male Kestrel (tårnfalk) enjoying the low winter sun

another nearly decent flight shot

In Frognerpark the Tawny Owl (kattugle) was sunning itself and showing relatively well although its eyes were closed so it wasn’t much of a photo subject. I readied myself to take a picture when, and if, it opened its eyes and had the shutter speed quite low as wasn’t expecting much movement. The bird suddenly however decided not only to open its eyes, but to have a scratch and a big yawn, all of which I failed to capture sharply.

I couldn’t locate any scarce gulls on the lake at Frognerparken and the small park at Marienslyst was completely devoid of gulls. I suspect that the lack of snow is allowing the gulls to forage at many places around the city. A big dump of snow is forecast for tomorrow though which may cause the birds to congregate more in the usual places.

Tawny Owl (kattugle) having a scratch

look how big both the mouth and talon are

all very tiring

the black eyes of Tawny and Ural Owls are no where near as attractive as the yellow and black eyes of Hawk and Great Grey Owls

asleep

still asleep but using another white balance setting on the camera which greatly changes the impression of colour and illustrates how careful one needs to be interpreting pictures