Parking

The mercury fell below -12C today and to be honest it doesn’t need to go any lower! I mopped up some Oslo year ticks in the parks today and saw a good variety of species but nothing too exciting.

Østensjøvannet had only two tiny areas of open water which were both full of birds. The usual suspects were to be found: two Mute Swans (knoppsvane), six Greylag (grågås), two Barnacle (kvitkingås), two Canada (kanadagås) and a single hybrid Greylag x Canada Goose, the male Pintail (stjertand), 14 Coot (sothøne) and ca.200 Mallard (stokkand).

The Botanical Gardens were nearly devoid of birds but I finally turned up a couple of Common Crossbills (grankorsnebb) and Chaffinches (bokfink), a Sparrowhawk (spurvehauk) plus flyover Waxwings (sidensvans).

Marienlyst park was yet again devoid of gulls and had only three Collard Doves (tyrkerdue) but hundreds of Tree and House Sparrows.

Frognerpark had the three overwintering female Teal (krikkand), a Grey Heron (gråhegre) and the usual Tawny Owl (kattugle).

The docks had over 600 Goldeneye (kvinand) and 63 Tufted Duck (toppand) but nothing scarcer.

The best Maridalen had to offer up was a Dipper and a frozen lake.

female Common Crossbill (grankorsnebb) feeding on larch cones

the Pintail (stjertand) amongst Mallards

as in this picture, the Pintail was frequently chased by Mallards who had a tug on its tail. This bird is a 2cy male as seen by the brown feathers on the breast and also a tail that is not as long as on adult

Grey Heron (gråhegre) in Frognerpark

the park's resident Tawny Owl (kattugle)

two of three wintering Teal (krikkand) in Frognerpark

this picture is the right way up! A Treecreeper (trekryper) in the Botanical Gardens