Sun, sun, sun today but still not many birds. After a breakfast
with friends in Skøyen it was only a short walk out to my regular December hang
outs. The chaffchiff was not to be found in over an hours searching and I fear
it has gone to meet its maker. The frost was very thick on the grass and the
three Wrens (gjerdesmett) that were still here were far less active than
normal. There was a noteworthy observation here though with a Grey-headed
Woodpecker (gråspett) first heard calling and then to nail the obs it flew over
before disappearing into the forest on Bygdøy. Grey-headed is a woodpecker I
encounter very infrequently and I have too little experience of its call to
confidently separate it from the much more common Green Wood (grønnspett)
without also seeing it.
Walking up to Huk gave me no more contact with this bird and I also failed, in a quick look, to see the refugees which were seen by others but a flyover Snow Bunting (snøspurv) and Goshawk (hønsehauk) which nearly took my head off were welcome sights.
I tried for the Peregrine (vandrefalk) in the city without joy and then headed for the Botanical Gardens where today's sun was just still high enough to provide some good photo light. The garden was full of birds. The tree that proved so attractive last winter is heaving with berries but was not yet popular with the birds which seemed to be finding plenty of other berries to eat with Yew being particularly favoured. Amongst others there were at least 80 Fieldfare (gråtrost), 60 Wawings (sidensvans), 30 Greenfinch (greenfinch), 20 Tree Sparrows (pilfink), 12 Hawfinch (kjernebiter), 3 Goldfinch (stillits), 3 Siskin (grønnsisik), a Brambling (bjørkefink) and a male Blackcap (munk). Singles of Goshawk and Sparrowhawk (spurvehauk) were attracted to this smörgåsbord.
Walking up to Huk gave me no more contact with this bird and I also failed, in a quick look, to see the refugees which were seen by others but a flyover Snow Bunting (snøspurv) and Goshawk (hønsehauk) which nearly took my head off were welcome sights.
I tried for the Peregrine (vandrefalk) in the city without joy and then headed for the Botanical Gardens where today's sun was just still high enough to provide some good photo light. The garden was full of birds. The tree that proved so attractive last winter is heaving with berries but was not yet popular with the birds which seemed to be finding plenty of other berries to eat with Yew being particularly favoured. Amongst others there were at least 80 Fieldfare (gråtrost), 60 Wawings (sidensvans), 30 Greenfinch (greenfinch), 20 Tree Sparrows (pilfink), 12 Hawfinch (kjernebiter), 3 Goldfinch (stillits), 3 Siskin (grønnsisik), a Brambling (bjørkefink) and a male Blackcap (munk). Singles of Goshawk and Sparrowhawk (spurvehauk) were attracted to this smörgåsbord.
The flock of Greenfinches was particularly nice to see as this species seems to have crashed in numbers around Oslo but also from comments I have seen there is a similar situation elsewhere in Norway and also the UK.
There were many, many pictures of Waxwings and Hawfinches to
go through once I got home. These are the best and I'll upload more tomorrow:
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| waxwing |
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| Hawfinch |
 |
| Blackcap |
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| Brambling |
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| 1cy Goshawk |
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