I was very premature with my comments about spring yesterday. Overnight
the cloudless sky gave way to overcast conditions and lots of fresh wet snow.
It also brought a garden record with the highest number of birds ever recorded.
There has been a good number of Siskins (grønnsisik) in the garden over the
last month with a maximum count of 22 which in itself was a record for this
species. After we were away in the mountains and the food ran dry in the
feeders there have only been a handful of Siskins in the garden but this
morning there were 30 or so when I looked out at breakfast. Later I looked more
closely and came up with a total of 70 and then mid-afternoon I counted them as
they sat on wires and there were 110!! They are eating me out of house and home
as well with the feeders needing to be replenished three times during the day.
There is very little else in the garden and no other finches but if the Siskins
remain over the next few weeks they will hopefully attract other birds. And
there are plenty of birds in the area: a garden only 500m away has Bramblings
(bjørkefink), Yellowhamers (gulspurv), Goldfinch (stillits) and Greenfinch
(grønnfink) but fewer Siskins ;-)
The falling snow made birding pretty hopeless but I did check out
Fornebu and Bygdøy where 6 Greylag Geese (grågås) were clearly newly in and are
a foretaste of the next month where migrating geese will be the major attraction
for me.
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| a record numbers of Siskins in the garden was today's highlight |
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| 29 of the 110 Siskins in the garden today |
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| with the snow settling on their backs these 2 Greylag Geese are probably regretting their choice to be the first ones back in Oslo |
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