Waxwings and a hybrid duck

Fantastic sunny weather today - just the right conditions to get the hordes of photographers out. I went to the Botanical Gardens early - too early really as the light was no good but I did have the birds to myself. At least 1000 (yes thousand) Waxwings was an amazing experience for the senses. They are of course a beautiful bird to look at but the sound of them in large flocks is also a delight. The birds were very confiding and at one stage I was standing under a tree with over 100 feeding birds above me when I also got to experience them with the touch sense when I quickly realised that everything that goes in also comes out.

Despite the poor light I took loads of pictures and video and will have to have a post later with more pictures and edited videos.

I made use of the good light today and visited quite a few places without seeing too much. The Glauc didn’t show and neither did Beardies or the Kingfisher at Fornebu although the Arctic Tern was still present. It was ranging much further in its search for food than I have previously noted and I would assume that with falling sea temperatures that the small fish it feeds on are becoming harder to find.

I visited Østensjøvannet today hoping to see a bird I have never seen before. A hybrid Mallard x Wigeon was seen here yesterday and I was looking forward to seeing this unusual hybrid combo. With the lake frozen it was easy to find the bird with the hordes of Mallards waiting for bread. It is not always easy to ascertain the parentage of hybrids and the same combo can result in birds with very different appearances but this one seems to be an easy call to make. It was smaller than the Mallards and was being given a hard time by a few of them but also gave as good as it got. In the sunlight the colour on its head and speculum varied greatly depending on angle and I will have another post where I focus on this.

 

Waxwings (sidensvans)

Hybrid Mallard (stokkand) x Wigeon (brunnakke)