Garden Yellowhammer

I wasted some time this weekend on virtual birding with some joker who had posted pictures online of a Common Gull but insisted they were a Ring-billed. Every time anybody including myself commented his pictures to explain why the bird was a Common the pictures and corresponding comments would just be deleted only for the pictures to be posted afresh (and without the comments) a short time later and then to be deleted again once it was commented again and so on and so forth. Someone’s idea of an April Fool’s joke just seven weeks too early….but note to self: don’t get so wound up next time ;-)

Today was time for real and not virtual birding but the weather was better suited for virtual. It is warm again and has been raining all weekend. Today the rain turned into snow even though it was still +2C but temperatures are not forecast to go below zero again until Thursday so it will all melt. I did have a hope that strong southerly winds that begun yesterday would have blown a few seabirds into the Oslo fjord so I spent a bit of time at Huk, Bygdøy this morning hoping for some Oslo year ticks but except for a fly by Whooper Swan there was nothing unexpected.

In the garden though I had a couple of Yellowhammers which is a rare sight in my garden and the first this winter. One of the birds was, I assume, a young male and had a very yellow crown appearing in otherwise brown plumage that made it look like a displaying male Goldcrest.

Yellowhammer (gulspurv) in the garden. I'm not sure but I would imagine that the so yellow crown that is appearing makes this a young male that is moulting into adult plumage