Pygmy Owl

We are having very topsy turvy weather at the moment. After yesterday’s minus temperatures and snow we were back to plus and drizzle today but with it forecast to go down to -10C on Friday and then up to +5C and rain on Saturday.

I followed a similar route to yesterday but was rewarded with the Pygmy Owl again in Maridalen. At Fornebu I again heard Beardies and also a Reed Bunting today but highlight was seeing a Water Rail feeding in one of the areas of open water although it was very obscured by vegetation. There was a fair amount of singing today including from Jay, Bullfinch, Great Tit and Blue Tit.

I visited the rubbish dump at Alna today where at the weekend a new Caspian Gull was found and incredibly this was a ringed bird and was the same bird that had overwintered last year (most often seen at Langvannet) but that has as far as I know not been reported in the meantime. I failed to find either of the Caspos or anything else interesting but there were 300 odd Herring Gulls and also 22 Great Black-backs (usually I only see around 5 or 6 here) so there was plenty of birds to go through.

Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)

Pygmy Owls have eyes in the back of their heads!

but it doesn't need to have eyes in the back of its head when it can turn the head through 180 degrees

Robin (rødstrupe) in the garden

male Bullfinch (dompap) at Fornebu

just about recognisable as a Water Rail (vannrikse)