Østensjøvannet

A family visit to Østensjøvannet yesterday afternoon revealed only a slightly increased area of open water but many birds. Hundreds of Black-headed Gulls were sitting on the ice waiting for conditions to be suitable for nesting and my first Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Moorhen of 2016 were also "ticked off". A single Great Crested Grebe was surprising given the small area of open water but we saw it catch a decent sized perch so food is clearly not a problem.

my first Oslo Great Great Crested Grebe (toppdykker) of the year with a fair sized Perch (abbor)

the Black-headed Gulls harassed it a bit and in the end it dived with the fish in its beak and eventually came up without it. Can it swallow the fish underwater?

slightly unusual place to see a Black-headed Gull (hettemåke) although saying that I have seen them nesting in trees at Songsvann

not often I take a picture of a Jackdaw (kaie)

my first Lesser Black-backed Gull (sildemåke) of the year

and my first Moorhen (sivhøne)

the area of open water (continues around to the right). Despite the great viewing conditions from the path here the birds that want to will come close to you, there was a photographer who decided to go out onto an island. Notice how there are no birds close to him i.e he has disturbed them. Even worse is that this type of behaviour just encourages others to do the same as there is a distinct flock instinct amongst this breed