Filthy

I twitched at the weekend but as is usually the case when I engage in this filthy behaviour I failed. The twitch was only a 15 minute drive for an Iceland Gull and I missed it by only minutes as all the gulls flew off just before I arrived – indeed I saw them all in flight as I drove up. This bird was a 2^nd winter and study of the pictures (no ring needed!) shows it to be the same bird that I also missed on the dump in Askim on Friday the 13^th. Where it has been for the two intervening weeks is not known but shows that there is plenty of scope for finding (and losing) gulls in the Oslo area.

Today I tried various sights for gulls around Oslo and found nothing interesting although there were around 500 Herring Gulls in total. I also headed out east and found little of note although 5 sightings of Great Grey Shrike during the day (probably only 4 different birds) was a pretty respectable count. A small flock of Yellowhammers that I scrutinised at some distance did contain a candidate for a female Pine Bunting but I didn’t get close enough views to rule out a dull female Yellowhammer. The chances of finding Pine Bunting in Norway at the moment must be high with quite a few birds around the place – it just requires luck (some turn up in gardens) or perseverance or ideally both!

A phone call threatened to turn the day into a big success. What appeared to be a Gyr Falcon was being observed on an island off Fornebu and I was only 15 minutes drive away. Apparently a Gyr had been reported from here yesterday (but on a website that only a handful of people use - why can’t people report on ArtsObservasjoner?) and it looked like the same bird was present again today. It remained in place until I arrived but turned out as I feared to be an adult Goshawk. This species along with large female Peregrines are probably the true identity of a number of undocumented Gyr Falcons in south east Norway where this species is a true rarity.