Tawny Owl

Still hot and still surprisingly few birds. I decided to do Maridalen thoroughly today which did result in my first Dunnock and Song Thrush of the year but I was expecting so much more. Rain that is forecast for tomorrow and Thursday will hopefully shake things up a bit.

I spent a lot of time gazing skywards and there was a trickle of Chaffinches and Wood Pigeons, three small flocks of Pink-footed Geese totalling 140 birds, a flock of 6 Greylags and best of all a pair of Cranes that spent time circling before heading south. The only raptor I could muster up was a local Goshawk. The silver lining though is that a lot of birds must be waiting to come north so we will hopefully get a big rush when it happens.

I also discovered nesting Tawny Owls and had good views of one of the adults roosting in a tree.

Tawny Owl (kattugle) 

This pair of Twite (bergirisk) even sang a bit 

here you can just see the pink rump of the male

the first two Cranes (trane) of the year in/over Maridalen

a band of Jays (nøtteskrike) 

my first Peacock Butterfly (dagpåfugløye) of 2017 

and my first Song Thrush (måltrost)