OSLO BIRDER: Drumming Three-toed Woodpecker

Once again I found myself visiting Lillomarka to look for Pine Grosbeaks found by Stig Mr.Konglebit Kalvatn and yesterday I found myself literally walking in his footsteps in the deep snow. The Grosbeaks didn’t show for me this time but a Three-toed Woodpecker was a very satisfying compensation because to be honest by that point of the day I felt I deserved some reward.

I had already skied over 5km and “survived” a threat to be beaten up by a dog owning pensioner who had responded to my dislike of his dog running loose and causing me to fall by hitting me with his ski pole and asking me if I wanted to get beaten up before then telling me to go “home” which I read to be a reference to country rather than house. The incident did have a lot of comedy value but was a bit worrying that such angry old men are allowed out into the countryside…. I had to walk up the final kilometre to the area where Stig had the grosbeaks and this was where I saw the Three-toed but luckily someone had been there before me on one of those ridiculous large wheeled mountain bikes and had made a path wide and hard enough for me to walk on. Apart from the Three-toed which in typical fashion showed ridiculously well there was hardly a bird to be seen or heard on the entire trip with three Great Spotted Woodpeckers and two Goldcrests (amazingly enough given the snow) the only other birds I remember.

After this a trip to Maridalen had also few birds but some quality in the form of a Pygmy Owl and the Great Grey Shrike popping up again. I also had a flock of 30 Redpolls which had a couple of pale birds that may well have been of the northern variety but I failed to get good enough views – something to work on another day.

The weather today was fantastic. There was fog over the town in the morning but I ended up being above it in the forest where there was no wind, a blue sky and snow covered trees. The fog cleared up in the afternoon when Maridalen was also postcard picturesque.