The doldrums

It’s all kind of quiet at the moment. Lots and lots of snow means that skis are necessary to explore away from the roads but a couple of family skiing trips at the weekend in Maridalen did not suggest that any longer birding skiing excursions would be particularly rewarding. As I write this the temperature has just gone over zero and we are forecast to have a couple of days with temperatures up to +5C and rain before temperatures again fall below zero. This will probably turn all the snow very slushy before it freezes over but with luck will leave a hard layer on the top which one can walk on rather than sinking to your knees as currently.

Birding is probably at its low point for the year and without there being any exciting invasion species there is not too much to see when out. Today I hoped to spend some more quality time with last week’s Kingfisher but its behaviour today was completely different. It kept to the most distant and inaccessible part of the river without moving about at all and as a result an hour on site was not particularly productive with a Whooper Swan hoping for some bread the only photogenic avian subject. A flock of 40 Redpolls showed well but didn’t contain any northern birds.

In Vestfold county a male Pine Bunting with some Yellowhammer in its ancestory (has yellow edges to its primaries) may tempt me into a longer trip as it seems to be showing very well at a garden feeder and it will be interesting to see such a bird. It seems that no one notices the yellow edges in the field (have been a few similar birds over the years) or when they edit their own photos but these yellow edges suddenly become visible when the photos are uploaded to the web and others look at them….

the Kingfisher (isfugl) really wasn't as easy to view today!

spot the birdy

 

this Whooper Swan (sangsvane) was a bit more cooperative and acted like it expected me to throw some bread in its direction