Singing Great Grey Shrike

The weather today was fantastic. Despite temperatures being around -5C there were blue skies and with no wind it was possible to feel the warmth of the sun. I kept myself to Maridalen where I hoped that I would have some fantastic photo opportunities. That was not the case with hoped for birds either not showing or being too distant. The Great Grey Shrike did show closer than it has up until now and in the sun was singing which is not a song I have heard many times before. The video below contains a short snatch of the sing although it is not very loud.

A lot of moose have come down to Maridalen now although I only saw their tracks today. A very exciting sight though was the remains of a Roe Deer which I was shown, and the deer had apparently been killed by a Lynx!

Yesterday I was at Fornebu. Things are very quiet here with both the Bearded Tits and Firecrest seemingly long gone. A few Waxwings and all three (sub)species/forms of Redpoll were the highlight.

an adult male Goshawk (hønsehauk) was also displaying low over woodland but proved difficult to photo

the white feathers that are fluffed out by the tail are fluffed out during display

winter wonderland

this Redpoll was lying dead by the road. The pointed tail feathers show it to be a young bird (2cy)

ice and water

the remains of the Roe Deer killed by a Lynx

with the winter Olympics coming up I thought I would show why Norway will win so many medals in cross country skiing. It is not because they are born with skis on their feet but because an enormous amount of resources are used to prepare thousands of kilometres of ski tracks which are then free to use. Here is one of the machines that drive 24-7 through the forests - the two black rectangles are what are lowered to create the perfects tracks for the skiers to use

the only picture I managed of an arctic Redpoll at Fornebu yesterday

and a lesser Redpoll which interestingly fed alone and not with the flock of 80 Redpolls that contained the arctic form

this pale Redpoll was interesting and may well be an arctic (or intergrade) althoug the pink wash to the chest shows it to be a male and the flank streaking is therefore perhaps too bold

the fjord is starting to ice over

Waxwings (sidensvans) are always a joy