Sunday Guiding

I was guiding David from Ithaca, NY today and we had a productive and fun day south east of Oslo. Temperatures peaked at 16C but despite this all lakes are still frozen and many fields still covered in snow. The melt is happening though and there were flood waters

at various places which are now just waiting for the birds to arrive. Ducks are still not moving through though with only a handful of Teal seen but flocks of many hundred will soon arrive and with them the fun of looking for a Garganey or Green-winged Teal.

Raptors were a feature of the day with a close White-tailed Eagle, Marsh and Hen Harrier, 2 Ospreys, 5 Rough-legged Buzzards, Common Buzzard, Kestrel, Merlin and Sparrowhawk.

Waders are also starting to appear with Snipe, Green Sandpiper, Lapwing, Golden Plover, Oystercatcher and my first Little Ringed Plovers of the year. Another first for the year was Swallow which is perhaps the truest sign of spring and confirmation that the flood gates are (slowly) opening.

unusually close views of a White-tailed Eagle (havørn). A juvenile/2cy I believe 

Two Ospreys (fiskeørn) hunting together

one caught a fish

the other bird plunged three times in alsmost exactly the same spot as the first bird before catching a fish

nothing this time...

and the fish it eventually caught seemed too heavy for it to fly away with

two Rough-legged Buzzards (fjellvåk)

and three

these two Taiga Bean Geese were unexpected and perhaps some of the missing Scottish birds