OSLO BIRDER: Daytime Tengmalm's Owl!

I didn’t expect to be blogging about Tengmalm’s Owls again so soon but today was a day to beat Monday. Monday evening’s experience was amazing but I still needed to find my own daytime Tengmalm’s. I have only seen the species in the daytime (other than as a head sticking out of a nest hole) once which was on Væroy but I did not find those birds and I have always dreamed of just stumbling upon one when I am in the forest. The reason they are so difficult to find at their daytime roosts is that they are small and they also trust that they will not be seen so will sit tight even if you nearly brush against them. The forests are also very large, so it really is a needle in a haystack thing. BUT thrushes are very good at finding owls during the day and make a real noise once they have done so, so I always check out scolding thrushes. Often I find nothing but over the years have found Tawny and Pygmy Owls, a few Sparrowhawks, the odd cat, an Adder, once a Short-eared Owl in the neighbours garden and also Great Grey Owl a couple of times last winter but NEVER Tengmalm’s before today.

I had chosen to visit Fornebu because the Bluetail had not been seen yesterday and I took that as a challenge to refind it. In addition the first Bearded Tits of the autumn had been heard and they are always easiest to see when they first arrive. It was also lovely sunny weather and there is always the chance of something else out there even if the concrete jungle is forever encroaching on the birding areas. I put up a Jack Snipe (and as usual cursed myself for not having spotted it before it flew up) and heard 4 Water Rails, a Kingfisher, a few Chiffchaffs plus had my first Waxwings of the autumn flying over so it was a perfectly OK day out even if I couldn’t find anything blue or with facial hair.

When I heard some Blackbirds scolding very loudly and for a long period of time I knew that there could be something good to find. I followed the sound to some dense bushes and less than 10 metres from me 4-5 Blackbirds, a Redwing and 2 Greenfinches were flitting around about 4 metres up and were clearly very angry with something. A Sparrowhawk would have flown out and a cat would have been on the ground so it was either a snake or an owl. I would have already seen it if it was a Tawny Owl so ignoring the prospect of a snake I was sure it had to be a Pygmy or Tengmalm’s Owl that was the cause of the commotion. I didn’t really dare hope it was a Tengmalm’s but the more I scanned without finding anything the more I dared believe that my mythical quest might be about to come to fruition – and there it was! Right in the middle of all the angry birds, pushed up against the trunk of a similarly coloured tree and behind some leaves was a little owl trying to play invisible!!

First a short video of the commotion - the owl should be visible but I can't find it..