OSLO BIRDER: Be kind to the Dale

A walk in Maridalen today with the company of the Beast and Per Christian was not particularly birdy but offered up a couple of cool sightings, the sort of which one always gets when one visits the Dale. If one is kind to the Dale then the Dale is kind to you as I am sure they say somewhere.

On the lake there were very few birds but a pair of Mute Swans flew over. Both were ringed and although it is not possible to read the codes from my pictures it is tempting to believe they are the pair that had a failed breeding attempt in the spring (and which then promptly moved off). A couple of Guillemots were flying around calling and also swung over land on a couple of occasions which is a sign of the desperation they must be feeling.

Highlight #1 was a singing Great Grey Shrike. I have occasionally heard them singing on sunny winter days before but it is normally at low volume. Todays bird though was audible a couple of hundred meters away and kept going for a long time. It seemed to also be mimicking including of Greenfinch and perhaps even the sound of a camera on rapid fire! A Greenfinch kept perching close to the shrike and on a couple of occasions was chased by the shrike who looked like he was considering lunch.

I took a number of videos with my mobile phone to record the song and here are three of them.

A little over an hour later I had a Shrike 2km away on the other side of the lake. It was probably the same bird as they are definitely capable of moving about quickly but there have been two different birds in the Dale previously. I also had a Common Buzzard which is the latest ever record in the Dale and therefore highlight #2. The bird could well have made its mind up to try to spend the winter here due to an ample supply of voles.