A Caper to end 2020

 It had to happen – I publish my review of 2020 a few days before the end of the year and then sneak in a new species for the year and an experience that would have definitely made it into the review. With just two days left of the year I was made aware of a super confiding male Capercaille that has been frequenting a picnic area for quite a while and happily chomps away on pine needles whilst people stand just metres away. I see very few Capercailles and the few times I have seen them relatively well has been from the car as I come across a bird feeding on the roadside.

I made my way to its chosen area on the 30^th walking through deep fresh snow and ended up having a whole hour with the bird where the only other sound I heard apart from snow falling off trees was a distant jay and the Capers bill snapping shut as it bit off the needles. It stayed on the same branch for the whole hour and was mostly sleeping and when it closed its eyes it revealed a white eyelid which gave it a very spooky appearance that had me thinking of the Ravens in Game of Thrones. I will be back to see this bird again on a day when the sun is shining and hope for some really good photos.

In Maridalen a young male Scaup turned up on the same day and was the only Oslo record of the species in 2020. This has always been a scarce bird in Oslo (with a number of historic records of females from Østensjøvannet also being misidenfications) but is definitelty getting rarer.

male Capercaille (tiur/storfugl) - the relatively small area of red over the eye indicates this is a male of the year

Game of Thrones!

snow has settled on the tail

the big bill could be heard snapping shut when it nipped off pine needles

1cy male Scaup (bergand) on Maridalsvannet

a lot of snow has finally come but a complete lack of ice at the end of the year is something I cannot remember before