Proper owling in Oslo!

It has been good for owls the last couple of days. As I blogged about on Tuesday I reconnected with one of the Hawk Owls and then yesterday I added another three species.

Going back to Tuesday there was forecast to be good northern light activity that night so I managed to get most of the family to join me in Maridalen to look for them. You need to be able to see the northern horizon which isn’t easy due to the hills but I knew of one spot that would give us pretty good views and it just happened to be where I had seen the Hawk Owl earlier… We did witness the northern lights but it was a strain to see them and they were low in the sky and nothing like the amazing displays one can see much further north. On the owl front we heard just a single Tawny Owl which was a disappointment as we were out for such a long time that if there were any other species in the area they should have made themselves known.

Yesterday was very productive though. Last autumn I spent a lot of time in an area of forest where I regularly saw Hawk and Pygmy Owls and where Per Christian and I also conjured up Tengmalm’s Owl. After the heavy snow came in January I have not visited but yesterday I reckoned that the area would be accessible and without having to contend with too many cross-country skiers trying to run me over. I was right although heavy fog made viewing difficult. All that was forgotten when a Pygmy Owl started singing and then another answered. I found the birds and they made a lot of other noises too such that I am quite sure they were a pair and mating was on the cards. I didn’t witness the act but one of the birds did show very well and made me a happy man 😊

Encouraged by the success I teamed up with Per Christian in the evening and returned to the same area. A Tawny Owl hooted whilst it was still surprisingly light to be followed by Pygmy Owl and then when it got properly dark a Tengmalm’s. So three species of owls all hooting close to each other and all heard within a 20 minutes window- owling the way its supposed to be! Tengmalm’s was the target of the trip and we were keen to track the bird down and hopefully see it. It was not a very cooperative bird though and whilst it sang quite a lot it was at very low volume and the bird seemed to move around a lot. He also showed no interest in playback. I don’t know how to interpret this behaviour – either it was a young insecure male or perhaps an already paired bird with a female on eggs? I will follow up and with luck I can locate both nesting Pygmy and Tengmalm’s Owls close to each other.

Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)

Here is a video of the owl taken with my phone when he was singing jsut above me:

and here is a video taken with the bazooka resting against a tree. At the beginning the bird flies off calling towards the other bird which was singing nearby:

And a very short video where a Nutcracker is I think singing (rather than calling). It was whilst I was watching this bird that the Pygmy Owls started singing and I think he may have set them off:

And finally a video where if you have very good speakers you may hear the Tengmalm's Owl (perleugle) singing:

the best shot I got of the northern lights