OSLO BIRDER: Geese

Overnight frosts mean that the thaw is going slowly – all the snow has melted from the fields in Maridalen but higher up in the forest there is still lots of snow and lakes are still frozen. Yesterday morning when the temperature was -2C there were a couple of people out on the ice on Maridalsvannet – something I wouldn’t dare to do now but which seemed to be safe enough…

Winds have been changing between northerly and southerly and yesterday in southerly winds quite a few flocks of both Pink-footed and Greylag Geese went north whereas when winds changed to northerly half-way through the morning today a flock of Pink-footed Geese went first east and then west over the house and were clearly unsure as to what they should do but going north was temporarily off the cards. Later in the afternoon some flocks went over Fornebu very high up and heading north but making very slow progress in the headwind.

In Maridalen there were 4 and a half species of geese on the fields with the White-fronted Goose looking very settled (it has a damaged eye and slight limp so may well be here a while) and a hybrid Canada x Greylag joining its parent species and a few Pink-footed Geese

There has been no large arrival of thrushes yet but one field in Maridalen has attracted a lot of finches with a flock of over 500 Chaffinches including a few Brambling, Greenfinch, Linnet and Twite. Surprisingly I have not seen any raptors attracted to this flock but they would make a great smorgasbord for a Merlin or Sparrowhawk. Meadow Pipits have yet to arrive en masse with just the odd single bird and today I had my first White Wagtail to add to the Grey Wagtails that turned up a few days ago. Dunnock, Kestrel and Great Crested Grebe have also been added to the year list over the last couple of days.