Losing the edge

 The last few days have seen a couple of very good birds in my beloved Maridalen neither of which I saw and given I was nearby when both were seen (and photographed) has made me wonder whether I am losing it – to use Top Gun terminology I may be holding on too tight and have lost the edge.

First I Golden Eagle was seen flying very low over some fields and then a Hawk Owl was looking from food atop a dead tree – how difficult is it to not notice birds like that 😉

What I have been noticing though is the Pine Grosbeaks which have kept me very much amused even if the Beast does not think it is so much fun being dragged to see them and then being expected to stand still whilst I takes photos. And a LOT of photos were taken. Great birds, sun and red berries kept the shutter finger hot although none of the pictures were exactly what I hoped for.

it was something like this with falling snow that I was hoping would make for a great image

in front of the Norwegian flag

resting in the top of a Pine. I have also seen them eating buds from pine trees

here eating buds in a birch tree

and 20 birds in a rowan tree

Blackbird (svarttrost)

the view looking south from the Grosbeaks

Fieldfare (gråtrost)

I have also been on a local twitch. Nothing super scarce but it was something different to do. This Red-necked Grebe (gråstrupedykker) was the first I have seen this year which is a result of much less travelling and most importantly no time spent at the cabin in Bodø. Amazingly though I have also not seen Slavonian Grebe this year which is also a result of far fewer local records