Waiting for southerlies and warmth

 It remains very cold and unattractive for migrants. Even though most of the snow has melted it is below zero at night, the winds are bitter and from the north and daytime temperatures only reach about +4C. As a result there has been almost no evidence of new birds arriving and it will probably continue like this until Tuesday next week when it is forecast that winds will be from the south and no overnight frost. I am not sure I can wait that long but my hope is that we will then get a bit of a rush as birds must be building up somewhere to the south of us.

In Maridalen a Meadow Pipit has been the only new species this week and most of the attraction has come from Lesser Spotted and Black Woodpeckers. There must be at least three pairs of LSW in the valley and this is a species that don’t find breeding every year. Two pairs of Black Woodpeckers are still showing well and the one whose nest hole I have found are excavating it every time I walk past although it seems to be a long job.

Today I paid my second visit of the year to Nordre Øyeren and despite a nasty northerly wind it proved to be quite productive although at one stage a mini sandstorm that the wind whipped up on the mud flats rather impeded my visibility. On the few wet areas of the mudflats there were 57 Lapwings which nowadays is a huge number. That they are on the mudflats is a sign of how dry and hard the fields are and I saw none away from the mudflats. My first Curlew of the year were also present and in a few weeks time there will be many more species of wader to see and I really can’t wait 😊

Despite the wind and cloud I kept scanning the skies and this is where the excitement came from. Two Common Buzzards headed purposefully north into the wind (the main arrival of this species does not seem to have come yet), a distant male Hen Harrier also looked to be heading north, a couple of Kestrels were perched on tree tops (probably local breeders) and a Rough-legged Buzzard glided in and started hovering. Best of all though was a bird which spent a long time in glided flight into the wind and kept me guess before revealing enough of itself to show it was a Golden Eagle! I followed it for a long time before it suddenly dived down and mobbed a White-tailed Eagle that had flown up to meet it. It was great to watch although could have happened a couple of kilometres closer…

Taken at over 3km range but it is still possible to identify these birds as Golden Eagle (kongeørn) and White-tailed Eagle (havørn), although aging them may not be possible 😏

This male Hen Harrier (myrhauk) was a little closer but the picture is still taken at over 1km range

female Kestrel (tårnfalk)

and here attracting the ire of a Magpie (skjære)

Black Woodpecker (svartspett) pair at nest hole

and the other pair which are very noisy but have not led me to their nest yet

female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (dvergspett)

and a male

Goldcrests (fuglekonge) seem to be very numerous this spring

Goldfinch (stillits)

Grey Wagtail (vintererle)

Reed Bunting (sivspurv)

Roe Deer

Starling (stær) and Blackbird (svarttrost)

sandstorm over Årnestangen

I visited my Hazel Grouse (jerpe) again on Tuesday and he was his usual confiding self and even turned his back to me when he sang