Lesser Spot and Jack Snipe

There is not so much new happening on the bird scene in Oslo at the moment although a Pallid Swift was sighted yesterday and who knows maybe I will bump into one today – it is nice sunny weather at least 😊

Since my last post I have, surprise surprise, amused myself with my thermal imager and Jack Snipe have of course featured and nocturnal trips into Maridalen have revealed Woodcock, beavers, roe deer, voles and a cat which was a long way from any houses and had me going for a bit.

At Fornebu I am still waiting (hoping) for Bearded Tits to turn up and there are signs further south of an autumn irruption building up but 5 Water Rails squealing from the same small reedbed was exciting and a late Chiffchaff that looked quite tristis like but sounded “normal” will I guess go down as an eastern abientinus.

male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (dvergspett) in an autumnal tree

nice tobacco coloured ear coverts on this Chiffchaff but its call was "normal"

maybe too much yellow in the supercillium

can you see the Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin)? I'll reveal its location lower down

I love how the protruding scapulars can be moved to aid in camouflage and breaking up the outline of the bird

getting more difficult to find

and here is the location of the bird in the original picture

Pygmy Owls and an interesting duck

Yesterday was wet and today was misty but there are always good birds to be found in Oslo 😊

 Østensjøvannet yesterday had a Pochard which was my first in Oslo this year (and a species still to be seen in Maridalen) and an interesting Aythya which I reckon is a hybrid between Scaup and Tufted. It was no bigger than Tufted Ducks I saw it with and plumage wise looked very like a Scaup but it had a slight peak to the head feathering and when seen close up just wasn’t a Scaup. I considered Lesser Scaup but the nail on the bill was too large and when it flapped its wings the wing bar looked to be white all the way to the primaries.

The Scaup remained on Maridalsvannet and seeing this just an hour after the Østensjøvannet bird confirmed that they were not the same species.

Another nocturnal thermalling trip last night revealed a Long-eared Owl that came to check out Tengmalms playback although no Tengmalms revealed themselves and 2 Woodcock again showed on the fields in Maridalen.

Today I had 3 different Pygmy Owls in Maridalen and a couple of Three-toed Woodpeckers so will count that as a result!

the most showy of the 3 Pygmy Owls (spurveugle) in Maridalen today

it was misty today

black and white

and one of the other birds which did show in the sunshine although a bit distantly

Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin) still frequenting a roadside marsh in the Dale

Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett)

male Pochard (taffeland) at Østensjøvannet

the Scaup (bergand) showed better on Maridalsvannet

and the similar(ish) bird at Østensjøvannet that I reckon is a Scaup x Tufted Duck hybrid

here it looks VERY Scaup like with rounded head and pale patch on the cheek

but here the head shape is wrong although not qite right for Tufted either

bill is more Scaup than Tufted with a smallish nail and otherwise just dark grey

2 Little Grebes (dvergdykker) showed well

they caught fish simultaneously