OSLO BIRDER: A seawatch and some auks

Some quite bad, and quite typical November, weather these last few days and with the clocks changing the days now feel very short. Rain, wind and low cloud do not make for good birding conditions either for the bird or the birder but on Thursday the wind was strong enough and from the south that I thought I would give seawatching a go from Fornebu. My expectations were low and I would have been happy with a Little Auk (which would have been my first for the year). A number of Guillemots and Razorbills were flying around so I thought my chance of the tiny cousin would be high but in the end I lucked out on that score. However, I did score much better on the auk front with first a probable Brunnich’s (I was sure of the ID at the time but without a conclusive photo my views were too brief to claim it as a definite - it is a truly rare bird in southern Norway and frequently strung so one should have a photo to bother claiming it) and then a definite Puffin! 4 Kittikwakes (an adult and 3 juv), a Great Northern Diver and 2 Long-tailed Ducks made for a very well used couple of hours by the sea!

The Bearded Tits continue to hide away in the reedbed and the thermal imager has proven useful in finding them but I have failed to find any Jack Snipe in their usual place for the last couple of days. Yesterday evening we had a brief respite from the wind and rain and I took the thermal imager up into Maridalen where Woodcocks were still on the fields and allowed close approach.

a Puffin (lunde)

a flock of Razorbills (alke) with a single Guillemot (lomvi) - can you find it?

Razorbills were the commonest auk to start with but by the end of the watch Guillemots had become the most numerous and I estimated having seen 120 Guillemot and 80 Razorbills