Pygmy Owl

It is now officially late autumn as the first Pygmy Owls have left the forest and turned up in Maridalen. Yesterday I had two different birds both of which were giving their autumnal territorial song which attracted angry passerines and allowed me to see them well.

A Common Scoter on the lake was also another definite late autumn sign but a sign of early rather than late autumn was a Common Wheatear. This bird had been found the previous afternoon  by Kjetil J on the edge of the city in Sørkedalen and has he didn’t have binoculars on him he wondered if I would be able to check it out to confirm that it was just a Common (Northern) Wheatear and not something rarer. It was luckily still present the next morning was indeed nothing rarer but it is by nearly two weeks the latest Wheatear ever reported in Oslo. It looked healthy and frequently flew around but often opened its bill as though to burp so may have some issues that are stopping it continuing migrating to Africa.

Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)

a classic view of a Pygmy Owl

the Northern Wheatear (steinskvett) burping

Common Scoter (svartand)

and the Great Grey Shrike (varsler) in Maridalen seems to be finding a regular spot to hunt