When guiding a couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon a
surburban Rook. This less than annual species in Oslo has attracted a bit of
attention since then and has been added to a few Norway/Oslo/year lists since
then. Despite its propensity to sit in tall trees and call a lot I have failed
to see it again despite regularly driving through the area which is where Jr
Jr’s school is. Today though I had to pick her up and made sure I got there a
bit early so I could scan for it and this time I relocated it right by her
school!
It was raining a lot (and is forecast to do so for a number
of days) and I was not inclined to get out of the car but was able to get a few
shots from within the car. I always feel very uncomfortable using the camera by
a school but no one called the police on me😉
I had been unsure as to the age of the bird previously but
its darkish (although not black) bill surely makes it a 1st winter.
The coming rain will cause lots of melting and floods so
fields around Oslo will soon be suitable for migrants although predominantly
northerly winds from Sunday onwards will unlikely lead to a big rush.
There is suddenly lots to see, to photograph and to write
about. I have not been to see the Smew again but it has apparently been
standing room only with up to 40 photographers filling their memory cards.
Having been through the (many) images I took I am rather happy with the ones I
got on Saturday so have no need for more.
On Sunday Jack discovered Oslo’s second Stonechat of the
year on Bygdøy and I chose to visit there on Monday and then found the third (a
female) and then Anders found the fourth later in the day! Prior to 2021 there
had only been 5 records in Oslo but it has been annual since then but 4 in a
year is a new record and it isn’t even spring yet!
Bygdøy also gave me very up close and personal views of 16
Purple Sandpipers which appears to be an Oslo high count. I have also added
Skylark and Chaffinch to my Oslo year list which now stands at 85 species.
Today Jack and I headed to Østfold and it was a visit that
reminded me I should go more often as the 1 hour drive is well worth it. The
fields around Kurefjorden were already free of snow and packed with geese and
Skylarks. A lot of different geese have been seen here in the last few days
including both Beans and both subspecies of White-fronted. Greenland
White-front is a species that has eluded me before so I was really hoping to
see it but we only found Russian birds but a count of 48 was very good. Taiga
Beans also eluded us but we did see 2 Tundras.
Other new birds for the year included Lapwing, Ringed Plover
and Shelduck as well as Slavonian Grebe and Scaup.
On the way home we witnessed a new experience with a Great
Grey Shrike. I have seen this species hover occasionally before but only for a
few seconds at a time but this bird was hovering in Kestrel style and was
changing height and position for many tens of seconds at a time. It was
hovering over an area if rough grass that was full of vole holes so there was
clearly food there for it.
male Smew (lappfiskand)
the pattern at the back of the head changes a lot depending on the mood of the bird
Little and Large
with a male Goldeneye (kvinand)
a female Stonechat (svartstrupe) at Bygdøy
Purple Sandpipers (fjæreplytt)
from today's Østfold trip - a White-fronted Goose (tundragås) on the left with a Tundra Bean Goose (tundrasædgås)
the two Tundra Beans
Russian White-fronted Geese (tundragås) and Greylag Geese (grågås). Three of the adults had such extensive black barring on their bellies that it became solid
hovering Great Grey Shrike (varsler)
when it hovers the wings barely go above the horizontal
hovering head on
And some commoner birds
Stock Dove (skogdue)
Willow Tit (granmeis)
Yellowhammer (gulspurv)
Jay (nøtteskrike)
Mute Swan (knoppsvane)
landing on the ice
finally coming to a stop
This spring seems to be terrible for singing owls in southern Norway but there is at least some activity from Tawny Owl (kattugle) in Maridalen
