Winter returns and Wheatear arrives

Snow and freezing temperatures have left Oslo quite birdless. In Maridalen there has hardly been a migrant passerine to see and surprisingly the same was also the case at Bygdøy. Thrushes, Starlings, Skylarks, Wood Pigeons and Chaffinches which had all arrived in good numbers have just disappeared and have presumably headed south to areas without snow which may have meant a very long journey. From tomorrow we are forecast to have southerly winds and much warmer temperatures so we might see the birds return quickly and hopefully with a spectacular fall.

With so few birds to see it was a huge surprise to stumble across my first Wheatear of the year at Fornebu. It was actively looking for food but only once did it seem to find something and its days may have been numbered but that is the risk the earliest returning birds always take.

At Østensjøvannet a Tundra Bean Goose has taken up residence. I assumed it would be the same bird as seen earlier at Bygdøy but judging by the state of its feathers it is a new individual (and this is a species that is not annual in Oslo). There is still only a small area of open water there but a number of Great Crested Grebes have returned and are displaying. A couple of flyover Snipe were Oslo #117.

my, and the regions first Wheatear (steinskvett) of 2024

surprisingly it was a female - normally it is males that return first

in the snow

here it had found something edible

Tundra Bean Goose (tundra sædgås) coming into land at Østenjøvannet

the orange legs allowed it to be picked out from the Pink-footed Geese (kortnebbgås) it was with

from above though it was noticeably darker

the small size (same as Pink-foot) helps in IDing it as a Tundra and not a Taiga. 

it often had its eye closed and was not fully healthy

Pink-feets coming into land

spot the Tundra

here it can be seen that the Tundra has some feather damage

Great Crested Grebe (toppdykker) and White Wagtail (linerle)

15cm of snow pushed Maridalens Lapwings onto the ice. In addition to this group of 6 (I am unsure of the male/female split) there was a single male another place

Two Water Rails (vannrikse) were calling at Fornebu and one allowed itself to be glimpsed

three Waxwings (sidensvans) at Fornebu were feeding on rosehips

I've never noticed before how the "hair" looks like from behind

in Maridalen today there was a lot of noise as a pair of Mute Swans (knoppsvane) tried to land in the small area of open water where the breeding pair of Whoopers (sangsvane) were already present. As in previous years the Whoopers would not allow them to land

both Mutes were ringed. P578 (left) is a male born in 2019 and K933 a female born in 2017. This pair do not seem to have bred yet but were at Maridalsvannet in later April and early May last year before being chased off. It will be interesting to see how it goes this year. The population of Mute Swans has become so large around Oslo that a lack of suitable breeding sites has become a real problem

one of the Whoopers giving chase