The Grozzas are coming!

Recently there has been a little run of Great Grey Owl sightings close to Oslo. None have been in Oslo but the closest is only 7km from the county line and today I thought I would go look for that bird. It is unclear why these owls are turning up away from (known) breeding areas as it is my understanding that it is an OK rodent year in the breeding areas but as long as they turn up in Oslo over the course of the winter then I don’t particularly care why.

I didn’t manage to find the owl and have no idea if it was just moving through or whether it has settled down in the area. That disappointment was quickly forgotten though when I first heard a Pine Grosbeak flying over and then about 15 minutes later heard another and managed to get it to stop for a bit. I have been hoping for them to turn up this autumn but hearing that call and then seeing the bird was just magical. With so much for them to eat then I just hope we get a really big invasion and birds are around all winter. Both the birds were heading in a SW direction and later in the morning in Maridalen I had a flock of 10 flying over in the same direction so there is clearly something driving them to move at the moment and it may be a while before any settle, but we will see.

With the birds in Maridalen I am now up to 203 species for #Oslo2024, although I see that eBird has now incorporated the Redpoll lump so I may need to accept it and say I have seen 201 species.

 

Maridalen also had my first Oslo Waxwings of the autumn and they were surprisingly feeding on aphids in birch trees rather than rowan berries.

Pine Grosbeak (konglebit), not just my first of the autumn but also my first of the year

hopefully these trees that are nearly falling over from the weight of rowan berries will hopefully also be supporting the weight of flocks of Grozzas in the weeks and months to come

my first Oslo Waxwings (sidensvans) of the autumn could see the pictured rowan tree but were finding food in birch trees

I thought maybe they were eating buds but my pictures show they are eating aphids

there are others birds feasting on the rowan berries though including Bramblings (bjørkefink)

and Blue Tits (blåmeis). For both of these species it is the seeds rather than the flesh that is eaten

there are Common Crossbills (grankorsnebb) everywhere at the moment and it is the fresh cones on spruce trees that is attracting them. Some birds are eating pine cones though which is normally what Parrot Crossbills eat

I did have a single Parrot Crossbill (furukorsnebb) but it was eating spruce cones...