Birds OTHER than Grosbeaks

I have been seeing a lot of Pine Grosbeaks this week but will try to write a post that doesn’t include them, or at least pictures of them, although that may be hard.

I have walked a lot in the forests and apart from the Grozzas there is disappointingly little to see. The Grozzas are in fact the second commonest species at the moment with only Fieldfare being more numerous. I did find a Mistle Thrush though which looks to be the latest Oslo record ever but perhaps not a surprise with all the berries and lack of snow. 

a very late Mistle Thrush (duetrost)

Pygmy Owl continues to allude me (and seemingly everyone else) and I am at a loss to understand where they might be. Hazel Grouse has also been a very difficult bird for me to find this autumn but I did find a singing male on one of my trips. 

male Hazel Grouse (jerpe)

An all black corvid that flew up with Hooded Crows from beside the road in Maridalen had me thinking maybe I was going to add a new species to #Oslo2024 in the form of Carrion Crow but it turned out to be a Rook - still a good bird though.

Carrion Crow (kråke) and 1st winter Rook (kornkråke)

Absolute highlight was a Hawk Owl again in Maridalen although as it was 8 days after the last sighting it may well be a new bird. This one was frequenting the edges of stubble fields and I saw it catch 2 voles so may well have found hunting grounds good enough to hang around a bit.

 A trip with the thermal on Thursday evening revealed Snipe and Woodcock but also rodents at a couple of sites (for the first time this autumn) which suggests that there may be an increase in their numbers which is promising. Still a chance for a GGO?

Next week we are forecast to get some snow and also temperatures below zero all day long which I hope will cause a bit of a shake up in the bird scene.

Hawk Owl (haukugle) with I believe a Field Vole (markmus) with its entrails hanging out

and another one

 This video has it calling which I don't remember hearing before other than on breeding grounds:

with the Linderudkollen ski jump in the back ground

here a Crow was flying over causing the owl to adopt a thinner posture

would have been a bit orgasmic if the rowan tree had Grozzas feeding in it!

nice with shadows

coming up from an unsuccesful stoop into the grass

and on its way dow

very feathery legs

claws

here it flew towards me after hearing something and landed less than 5 metres away and stared intently right down

coming up from another unsuccesful stoop

 

I managed to not post a Grosbeak photo!! Here are some Waxwings (sidensvans) instead. It is strange that this species is currently less numerous than the Grozzas