Final birding of 2025

Despite me posting a part 1 of my summary of the year it isn’t over quite yet and I have managed to fit in some birding around festive and family activities. On the 22^nd I guided Emily and Diane from California for a very cold and crisp couple of hours at Huk, Bygdøy. We had a good haul of typical species with Purple Sandpipers headlining.

And today I saw one of the Maridalen Pygmy Owls for the first time in over a month and although I think food is hard for it to find I did see it with rodent in its claws.

We suddenly had a change in the weather just before Christmas with temperatures falling below zero and with no wind ice immediately formed in the bays at Fornebu. We also got the thinnest layer of snow on Christmas Eve so had a white Christmas too.

Maridalsvannet always takes a long time to freeze over but has started freezing over in the bays and there is a chance it will mostly freeze over before the New Year (when in a normal winter it will definitely be frozen) although I suspect it may take a bit longer.

Pygmy Owl (spurveugle) in the Dale

Cormorants (storskarv) at Huk

and Purple Sandpipers (fjæreplytt) same place

Waxwings (sidensvans) are still in the area where I live and a couple joined Fieldfares that were eating wind fallen apples in the garden

Dausjøelva in Maridalen on 27th Dec

and looking over Nesbukta on the 26th with the first ice forming