OSLO BIRDER

No owls.....unfortunately

2012-02-15T14:52:00.001+01:00

Last night I took Madrid birder, Ricardo on a tour of the forests of Mangen in Aurskøg-Høland to listen to owls. These vast forests are the best in the area for Tengmalm's Owls with over 40 being recorded on one trip a few years ago and must have a slim chance of holding Great Grey or Ural especially after the good breeding seasons both have had recently in neighbouring county Hedmark. Wolves are also resident in the area. The middle of February is perhaps a bit early in the season but I felt completely certain that we would hear at least Tengmalm's. As it happened in 3 and a half hours driving through the forest we did not hear or see a single bird or animal. It was a cloudless night with a fantastic display of stars with little wind, both of which should be good conditions for singing owls. The only obvious negative factor was the complete absence of the moon which normally encourages owl activity. Maybe it is a very poor rodent year this year? Whatever the cause I was very disappointed to have to throw in the towel just after midnight and begin the drive home. I expect of course that in the coming weeks others will visit the area and have great success!

To bring some colour to this post, here are some pictures Rune took on our trip to Eftang last week which show a bit of light at this time of the year and the arctic conditions.

This beach held Dunnock, Meadow Pipits and Blackbirds finding food in the washed up seaweed

Birding in semi arctic conditions

Street Walking

2012-02-14T19:29:00.001+01:00

The car was in for repair today (following a burning seatincident last week) so I took the opportunity to tramp the streets of Oslo to see if Icould locate any good species for the upcoming Bird Race. Well after 5 hoursand 15 km of walking the short answer was no not really. I failed to find theGlaucous Gull which was last reported 12 days ago and found no Hawfinches orany other exciting passerines. The Med Gull was still faithful to its parkalthough was a bit shy today (presumably meaning it was already well fed) and afemale Sparrowhawk gave good views. Highlight of the day was a Tawny Owl at itsdaytime roost in Frognerparken which will be a good bird for the bird race.

The Tawny Owl dozing

Female Sparrowhawk

The Tawny Owl is really well camouflaged!

Had to take another picture of the Med Gull given it is about the only national rarity around Oslo

Birds on Ice

2012-02-13T22:28:00.002+01:00

A frozen Kurefjorden

A truly memorable day. Blue sky, no wind, great light andonly a couple of degrees minus. Some good birds too. After a weekend spent inLondon on a stag party I needed to get out to clear the cobwebs. Intrigued by areport of 7 Purple Sandpipers yesterday I chose Kurefjorden as my destination.I was surprised by the extent of the ice with most of Kurefjorden but also muchof the Oslofjord covered in ice. It is the lack of wind recently rather thanextreme cold that has allowed this salt water to freeze over.
Arriving at the Larkollen side of the fjord mouth by the peninsula called DenmarkI soon had the Purple Sands in the scope on a small rocky island that wassurrounded by open water. I then scanned the small areas of open water hopingfor some exciting divers, ducks or grebes but had to be content with a handfulof Great Crested Grebes, Common and Velvet Scoters. Looking towards the Oslofjordand the Sletter islands I noticed that there were birds moving: auks,Goldeneyes, Great crested Grebes and Velvet Scoters. These were birdspresumably moving due to the fjord icing over. Also a flock of 96 CommonScoters on the sea was way larger than any other flock I have seen this winter.There were also 5 Guillemots on the open water and these were at times callingloudly and frequently to each other. I picked up only 3 Rough-legged Buzzardsin my first scan of the islands and then had a smaller raptor flying low andaway from me which turned out to be a female Sparrowhawk. This first perched onMellom Sletter island before heading for Store Sletter. I followed it in thescope and was amazed to see it put up a flock of waders as it reached the beachat Store Sletter. The flock split in twowith 60 heading south and 40 heading out of sight behind Store Sletter. Therewas a larger bird with the southbound flock which turned out to be a GreyPlover and the other birds could only be Dunlin based on their size and howthey flew as a flock although I struggled to note much in the way of plumage.This is a very exceptional record. There have been a few waders in the Oslofjord recently including a couple of Knot but such high numbers (and three separatespecies) is extreme. I can only think that these are birds that have beendisplaced by the freezing conditions in Denmark or Germany and have somehowheaded north and then been funnelled up the Oslofjord. The flat Sletter Islandswhich were surrounded by open water were presumably one of very few suitable placesfor them to land although I cannot see them hanging around as food must be veryscarce.

I kept scanning the islands but failed to see them again. Idid get much better views of the Purple Sandpipers on their rock and thenpicked out a distant White-tailed Eagle perched on Søndre Sletter. Thisdisappeared after 10 minutes although I assume it just dropped down the backside of the island. Twenty minutes later a 1^st winter White TailedEagle flew from behind me towards Store Sletter and put up six Rough-leggedBuzzards giving me 9 in total. I am certain that this eagle was a new bird as Icannot see how the other bird could have flown from its island without meseeing it.

Also 2 common seals in the water.

Heading for Brentetangen to see if there was any birds movingI was very surprised to see that the fjord was over 90% frozen with 8 sealssitting on the ice as though we were in the arctic. There was some open waterclose to Brentetangen and this held 46 Guillemots, 6 Razorbills and a few ducks. There were also a few Guillemots sitting or standing on the ice looking verylost.

My last port of call was Moss where I hoped the harbour mayhold some interesting gulls. Unfortunately I could not find anything among thecouple of hundred Herring Gulls other than a few Great Black-backs andBlack-headed Gulls but the ducks were more interesting. 570 Mallard, 210 Tuftedand 10 Goldeneyes held a male Gadwall in their midst as well as 3 Coot.

On the drive back I had 2 Great Grey Shrikes by the motorway(the birds that hang out either side of Vestby) one of which I had also seen onthe way down.

Kurefjorden looking towards the Oslo fjord

The largest bird of the day

Looking south from Brentetangen. There were 8 Common Seal hauled up on the ice in the middle of the fjord

The harbour in Moss with in excess of 1000 birds

All in all a very enjoyable day with the icing over of theOslo fjord causing some exciting concentrations of birds.

Pygmy Owl in Maridalen

2012-02-10T13:20:00.000+01:00

Pygmy Owl

The inaugral Oslo and Akershus winter bird race is happening in a couple of weeks so I thought I would do a reccee of Maridalen by ski to see if there might be any reliabel sites for forest grouse or woodpeckers. Well the short answer is no but I did have a Pygmy Owl in the same place as December which is definitely a good sign for the race.

Also a young moose ran over the road in front of me.

Moose

For once the forest was not silent and I actually had good numbers of Tits with one flock containing 20 Great, 6 Coal and 4 Willow. The reason for the good numbers here is probably the close proximity of houses with feeding stations. Also 2 drumming Great Spotted Woodpeckers which is a pleasant sign of spring and a single Black Woodpecker.

Redpolls

2012-02-09T19:38:00.002+01:00

When I was growing up there were only two redpoll species toworry about although there was also the subspecies Mealy Redpoll. Then somebiologist provided enough proof for the splitters to create 3 species plus someunanswered questions regarding the races found in Iceland and Greenland. Nowfrom what I understand they may all get lumped and that wouldn't necessarily bea bad thing.
Today I was lucky enough to find a flock of 30 redpolls of which at least onewas a clear Arctic Redpoll (a snow ball with wings), one a clear Lesser Redpolland the rest Common (Mealy) Redpolls of varying colours with some at the brownend and some at the white end of plumage variation.
The birds were by the road near Rygge and only gave good scope views so nopictures unfortunately.
Today was a crisp, cold and sunny so the destination today was Kurefjorden. Nonew birds to see compared with earlier visits and fewer birds generallyprobably as a result of an exodus as the fjord was half frozen. Five differentRough-legged Buzzards on the islands and a couple of Great Grey Shrikes werethe highlights with 300 Goldeneyes and 24 Velvet Scoter on the water.
I also visited the next fjord to the south, Krokstadfjord, for the first time.This is a narrow fjord but has some mudflats and looks a good site. A Red-throatedDiver, 4 Great Crested Grebes and 4 Razorbills were of note.
On the drive home I had a Grey-headed Woodpecker low over the car allowing meto see the grey undersides and lack of barring in the tail to rule out Green.

Pictures in the sun

2012-02-08T21:24:00.000+01:00

Mute Swan

Taiga Bean Goose

Goldeneye pair

No "real" birding today but I did drop into Kadettangen at Sandvika whilst the sun was shining and managed some slightly better pictures of the Bean Goose aswell as a nice picture of a Mute Swan and a pair of Goldeneye.

Eftang

2012-02-07T21:48:00.001+01:00

Rune and I visited Eftang in Vestfold for the first time today. About an hour and a half from Oslo, between Sandefjord and Larvik, it is a coastal site with many small bays and islands and looks a very promising migration site.
On the way I added (Taigai) Bean Goose to my year list at Sandvika where a bird has been present with the Mallards and Mute Swans since the weekend. The white around the bill suggests this bird is the same as that seen around the Oslo area in the late autumn and which I saw in Sørkedalen - where has it been in the meantime?

Taiga Bean Goose

The drive down was relatively uneventful except for an unidentified raptor (even possibly a Hawk Owl) seen at 100(+) km/hour perched on a tree on the other side of the motorway which caused us to turn at the next junction, drive back, stop on the hard shoulder and fail to relocate the bird! Not a single drive-by Great Grey Shrike to report although a Starling on a lamppost was only my second of 2012.
Driving past Klåstadkilen we had the first Common Buzzard of the year and arriving at Eftang a small beach with washed-up seaweed proved to be a source of food for 4 Blackbirds, a Dunnock (year tick) and 3 Meadow Pipits (unusual winter record). Offshore there were many Eiders, a couple of Red-throated Divers and Great Crested Grebes and best of all 2 Black Guillemots and a Little Auk. The Black Guillemots breed here at one of their closest locations to Oslo.
We then headed for the Tønsberg and Horten area. Presterødkilen was completely frozen but by the coast at Husøy we located a few waterbirds and amongst them was the long staying Black Duck rather than one of his hybrid offspring. Also 3 Little Grebes, a few scoter and 6 Razorbills.
We tried a few other bays along the coast and despite perfect viewing conditions added precious little esle except for Steinbrygga where the bay held a flock of 41 Great Crested Grebes, a single Red-throated Diver and 7 Guillemots.

A rather distant Black Duck

Blizzard conditions

2012-02-06T13:42:00.001+01:00

Strong southerly winds and snow did not make for easy viewing but I gave Drøbak a go this morning hoping for a new influx of gulls. Far fewer gulls than normal on show and no sign of any Iceland Gulls but I did have this probable hybrid between Glaucous and Herring Gull. These birds are difficult to identify with some people merely labeling them as pale (northern) Herring Gulls however this bird had a Glaucous Gull feel to it being larger than the accompanying Herring Gulls and also having a noticeable two toned bill like Glaucous)

Probable 1st winter hybrid between Glaucous and Herring Gull

Note 2 toned bill, paler plumage than Herring Gulls, pale tipped tertials and primaries

Probably Glaucous x Herring Gulll hybrid

I checked out the fjord in Oslo but had only 300 Herring Gulls resting by the Opera. A quick stop to look for the Med Gull at Marienlyst eventually turned up trumps although it took a long time for the Med Gull to come into the bread. The birds were quite skittish due probably to the presence of a young male Goshawk in the area. Also 2 Black-headed Gulls with the Common Gulls.

Mediterranean Gull Oslo

Collared Dove Marienlyst

Freezing

2012-02-04T19:36:00.000+01:00

The high pressure that is bringing cold weather to much of Europe caused temperatures to drop to -18C this morning. There seems little evidence of new arrivals of birds due to the weather although on the garden feeders today were a pair of Coal Tits which are very rare here despite being common in the forests surrounding Oslo. A total of 5 Blackbirds, 2 Fieldfares and a single Robin are managing to find enough natural food in the area although have also taken to apples that I put out. The sparrow flock contains 12 of both House and Tree and easily outnumber the 2 Greenfinches and seemingly also only 2 each of Blue and Great Tit. In previous years we have had much higher numbers of all three of these species and also regular Redpolls which are completely absent from the garden this year. The feeding stations in Maridalen also have far fewer birds than previous winters. Whether this is due to a local population decline or due to the relatively mild winter (until now) I don't know.

Gulling

2012-02-02T20:58:00.002+01:00

Today was cold but sunny so I thought Iwould see if I could get some better pictures of Oslo’s scarce gulls.

The Glaucous Gull decided to hang aroundwith the drug pushers on the shady side of the river and didn’t even move onwhen the police came – a real tough brute. Not even the police managed to movehim on. Finally he took to the wing but not to visit me and my bread butinstead to land on the ice. I managed some pictures but not as close as I hadhoped.

1st winter Glaucous Gull Oslo

This portrait of Herring Gull was supposedto have been of the brute himself.

Herring Gull

The Med Gull initially didn’t want to joinin with the Common Gulls that came to my bread and only did a couple of flypasts. Then an old lady walked across the park and all the gulls left me andwere joined by tens more such that around 120 gulls were flying expectantlyover this woman. I went over to her and she explained that she regularly fedthe birds here with bread and cat food! The birds obviously liked what she hadand were also not scared at all and landed very close (just shows what cleverbirds gulls are). The Med Gull also got in on the action but at times it wasdifficult to keep track of where it was.

1st winter Mediterranean Gull

wolfing down some bread

I did not manage to bump into the Eagle Owlwhich Per Christian was lucky enough to a couple of days ago as he went to hiscar after work at 5pm. He noticed a huge swarm of angry crows venting theiranger on something which turned out to be an Eagle Owl. Obviously you just needto be in the right place at the right time at dusk and listen out for hundredsof crows!

The sound of silence

2012-02-01T21:07:00.000+01:00

Simon andGarfunkel could have written a song about today!

The plan was to dosome real frontier birding by driving to Fjellsjøkampen in the north of Akershus county on the border with Oppland, putting on our skis and exploring some real wild forest. This we were sure would reveal such exciting (and locally rare) species as SiberianJay, Willow Grouse, Pine Grosbeak, Hawk Owl and Golden Eagle, not to mentionspecies like Capercaille, Black Grouse, Three-toed Woodpecker, Hazel Grouse andvarious crossbills.

Well I scored with2 of the species on that list and Rune had three but we saw precious littleelse. On the drive up (a bit over an hour from Oslo) it began to snow and thethermometer went as low as -14C – hardly conducive for a bird rich enjoyableski. A Great Grey Shrike by the road was in a habitat that looked more suitablefor Hawk Owl but was nice enough. The trees were all covered in a thick layerof snow as we got to our first location. We went for a 5km ski and in that timeheard or saw ABSOLUTELY nothing avian. We did see squirrel and hare tracks soknew there was life in these parts but birds were only noticeable by theirabsence.

The second 10kmlong ski resulted in a bit (but only a bit) more life. As we parked the carRune glimpsed a Hazel Grouse in flight and then as we started skiing animaltracks were very evident with moose, hare and squirrel. We met one other personon skis who had seen moose and a group of 12 Black Grouse but was actually outlooking for signs of Lynx although hadn’t seen any. As we left the main skitrack and took a narrow path that went up and up my skiing skills were put severely tothe test but we did see some birds. First 2 male Black Grouse exploded from thesnow beside the path (they were buried down in the snow) and then Rune againglimpsed a Hazel Grouse in flight (due to his far superior skiing abilities hewas able to look around far more than I managed). As we tried unsucessfully to relocate thegrouse we heard a tapping woodpecker that failed to see what must have beena Three-toed. We continued skiing towards the top of Fjellsjøkampen but due to the time hadto turn around before making the top where Siberian Jay is supposed to be found.The ski back down was noticeable only for the number of times I fell but as Ireached the bottom I stopped for a listen (and breather) and again heard atapping. This time the bird showed and proved to be a fine Three-toedWoodpecker which even allowed itself to be photographed with my compact camera.

On the way home we made a brief stop for a reported Siberian Jay. Last weekend was the annual garden bird count and a surprising record was of 2 Siberian Jays very close to Gardemoen airport. This is unusually far south and also a lowland record which is very unexpected in these parts. We located the garden easily enough and it had plenty of birds but its location surround by fields and a road with the nearest forest a couple of hundred metres away made it a strange location. The 10 minutes we had did not reveal the birds..

Three-toed Woodpecker

The ski track at the bottom of Fjellsjøkampen

The snowy view over endless forest

Oslo Birder falling

Oslo Birder nearly looking like he was born with skis on his feet

Rough-legged Buzzards

2012-01-31T15:35:00.003+01:00

It is starting to get cold and the forecast is for as low as -16C at the weekend. I had a trip to Kurefjorden today but despite there being little wind viewing condtions were difficult with a heat haze(!) over the water.
Highlight was undoubtedly 8 Rough-legged Buzzards on the islands at the mouth of the fjord. What they are feeding on I am not sure but there is clearly enough food for them. One island which is 1km long and about 500m wide had 5 Rough-leggeds, an adult female Goshawk and 2 Ravens on it. The birds spent most of their time sitting with little sign of active hunting. One bird flew close over me but of course I blew what could have been a fantastic photo opportunity. Here is the best shot I managed aswell as a picture of 2 together.

Rough-legged Buzzard

Otherwise little to see with no divers and just 2 Great Grey Shrikes although both were at new sites for me. 11 Common Seals showed well with 10 hauled out on a rock close to land and a single in the water. There were a couple of creamy coloured youngsters.

Common Seals hauled out

The century

2012-01-30T15:41:00.001+01:00

The Med Gull yesterday was my 99th speciesfor the year so I felt I needed to put the effort in today to take me to 100species in January which is no mean feat in this neck of the woods. A Grey-headedWoodpecker has been regularly reported coming to a feeding post in Akershus butI ignorantly believed it to be a long drive from Oslo. On checking closerthough I found out it was only 20 minutes from the house and that it was easilyaccessible. So the plan for today was made.

When I arrived at the site I soon found thefeeding station which was just a couple of fat balls hung up on a tree in afield on the edge of a wood. Easy enough to view but there were few birds tosee. Soon I heard a woodpecker tapping but this turned out to be a GreatSpotted (one of four in the area) but not long after there was the call of aGreen/Grey-headed close by. It took a while to locate the bird but then thereit was sitting high up in leafless tree – a fine male Grey-headedWoodpecker. This is only the third one Ihave seen so it deserved some scrutiny. I also heard the call enough tohopefully be able to distinguish from Green in the future.

Grey-headed Woodpecker

As I was not too far from Drøbak I chose tolook at the gulls again. Only the long staying light 1^st winterIceland Gull to be found amongst the Herring Gulls but I was able to get someOK flight pictures this time.

I picked up the Pytt, Vestby Great GreyShrike on the way home to round off a very efficient mornings birding!

1st winter Iceland Gull

Finally...Med Gull

2012-01-29T15:04:00.001+01:00

Thanks to the diligent work of SindreMolværsmyr yesterday I was finally able to get to grips with the Med Gull.Sindre found out where the gull hangs out during the day, namely the areaaround Marienlyst in Majorstua. I have myself checked out this area three timesas there were quite a few Common Gulls here but plainly not well enough. Iglimpsed the gull flying around the roof tops in the area but as soon as Istarted throwing bread in the park the entire local population of gulls descendedand there amongst 60 or so Common Gulls was the Med Gull. The birds were waryat first but soon settled down and even allowed Per Christian to drive down andsee it. I fired off a couple of hundred pictures only to realise that I had thesettings all wrong but still managed some half decent pics. It was alsointeresting noting the variation amongst the Common Gulls – some of them aresurely from a long way to the east in Russia. No Ring-billed Gull thoughunfortunately.

Spot the odd one out

In classic gull habitat

The undamaged primaries on the right wing prove this bird to be different to the one I found in October at Fornebu

Proudly(?) sporting 2 rings

1st winter (2k) Mediterranean Gull

A young Goshawk kept buzzing the areaputting gulls and doves in a panic. The local Collared Dove flock numbered 38which is I believe a record local count for this declining Norwegian species.

Although difficult to see in this picture there was a distinct pink wash to the breast of this adult Common Gull

A particularly dark-headed Common Gull

Østfold

2012-01-27T20:58:00.000+01:00

Østfold with Rune Z today. It was arelatively warm 0 (zero) degrees today but a fresh wind from the east ensuredthat it felt bitterly cold all day. I had hoped to add a good handful of yearticks to take me over 100 in January for the first time but ended up with just2 which takes me to 98 with 4 days to go. Today’s Great Grey Shrike count wasfive which equals (as far as I remember) my day record – I also “won” today’sShrike count a rather impressive 5-0.

The first bird of any note was the regularGreat Grey Shrike along the road from Råde to Fredrikstad followed by the longstaying Carrion Crow by the road in Fredrikstad which allowed itself to (badly)photographed. We then headed for the dump that is Øra (it is literally a dump –an enormous rubbish tip) but one that is a favoured and exciting birdinglocation for many but has never quite got me going. Here there were many gullsto go through but surprisingly nothing interesting. We did pick out 2 Scaupamongst 40 odd Tufted Ducks and a couple of Chaffinches here were of note butno White-Tailed Eagles showed for us.

We then tried a few sites south-east ofFredrikstad and picked up a Little Grebe, another Great Grey Shrike and aroadside flock of 70 Whooper Swans that were very vocal.

Whooper Swans

Driving towardsKurefjorden a roadside Starling was the first of the day’s year ticks and thenas we drove from Råde to Kurefjorden we had the third Great Grey Shrike of theday. Kurefjorden was ice free and also very low with vast (bird free) mudflatsvisible. 300 Goldeneye and 400 Mallard were the dominant birds but also 3Slavonian Grebes, 4 Great Crested Grebes, 15 Velvet Scoters and 2 CommonScoters. Moving to Larkollen at the mouth of Kurefjorden we picked out 2 of thewintering Rough-legged Buzzards on the Sletter islands and after a lot ofsearching I picked up 2 distant divers. These turned out to be Red-throated butas I got Rune on to them he noticed a much closer diver – a Great NorthernDiver, a fine bird, a year tick and a long overdue bird for me at this location.A few more Great Crested Grebes and Velvet Scoters here.

The drive back along the E18 added 2 moreGreat Grey Shrikes at the usual places near Moss and Vestby.

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable day withsome good birds to boot!

A black bird or is it a Carrion Crow?

Tick tock

2012-01-26T17:21:00.002+01:00

Yet another part of my life wasted waiting for the Med Gull to appear!
An hour and half of of shivering split over two sessions failed to turn up the goods even though I was there during the perfect mid afternoon window. 10 Black-headed Gulls gave some hope but they failed to attract their rarer cousin. A single Goshawk and 2 Sparrowhawks overhead where the only birds of note.

One less bogey to pick (off)

2012-01-25T16:38:00.000+01:00

I headed for the Tønsberg/Horten area inVestfold today hoping to add to my year list. The first stop was Rosanes wherethe main target was the male Black Duck that is now into its 11th year here.Despite normally being an easy bird I could not find it although a lot of icehad reduced the number of Mallards in the area considerably. I did see at least3 proofs of its (past) existence though in the form of hybrids presumably withMallard. A few Goosander, Red-breasted Merganser and Goldeneye had a femaleSmew in their midst and amongst the 100 or so Mallard were 5 Teal and a malePintail.

Then I scanned the bay and picked off mybogey. RED-NECKED GREBE was finally added to my Norwegian list. It was easy toID (they really are quite different from Great Crested) and gave reasonable ifslightly distant views. I even managed a couple of record shots:

Red-necked Grebe

In Presterødkilen 2 male Pochard werehanging with 40 Tufted Ducks and were a good winter record.

I then drove to Horten checking the seawhere ever possible. My hope was to find some white-winged Gulls but I failedon this score. Near Horten at Steinbrygga the bay held a flock of 26 GreatCrested Grebes and a single Red-throated Diver and at Møringa 8 Oystercatherswere a good winter record.

The Med Gull seems to have settled intosome rhythm with 3 sightings since Sunday in the mid afternoon atFrognerparken. Maybe time to give it one last go?

Smew

Are you sure you want to delete this picture?

2012-01-24T15:06:00.001+01:00

1st winter Iceland Gull

Yesterday I decided to "clean up" the picture gallery that the blog's pictures are stored in. Very very bad idea!! I found out this morning that nearly every single picture in the blog was no longer visible and needed to be relinked. Next time I will pay more attention to the warning message that appears when you delete a photo. It will take hours to relink all the pictures.

A brief visit to look at the Iceland Gull(s) at Drøbak again today revealed just the light coloured 1st winter. On the way back I saw my third Pygmy Owl of the year which is quite amazing that in 2011 I had to wait until December 23rd for my one and only record.

I photographed an interesting adult gull amongst the Herring Gulls. I could discern no differences from Herring Gull in size or structure and general colouration seemed the same but there was very little black in the wings especially the underwing. Here are a few pictures, comments would be welcome

Very pale underwing

Middle bird - little black visible on (nearly) closed wings

Upper and under wing patterns. Appears to be some missing/damaged feathers on the right wing

Practiacally no black visible on upperwing but note slightly blurred wingtips

Closed wing

I believe this to be same bird although photographed it later and didn't see it in flight. Structure and general impression does not look different to Herring Gull

Red Squirrel

2012-01-23T15:59:00.002+01:00

Very little birding to report over the lastfew days. A pair of Nutcrackers at Frognerseteren on Saturday was the highlightof yet another birdless ski trip in the forest. Yesterday Kjetil J. refound theMed Gull at Frognerparken on his 10th attempt and this motivated me to makeanother visit there this morning. I have also made at least 10 attempts andwill clearly have to make some more if I am to see this elusive bird. Aphotogenic Red Squirrel was the highlight:

Red Squirrel

I found the tail patterning to beparticularly colourful in this picture.

Look Nick: an owl

2012-01-20T20:40:00.000+01:00

Just before New Year I was contacted by Doncasterbirder Nick Whitehouse who had seen my pictures of the Great Grey Owl andwanted to know how easy it would be to see it if he came over for a weekendwith some mates. We kept in contact although no definite plans were made untilI posted my pictures from Wednesday which prompted an email asking if I wouldbe around today and could I pick him up from Rygge airport and take him to thebird. Well of course Nick and after all I’ve seen it three times out of threewhich makes it a definite, doesn’t it?

0945 I picked Nick up and on the hour longdrive to Barm, Vesterøy we noted two drive-by Great Grey Shrikes. Arriving atBarm we were very alert but failed to see the bird as we drove the length ofthe small valley. Parking the car we saw another birder who had been presentsince dawn without luck. A bad omen perhaps.

The temperature was around -5C with clearblue skies and hardly a sniff of wind – surely ideal conditions for a hungryowl. Well we walked up and down that road countless times and the conditionslooked more ideal (to us) for every kilometre we put under our belts but thebird didn’t seem to share our point of view. We did see a pair of BlackWoodpeckers calling and checking out nesting sites, Waxwings and Crested Titsso we were kept entertained.

We then spotted the other birder off thepath with his camera pointed up a tree. Could this be it?? We cautiously edgedcloser and then I saw the bird: an owl, Nick an owl! It wasn’t quite asphotogenic as the owl on Wednesday but I still managed a reasonable picture:

Well I guess you can’t have luck with youall the time although it was still a good bird and a bird that has never beenseen in the UK (unless they suppressed one at Spurn).

We kept going for another 2 and half hoursuntil dusk turned into night but with no sign of the Pygmy Owl’s considerablylarger cousin. This was a day when effort was definitely not rewarded: 6 hourssolidly in the field deserved more especially for Nick who had got up at 2am tocatch the Ryan Air flight from Manchester. The flight home isn’t until Sundayso Nick will probably make his way to the site by train and bus tomorrow tohave another shot: good luck Nick!

View of the Great Grey Owl's favourite hunting area

Pygmy Owl

2012-01-19T15:18:00.003+01:00

Today was devoted to some (much needed) physical exercise and a 12km ski in Sørkedalen. I foolishly chose not to take bins and therefore had to be content with naked eye views of a Pygmy Owl that sat at the top of a spruce tree right by the track. A calling Black Woodpecker here was also my first of the year. Otherwise practically birdless in the forest.

That owl again

2012-01-18T21:38:00.003+01:00

Today was time to see if the Great Grey Owlwas still present and to give Rune his second tick in the space of two daysafter he had got to grips with one of the Iceland Gulls yesterday.

On the drive down we had the possibility offour drive-by Great Grey Shrikes but only managed a single this time. Coming toHvaler I spotted a hunting falcon and stopping the car as safely as we could wegot the scopes out and found a raptor swimming in the water at quite somedistance on top of prey and making its way slowly to an island. The bird musthave swum (flapping frenetically) over 10 metres with its prey before haulingup on land. The raptor turned out to be a young female Peregrine (was hopingfor a Gyr) and the prey item appeared to be a gull which judging from size wasmost likely to have been a Little Gull (in itself a pretty good record!). Itwas quite a feat for the young bird to swim such a distance with a prey itemhalf its size in its talons!

Arriving at the owl site we noticed whatlooked like recent tree felling along the route of some telegraph wires andfeared that this could have disturbed the owl. We searched the relatively smallarea very diligently for an hour and a quarter without any success and assumedthat it had moved on (it has not been reported for 10 days although it onlyappears that a couple of people have searched for it in the meantime). Deciding to move onto pastures new we got in the car and had driven 200metres pastwhere we had been searching and what was that sitting less than 20metres fromthe road?

The view that greeted us after we had given up and were driving away!

We had driven past on the way in withoutseeing the bird so either we were not observant enough or maybe wehad unknowingly disturbed it during our search and it had flown to thisposition. Anyway it showed amazingly well seemingly unaffected by or presenceand continuing to search the ground for prey. I took many photos and permitmyself to show some of the best here:

Great Grey Owl

coming into land

I don't need to move my body to look behind me - can you do that?

Happy Oslo Birder

City Birding

2012-01-17T22:23:00.002+01:00

I held myself around Oslo today and made another attempt for the Med Gull at Frognerpark. After an hour and a quarter I had to throw in the towel again with only a handful of Blach-headed Gulls, a few colour ringed Herring Gulls and the overwintering female Teal for my troubles.
To add some excitement to the day I went to look for the Glaucous Gull again and this time it was sitting on the river bank on the same side of the river I was looking from giving frame filling views. I'm quite happy with the pictures I took:

Glaucous Gull

The bird doesn't seem to be too bothered after it was targeted by the gull ringers and is remaining faithful to this grotty part of town.
I tried to find my own rare gull on the frozen fjord by the opera but amongst 400 loafing Herring Gulls I could only turn up 3 Common Gulls. Why is it that only a few kilometres away there are 3 Iceland Gulls amongst 100 Herring Gulls and rare gulls turn up on grotty river banks and in parks but there are none amongst the largest local concentration of Herring Gulls? I picked up the female Kestrel which is wintering in the docks - a rare local winter record and then dropped in at Fornebu where the only bird of note was yet another Great Grey Shrike.

Male Bullfinch Frognerparken

Rear end of a male Teal, Sandvika

Iceland Gulls galore

2012-01-16T22:45:00.001+01:00

Today has to be the best birding day of the year so far (and it has been a long year!). No ticks and not even a year tick and only a single Great Grey Shrike but fantastic views of 3 Iceland Gulls were more than enough. There has been a 1st winter Iceland Gull on the fjord near Drøbak since 26th December with 2 1st winters (1 light and 1 dark) seen on 28th December and then yesterday the light 1st winter was reported alongside a 3rd winter and possibly another light 1st winter (although all three birds were not seen together). I saw the original bird on 3rd January but had also dipped twice.
I made my way down there this morning knowing that with light winds the viewing conditions would be good. When I arrived there were a few gulls loafing around close to shore but most gulls were in the middle of the fjord behind a fishing boat at around 800m range. Scanning through them I saw one white winged gull and then another and was that another? It took a few minutes to ascertain that there were 3 birds and based on size and structure they all seemed to be Iceland Gulls (a Glaucous Gull was also reported yesterday) but the range was too far to age them. I threw some bread out but the gulls didn't seem interested. Then a local fisherman turned up. I could swear the birds recognised him because before he even threw anything into the sea the gulls started flying towards him. He said they thought he was throwing fish but instead he threw out 3 whole loaves of bread. This lead to a feeding frenzy with all the large gulls within sight flocking in. Over 100 Herring Gulls, 4 Great Black-backs and all 3 of the Iceland Gulls were feeding just 20metres or so offshore. The Iceland Gulls were 2 1st winters (one light and one dark) and a very neat 3rd winter that looked very near adult except for cream colouring on the neck and some faint cream marking on the wing and tail (I wonder if it could even have been 4th winter). The darker of the 1st winters had me wondering whether it could be of the race Kumlieni but I believe it just to be an extreme nominate race bird.

The 2 1st winters

The dark 1st winter

The light 1st winter

3rd winter Iceland Gull

The 3rd winter really standing out

1st winters taking off

Dark 1st winter

The 2 1st winters

3rd winter in flight

The light 1st winter in flight

After sating myself on the Gulls I went to Kurefjord where I hoped to catch up with the Great Northern Diver. No luck on that count but I did see the 3 overwintering Rough-legged Buzzards again and 2 Red-throated Divers alongside the usual suspects. Driving home there was a Great Grey Shrike by the E18 at a new site for me.

Mølen

2012-01-13T20:46:00.001+01:00

It was time for a Vestfold tour today with Rune Zand only my second ever trip to Mølen. We chose a bad day for it with very string W/NW winds making viewing conditions quite difficult - tears in the eyes and shaky tripods.
The year ticks ticked in during the day even though we had only one scarce species which was Bearded Tit. Great Grey Shrike count was a mediocre two.
Mølen produced Rock and Meadow Pipit and Skylark which are all species that are not to be found around Oslo at this time of the year but seem to be able to find enough food only 2 hours drive to the south. A Shag was also a species that whilst regular here would be a major rarity closer to Oslo. We failed to find the Great Northern Diver that others saw amongst the Velvet and Common Scoters and Eiders.
We checked another couple of shallow bays without adding anything too exciting except for a roadside Great Grey Shrike and then went to Rakke. This is a small headland with shallow bays that looks to be a very exciting location during migration periods. We had to be content with a Red-throated Diver and another Shrike.
With all the driving it was now starting to get dark (the days are over at 4pm at the moment) so we headed for Presterødkilen in Tønsberg where we had a chance of a few year ticks. We couldn't locate either Black Duck or Smew but did have Wigeon and the highlight of the trip was hearing 2+ Bearded Tits and a Water Rail in the extensive reedbeds here.
Final bird of the day was a few Rooks in Horten after sunset.

1 out of 2

2012-01-12T20:40:00.001+01:00

Today i had decided i would add two species to my year list: Med Gull and Little Grebe both of which have been seen over the last couple of days in Oslo.
The Little Grebe came very easily and also at a new location. I popped into Kadettangen in Sandvika to check if there were any interesting gulls or ducks and the first bird I saw before even leaving the car was Little Grebe - if only it was always so easy. Also here a male Teal, a couple of Tufted Duck, 42 Mute Swans and an adult male Goshawk that put all the local pigeons and gulls into a panic.
I checked out the two sites which have held Little Grebe in the last week but without finding one so the bird I saw was presumeably one of these relocating.
I spent an hour at Frognerparken hoping for the Med Gull to put in a occurence but to no avail. 12 Black-headed Gulls, 5 Common Gulls, 25 Herring Gulls, the female Teal and two Tufted Ducks were the highlights. I was able to read colour rings on 3 1st winter and one 2nd winter Herring Gull plus a 1st winter Common Gull. Two of the young Herring Gulls had been ringed as nestlings last June in Bærum (very close to Oslo) and the other 3 had all been caught locally and have been seen often in Oslo area but not further afield.

Tyrifjord

2012-01-11T22:14:00.000+01:00

Another enjoyable days birding with Rune Zbut noticeably fewer birds today. Weheaded north of Oslo to the Tyrifjord area which is one of the best areas insouthern Norway during migration but as we found out does not have too much tooffer on a cold winters days.

Pretty much the first bird we saw when wearrived in the area was a roadside Great Grey Shrike which showed well as itsat on top of a snow covered birch tree. I saw this bird in flight and it had the expected small white primary patch of an excubitor.

Great Grey Shrike

Driving around the fjord most of theusually bird rich shallow bays were frozen. There were a few Mute Swans with 52at Rossholmstranda and alongside these were 2 Coot and perhaps the dayshighlight a Slavonian Grebe. We also had two family parties of Whooper Swansduring the day plus small numbers of Goldeneye and a handful of Goosander. Another roadside Great Grey Shrike makes 12 sightings of 10 birds in 2012!!

In Vikersund the river had a few swans andducks (same species as we had seen elsewhere) plus 8 Coot. Highlight herethough was 7 Dippers that we saw from the bridge – I have never seen so manybefore.

A stop at Bergsvingen near Fiskumvannetproduced a fine adult Peregrine sitting on a mast and a final stop atLinnestranda revealed an ice covered bay and hence no waterbirds but there wasa nice Marsh Tit that allowed me to get my best ever picture of the species. InNorway it is quite easy to separate March and Willow Tits on plumage whereasthe races in the UK seem to be pretty much indistinguishable unless you see apale spot on the bill of Marsh Tit. Note the lack of pale wing patch and generally much browner plumage.

Marsh Tit

Willow Tit

Here is a picutre of a Willow Tit from Maridalen in October showing the greyer plumage and white wing patch. Something interesting to note from these pictures is that the Marsh Tit looks to have a dull (i.e not shiny) black cap and the Willow Tit to have a shiny cap. This is the opposite of what many books tell you to look for.

Skiing

2012-01-10T15:04:00.000+01:00

The 20cm of snow that fell yesterday meant that there was finally enough snow for skiing around Oslo so I headed for Sørkedalen and set off into the forest. This was my first proper ski trip of the winter and after 11km a couple of blisters and aching muscles told me that enough was enough. Despite there being no wind I only saw or heard a single bird during the entire trip and that was a crow!! Where were the Pine Grosbeaks, Three-toed Woodpeckers or Two-barred Crossbills??
Driving back home I had another bird sitting on top of a birch tree - guess what a Great Grey Shrike. My tenth sighting in 2012 and most likely the same bird that I saw in Sørkedalen a couple of times at the end of 2011. It is obviously finding enough food even if I didn't see any passerines.
A quick drive round Maridalen revealed a couple of Dippers which were my first of the year and would also have made fantastic photo objects if I only I had remembered my camera.

Glaucous Gull

2012-01-09T22:48:00.000+01:00

Glaucous Gull

I had planned to spend today birding in Oslo with the aim of finding a rare gull. I was unfortunately beaten to the post over the weekend when 2 Glaucous Gulls were found with one prety much as down town as it gets right by Oslo's biggest hotel. No need to change my plans for today then and things were made a little easier as I now knew exactly where to start my searching. Heavy snow was falling which didn't make viewing conditions too easy but luckily meant the gulls were just loafing around. I drew a blank in the bay outside the opera building where there are often large groups of gulls but I then went to check the river by the hotel. This area is the centre of the drug dealing district in Oslo but the snow seemed to be keeping the pushers inside and allowed me to search for the gull in peace. I found it on my second scan of the assembled Mallards and Herring Gulls - a fine, and large, 1st winter Glaucous Gull at first sat on the water and then perched on the concrete steps on the opposite side. It seems to be a very confiding bird and also staying loyal to a small stretch of the river
Bouyed by this I headed down to the docks with the idea of relocating the Mediterranean Gull that hasn't been seen for a couple of weeks. The docks also happen to be Oslo's red light district and the 2 rather innapropriately clad (for the weather) ladies of the night who were standing under umbrellas may have got the wrong impression as I ended up driving past them 3 times!
I failed to find a Med Gull but there were a few Black-headed Gulls which is a scarce winter bird in these parts - in all i saw 19 today. A tight flock of 700 Goldeneyes was feeding offshore and close by 250 Mallard, 5 Tufted and best of all 2 Long-tailed Ducks. Also a few Guillemots with a single Razorbill.
Next stop was Frognerpark to check the Gulls but 10 Black-headed Gulls didn't contain anything more exciting. Amongst the Mallards were 4 Tufted Ducks and a Teal.
A quick look at the fjord from Fornebu revealed a small flock of Common Scoter and a couple of Velvet Scoter alongside a handful of Guillemots and Razorbills. A Crested Tit was my first of the year.
I saw a colour ringed 1st winter Herring Gull (J2882) which I have reported and found out that it was first ringed on 15th August last year in Oslo and has been reported regularly, also in Oslo, since then.

Interesting shrike

2012-01-06T22:20:00.000+01:00

I had the enjoyable company today of Rune Z for a days birding in Akershus and Østfold. We had initially planned to go for the Iceland Gull and GG Owl which Rune had yet to see and which I was more than happy to see again but our plans changed along the way. We tried for the Iceland Gull on the way out and put in a good amount of effort to find it but without success although it was found later in the day. We did have around 200 Waxwings though which showed well although I couldn't work out what they were feeding on. We wasted quite a bit of time looking for the gull so decided not to go for the owl but instead spend some time at Kurefjorden as the blue skies and near windless conditions promised for good viewing conditions and maybe some raptors.
When we arrived at Kurefjorden we were surprised to see that over half of the inner fjord was covered in ice (it had been ice free on Tuesday and is tidal) on but there were still a few ducks to be seen, mostly Goldeneyes but also 10 Velvet Scoter. A Great Crested Grebe sat on the ice was alive but possibly trapped in the ice.
We saw the first of in all FIVE Great Grey Shrikes distantly from our first stop to scan the fjord and then as we drove around to Ovenbukta on the other side we had 2 others from the car. The three birds were all about 1-2 km apart and we saw them within such short time of each other that it seems inconceivable for there to be any duplication. Also on the drive round we had a Peregrine in fast hunting flight from the car before it gave up the chase and then headed away from us.
Coming to Ovenbukta we saw the days 4th Great Grey Shrike (which I had also seen on Tuesday) and this one allowed us close enough views to study it. Although I have seen many GG Shrikes this autumn and winter I have not spent much time looking at them mostly because the majority have been seen from a moving car or else at some distance. However I have been reading on Martin Garner's website about the Russian Homeyeri race and there has also been a recent Norwegian bird showing the characters of this race. I was therefore keen to have a good luck at a Great Grey Shrike and this bird immediately looked interesting as in flight there seemed to be a lot of white in the wing and tail. Unfortunately the pictures I took are not good enough to make any conclusions as the distance was too great (for my camera) and I had also forgotten to (re)adjust the exposure compensation such that the first pictures I took were overexposed. Here are some heavily cropped pictures though showing that there is a lot of white in the wing and tail when seen in flight and there also seems to be prominent white above the eye. However the perched picture shows a very small white patch at the base of the primaries which is not consistent with Homeyeri and is a pointer for it being the expected Excubitor subspecies. Hopefully it will hang around and allow closer views and better pictures. I haven't been able to establish how rare this race is in Norway but looking at some pictures of Norwegian Great Grey Shrikes on the internet there seem to be other birds showing similar characteristics suggesting that it is either overlooked or the variation in GG Shrike is very wide (intergrades are known to occur).

Great Grey Shrike - note seeminglyextensive white in tail and white line above black eye mask

Note white above eye and extensive white inscapulars

Terrible picture: heavily cropped and overexposed but note broad white wing bar extending onto secondaries and extensivewhite on outer tail feathers

Showing a very small white patch at base ofprimaries - seemingly inconsistent with Homeyeri. However note extensive whitein scapulars which is apparantly good for Homeyeri

Moving onto Hestholmen which gave us views of the ice-free outer Kurefjorden there was a a loose flock of 400 Mallard containing singles of Teal, Tufted Duck and Scaup, 13 Great Crested Grebes (but no Slavonian which appear to have moved off with the cold weather), 13 Velvet Scoter, 1 Common Scoter, 3 Grey Herons and 2 Kittiwakes. Also here at some distance we had a Black-throated Diver although would have preferred it to be the Great Northern which has also been reported. Perhaps most surprising though were 3 Rough-legged Buzzards seen hunting over islands in the entrance to the fjord. There must be a good rodent population on these small islands to host 3 individuals of what is a quite scarce wintering bird in this part of Norway.
To cap off a good day we had another Great Grey Shrike on the way home by the moterway (same bird I saw on Tuesday). Of the 4 GG Shrikes I saw on Tuesday, 2 were among the 5 I saw today but that still leaves me with 7 different birds so far this year.

Soap on the roads

2012-01-04T21:32:00.002+01:00

The storm that had hit southern Norway last night tempted me out to Krokstrand this morning. When I got there having negotiated some extremely icy roads (soapy slippering to translate the norwegian description) I was met by a calm sea and hardly a bird in sight.

View from Krokstrand looking north towards Oslo and the snow covered trees of Nordmarka in the distance

Almost the first thing I did see was at least 2 porpoises/dolphins which broke the water every couple of minutes as they moved south. I assumed they were Harbour Porpoises which are regular in the fjord but on looking at the picture below I see a two-coloured dorsal fin (I believe porpoises have black fins) which is also quite large and wonder whether they may have been Common Dolphins which would be a much rarer species here.

Porpoise or Dolphin?

Looking for birds almost the first bird I saw turned out to be the day's best - a 1st winter Little Gull that seemed to be feeding in the area although later headed purposely south. A couple of Kittiwakes were feeding in the area but it wasn't until a westerly wind (which made viewing uncomfortable) blew up that birds started moving and around 15 Kittiwakes headed south joined eventually by 3 Fulmars. 6 Velvet Scoters were on the sea and 4 Little Auks included this one feeding close inshore.

Little Auk

On the way back to Oslo a Great Grey Shrike sat by the motorway and then I dropped in at Østensjøvannet for some wildfowl year ticks. The lake was nearly completely frozen and in the one patch of open water around 250 Mallard, 70 Coot, a pair of Tufted Ducks, a single Goldeneye, 4 Greylag, 4 Canada and 1 Barnacle Goose were present. Also there a hybrid Canada x Greylag which is ringed and apparantly at least 18 years old. A few Herring Gulls hanging around in a variety of plumages. These 2 adults showed different leg colours with the left hand bird having noticeably pinker legs although the picture doesn't do justice the difference I noted in the field.

Adult Herring Gulls with differing leg colouration (and head streaking)

Also much variation amongst the young Herring Gulls. The rearmost gull in the next picture is, I believe, just a Herring Gull in juvenile plumage although it was noticeably smaller and had me thinking Lesser Black-backed Gull.

1st winter (and 1 2nd winter) Herring Gullswith one much darker bird

An adult male Goshawk spent some time circling over the area but didn't have a go for anything.
Finally a quick drive around Maridalen gave me a few woodland species to add to my year list and as I drove home a small flock of Waxwings flew over the road.

2012 Kicked off

2012-01-03T20:53:00.000+01:00

Back in Norway I was keen to get out in the field. The Great Grey Owl at Hvaler was observed again yesterday after a gap of 2 weeks (most likely because no one has been to look for it) and this seemed to be a good target for today especially as I wanted to take some better pictures than I managed on my visit in December.The drive down was a little over an hour and a half and birds from the car included a Great Grey Shrike and as I entered Fredrikstad the Carrion Crow was sat by the road – a good start to my 2012 year listing.I knew that the owl was still present as a message had come through that it had been seen hunting in at dawn (0845) but it was with relief that I saw 2 people watching the bird as I arrived on site and they even pointed it out to me as I sat in my car! The bird was sitting about 300m north of where I saw it in December and was in an area of woodland rather than on the edge of the field where it is most often seen hunting. It gave great views as it sat in a small birch tree and searched the ground for prey. It was also, as is typical of the species, relatively unafraid and sat close to the road allowing good photos (although I still think I need to invest in a bigger lens). I got to study the bird incredibly well and will remember the experience for a long time.These are my best photos and also a video (everything a lot better than last time!)

Great Grey Owl

Here is a video of the owl I uploaded on Surfbirds

As I did not need to hang around trying to locate the bird I was able to fit in some more birding and headed for Kurefjorden. On the way I had yet another Great Grey Shrike on the way and a had a third at Kurefjorden continuing my luck with this particular species. Kurefjorden was rather disappointing although it was windy so was not too easy to see birds amongst the waves. Amongst the Goldeneye and Red-breasted Mergansers the best bird I could locate was a single Great Crested Grebe.Still with good time on my hands and a storm brewing up over southern Norway I popped in at Brentetangen for a look over the sea. Despite a very fresh wind from the south and white tops to the waves there was very little to see in the half an hour I was there. Just 6 Kittiwakes and a few Razorbills and Guillemots.Time for one last stop and I thought I would have another go for the Iceland Gull near Drøbak. This time I scored straight away (meaning I already have a bird on 2012 list that was absent from my 2011 list). It was a very smart bird and frequently fed on the sea amongst a group of Mallards. It was a 2K (1st winter) with very white primaries and in flight gave an impression like a Little Egret. The way it picked food off the water surface was more reminiscent of a Black-headed Gull than the similarly sized Herring Gull. Also here 7 Kittiwakes feeding in the bay and 2 Fulmars further out plus a single Common Scoter and 4 Razorbills.

Iceland Gull

Kittiwake

Change of scenery

2012-01-02T11:50:00.000+01:00

Oslo Birder became South of England Birder over New Year with visits to friends and family in Sussex, Oxfordshire and West London. The bird life is so different to that in Norway at this time of the year but is also very different to when I left the UK 11 years ago. Large raptors have become very common with Red Kites seemingly everywhere and a real "garden" bird in many parts. Buzzards are also common but are easily outnumbered by the Kites. Back in the day either one of these would have made my day with a single sighting. Driving along the M40 to Oxford we must have had over 40 Red Kites with birds seeming to be attracted to vilages where I guess food is put out for them.
Finding my own Red Kite in Norway will definitely be one of goals this coming spring.

2011, the year that (nearly) was

2011-12-28T13:51:00.001+01:00

2011 is drawing to a close so I thought itwould be good to review my birding year. I focused this year on my Norwegianyear list and also mopping up some of the ”easy” species I had yet to see. Ifinished with a year list of 244 species compared to 201 last year so there wasno doubt a vast improvement. I had 14 Norwegian ticks taking me to 264 species ofwhich 7 were also Lifers taking my Western Palearctic List to 552:

Three-toed Woodpecker (Tretåspett)21.11.2011 Sørkedalen Lifer

Mediterranean Gull( Svartehavsmåke)05.10.2011 Fornebu

Richard’sPipit (Tartarpiplerke) 28.09.2011 Fornebu

Black-tailed Godwit (Svarthalespove)23.08.2011 Presterødkilen, Vestfold

Ruddy Shelduck (Rustand) 08.08.2011 Ilene,Vestfold

Surf Scoter (Brilleand) 08.08.2011Presterødkilen, Vestfold

Nightjar (Nattravn) 09.06.2011 Østre Nes,Akershus

Blyth’s Reed Warbler (Busksanger)05.06.2011 Stilla, Akershus Lifer

Siberian Tit (Lappmeis) 30.05.2011 PasvikLifer

Pine Grosbeak (Konglebit) 30.05.2011 Pasvik Lifer

Steller’s Eider (Stellerand) 28.05.2011Vadsø Lifer

Gyr Falcon (Jaktfalk) 27.05.2011 Finnmark Lifer

Lesser White-fronted Goose (Dverggås)26.05.2011 Valdak Lifer

Hoopoe (Hærfugl) 12.05.2011 Kurefjorden

The trip to Finnmark in May with PerChristian was the undoubted highlight of the year and also one of my bestbirding trips ever. The abundance of seabirds in the autumn over a period of acouple of months also meant that the normally quiet late autumn/early winterperiod was very exciting. I found a single national rarity in the form of aMediterranean Gull and quite a few local rarities so was happy with my ownefforts.

I did miss some pretty easy species though:no Sanderling, Iceland Gull, White-billed Diver, Brent Goose or Yellow-browedWarbler to name just a few.

My photography skills improved during theyear and I permit myself to repeat some of my favourite pictures from 2011:

Hawk Owl

Pine Grosbeak

Siberian Tit

Spotted Crake

Mediterranean Gull

Great Grey Owl

Pomarine Skua

15 minutes too late

2011-12-27T14:26:00.000+01:00

Time to take the parents back to Rygge airport and a safe flight home and also an opportunity for another go at seawatching this time from Brentetangen. I had pulled out of the airport car park for the 15minute drive there when the Bird Alert went... Ivory Gull Brentetangen!! The foot went a little closer to the floor and then the Alert went again.. Pom Skua Brentetangen. Obviously my choice of birding venue for the day was a good one but would the birds still be there when I arrived? Well, by the time I got there which was around 10am (so only an hour after dawn) the gull and skua were long gone on their way south. There were 3 other birders present and I gave it a go with them for a little over an hour but obviously the action was best very early on. Best bird whilst I was there was an adult Great Skua heading south plus a steady stream of Kittiwakes and the odd Fulmar. On the way back to Oslo I stopped to look for an Iceland Gull that was found yesterday near Drøbak but without luck so was a bit gutted to find out it had been seen half an hour after I left.
Oh I di have one other good bird today..a Great Grey Shrike in Vestby. Probably a bird I have already seen a couple of times earlier in the autumn it was good to see that it is still hanging on.

Happy Christmas

2011-12-26T22:06:00.001+01:00

Over xmas the Med Gull has been refound in Oslo and would appear to be a different bird to that in October which had a damaged primary feather not shown by the current bird. I haven't been to look for it yet but will definitely go for it in the new year. Also today another showy Great Grey Owl was discovered to the south west of Oslo and will also merit a new years visit if still present.Last night saw severe storms hitting northern and western parts of Norway and we also had strong winds in Oslo. I therefore decided on a dawn (9am) visit to Fornebu with the hope of some seabirds. Unfortunately the winds had died down and there was little to see although 5 Kittiwakes were clearly storm blown. Down the Swedish coast a Ross's Gull had been found which gives continued hope of something special around Oslo.Temperatures have been as high as 10C with of course no snow which is a huge contrast to last year when it was around -15C and around a metre of snow. I wonder whether we will have a proper winter.

some small compensation

2011-12-23T15:54:00.002+01:00

Well the day may not have given me Norway's largest owl but it did produce the smallest and a long awaited year tick.
Whilst out delivering xmas cards I got lost and lo and behold found myself driving around Maridalen. Well every cloud has a silver lining and for me it came in the form of a Pygmy Owl sitting on top of a spruce right by the road. As I wasn't supposed to be birding I didn't have the camera with me but managed to take these pictures with the iphone to record my 244th species of the year.

The dot in the middle is a Pygmy Owl honestly

Iphone at full zoom

Very few birds at the feeders probably because the warm(ish) weather is allowing them to find food in the forests but a smattering of tits, Bullfinch, Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Jay and GS Woodpecker.

I can't believe you haven't seen an Eagle Owl

2011-12-23T11:28:00.001+01:00

After bagging Three-toed Woodpecker a few weeks ago my “I can’tbelieve you live in Norway and haven’t seen it” List is now headed by EagleOwl.

Yesterday evening one was seen andphotographed just after 5pm right in the middle of Oslo. I then got a text at11.30pm telling me it was apparently still sitting in the same tree! WellI had already brushed my teeth and had indulged in some Christmas cheer so wasnot willing or able to jump in the car for the 10 minute drive. I was thereforea little jealous to find out this morning that the sender of the text had beendone just that and had been able to admire the bird just after midnight and apparentlysee it quite well despite the darkness.

I had to give it a go this morning so wasdown there at 0930 when it was still quite murky but unfortunately I could notfind the bird despite searching the area for an hour. An Eagle Owl was reporteddowntown about a month ago so it is pretty likely that a bird that has taken upresidence and presumably is finding enough rats, crows and pigeons to eat.Hopefully it will give itself up again soon...
A flock of 20 Waxwings flying around Karl Johans Gate (Oslo main shopping street) was a slight reward for my troubles.

Kurefjorden

2011-12-22T15:48:00.001+01:00

As the good son I offered to pick my parents up from the airport. That they were flying into Rygge which is close to Kurefjorden of course had nothing to do with it! But if the chance arises....Leaving nice and early in case there was bad traffic I suddenly found i had a couple of hours to fill with... birding. A quick stop at Brentetangen revealed a fairly calm sea and no movement of birds. Never-the-less 8 Kittiwakes were feeding offshore and a handful of Guillemots, Razorbills, Common Scoters amd Red-breasted Mergansers sat on the sea. Moving on to Kurefjorden it was already grtting dark at 1430. There were few birds to see and ice had formed around the edges of the inner fjord. There were still 3 Slavonian Grebes and 14 Great Crested Grebes managing to find food and 9 Velvet Scoter, 3 Common Scoter, 2 Guillemots, 20 R-b Mergansers and 100 or so Goldeneyes. Unfortunately no raptors or shrikes to see today.

Parking

2011-12-20T18:59:00.000+01:00

I managed to persuade Mrs.Oslo Birder that a walk around Frogner Park would make a good break from xmas shopping. Well 30 minutes of standing in the cold was enough for both of us and gave no sign of rare gulls. A single adult Black-headed Gull gave some hope but otherwise just 2 Common Gulls amongst 40 or so Herring Gulls. Four Tufted Ducks today (a 100% increase on yesterday) shows there is some movement though.
Looking at the gulls I found 2 colour ringed birds which I was able to find out history on from this website

Herring Gull

Here is adult Herring Gull J2808 who was ringed at the same site as a 1K on 14.10.06 and has been seen reported regularly but always at the same location.

Next up was a ringed adult Common Gull JYAO who was ringed also at Frogner Park as an adult on 040210 and been reported a few times since but always at the same site.

Common Gull

I also spent some time looking at the Herring Gulls which is not normally one of my favoured aspects of birding but an assumed hybrid 1k Herring x Glaucous Gull was reported here yesterday so I forced myself! Here are a 1K and a 2K:

2K Herring Gull - note the grey mantle feathers

1K Herring Gull

There was also this adult Herring Gull which (for me at least) showed an usual patterning of dark feathers on the head.

Finally I turned the camera at the Tufted Ducks and managed this OK shot

male Tufted Duck

Gull dip

2011-12-19T21:03:00.003+01:00

Yesterday afternoon a Mediterranean Gull turned up in Frogner Park which is Oslo's main park and was docu. photoed by one lucky observer. Assuming it is the same bird from October (given their scarcity this must be more likely than it being a new bird) then I wonder what it has been doing for the last 2 months? Possibly it has been hanging around parks all the time avoiding birders?
Just after 9am this morning I was at Frognerpark with the company of 3 others. It was cold (about -5C) and the two ponds were about 90% frozen. Very few gulls to see though with just a few overflying Herring and a couple of Common Gulls. I have a theory that there are more gulls here at weekends when the fish quay on the fjord is not active and there were certainly far fewer gulls today than were reported yesterday afternoon. I could only stay 45 minutes and the gull didn't turn up in that time and was not seen later in the day either. I'm sure it will turn up though over xmas.
There were a few other birds to see though confirming that Frogner Park is a prime (all is relative) Oslo winter birding localilty. Amongst the 60 or so Mallards was a female Teal, 2 Tufted Ducks and 2 Goldeneye. Overhead a Sparrowhawk, Nutcracker and in the trees 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 40 Siskin and 8 Bullfinches.

Weekend lull

2011-12-18T16:08:00.001+01:00

As is usual for me at the weekend there hasn't been time for birding due to family commitments but today i squeezed in 4 minutes at Fornebu (i know the precise time because my daughter counted the seconds!). The sea was very calm and it was clear that pretty much all of the storm blown birds have left. Just a single young Kittiwake was to be seen alongside a handfull of Razorbills. A single Pom Skua was seen by others but not by me - i guess this may hang around if it can find enough food although with the Kittiwakes having left i suspect it will struggle. Highlight from the kitchen window was a pair of Greenfinches on the feeders.

Whooper Swans in Maridalen

2011-12-16T20:57:00.001+01:00

An inch or so of snow this morning gave a reminder that it is December and also a hope that we will have a white christmas. The winds have now switched to northerlies so not particularly conducive to good birding. I managed a lightening tour of Maridalen today (my first in a long while) with a vague hope of a lingering storm blown Kittiwake to add to my site list but I really should have been looking a couple of days ago. On the water a small group of Herring Gulls, 5 Goldeneye and best of all a pair of Whooper Swans. Few passerines were evident but a single Yellowhammer flew over and a flock of 20 Greenfinches were managing to find food.
I guess that garden birding will feature more over the next couple of months and it will be interesting to see if the current Robin hangs around. Very little else in the garden though, just the usual House and Tree Sparrows, Blue and Great Tits and a single Blackbird today.
The Great Grey Owl is still present down on Hvaler - with luck it will hang around into January and will merit itself another visit.

There’s always time for another…

2011-12-15T21:16:00.000+01:00

..seawatch! Today myself and Rune Z decidedon a tour of Vestfold. Due to a rathershortened day the tour became more of a single destination with a couple ofstops on the way. Driving down the E18 we had an obligatory Great Grey Shrike(my 20^th sighting this autumn) by the road just north of the turningto Horten. We made a detour to Horten as I persuaded Rune that a little seawatch from Møringa would be a goodidea. Even though there was practically no wind there would surely still bebirds left over from the last few days (and who knows maybe I would still havea chance for Leach’s..).

Arriving at Møringa we immediately saw someOystercatchers (6 in total) which must be the first I’ve seen for a couple ofmonths and looking out to sea began to see Kittiwakes in all directions with atleast 100 being counted. Most were just feeding but a few were also headingsouth back to open sea. A handful of Fulmars with most going south but one alsofeeding close inshore. Then it started to get interesting. I picked up a skuasitting on the water at some distance feeding on a dead Kittiwake with a GreatBlack-backed Gull in close attendance. My first thoughts turned to Pomarine butI was hesitant because it looked pretty large and fairly uniform in colour. Ineeded to wait for it to flap its wings which it did when the gull came tooclose and there were big white flashes on the upper and under wings – an immatureGreat Skua! Rune then decided to get in on the act and found another imm. GreatSkua feeding on a (presumed) Kittiwake with its size and wing flashes veryevident even though it was at quite a range. We then noticed another, smaller,skua on the water nearby which took off and chased the Kittiwakes – an immaturePomarine Skua (a fairly light bird) with its double white underwing flash andpale rump being very visible. Quite a skuafest!

Aware of the time we had to leave afteronly 45 minutes although I felt sure that a whole day’s seawatching would havepaid dividends.

Our destination for the day was Moutmarka atthe end of Tjøme. We were hoping that there might be some storm driven birdshere (Grey Phalarope or maybe a large diver) and a hope of finding Water Pipit.The wind was really blowing when we got out of the car (see picture below)which made viewing a bit difficult but we put some effort in.

Unfortunatelythere was nothing particularly interesting to see. We went through the RockPipit flock but found only 16 Rock and 3 Meadow Pipits although for this timeof year this was a reasonable sighting. It was very difficult to make anythingout on the sea but there were 20 or so Kittiwakes and a couple of Little Auksof note.

With time now against us we headed backtowards Oslo with a quick stop at Rosanes. This is home to a long staying BlackDuck. On our first scan of the area (a marina!) we saw it sitting with 15Mallards on a jetty. On the assumption that they were waiting for some bread Iheaded briskly towards them with camera in hand (ignoring Rune’s requests tonot be “so offensive”). Well, I should have been less offensive because theyall jumped into the water and headed away. I managed a couple of very poorshots of the Black Duck but rued my haste.

Male Black Duck (right) with Mallard

Male Black Duck in flight

I have some nagging doubts about the purity of this bird as I can detect green on the head and on a previous trip thought I saw a hint of a white neck collar â la Mallard but it has been officially accepted as a pure Black Duck (with I believe the blessing of American experts)

Otherwise here a fine female Smew, a pairof Goosander, 14 Teal and a couple of Kittiwakes.

On the way home the anticipated messagecame through... Stormsvale (Leach’s Petrel) seen going south on the other sideof the fjord from Møringa. Can’t win them all!

Pomtastic

2011-12-14T22:22:00.001+01:00

The winds were just right today and there was little rain forecast and temperatures were around 5C. In other words prefect for yet another seawatch (and probably the last of the year). I wasn't able to get out to Rolftstangen, Fornebu until 11am by which time I had received a message of a Pomarine Skua there. Fortunately it was still visible when I arrived and remained so until 3pm when I left. It had killed a Common Gull which it regularly returned to feed on just 20m away from where we were standing and gave outstanding views - very exciting stuff. The bird was definitely immature although I am not sure whether it was juvenile (1K) as it had noticeably longer central tail feathers which may be a sign of it being a year older. We also had another Pom Skua at some distance which brought down a gull (possibly a Herring Gull) which it sat on and appeared to succesfully kill and then feed on.
Otherwise there were very good numbers of Kittiwakes with at least 50 and many coming very close and also at least 10 Fulmars which also frequently gave excellent views. I have still to take a decent picture of a Fulmar and today was no exception. I got frame filling views but could not get the exposure right - something to keep practicing. One Fulmar was also noticeably dark but would probably be classified as an intermediate morph rather than a dark morph.
Few auks to see although we did have Razorbill, Guillemot and Little Auk. No Black-headed Gulls and very few Common Gulls remaining but a single immature Little Gull was a nice find.
Rarest bird of the day (although not highlight which definitely belongs to the Pom Skua) was a Grey Phalarope which I saw but unfortunately so briefly that my 2 fellow observers did not get on to it. The bird was in flight on the Bygdøy side of the fjord at Huk and landed which was when I lost it. The identification as a phalarope was easy enough but the specific identification as Grey was based on time of the year (Red-necked's being unheard of so late).
Later in the day a probable Leach's Petrel was also called by another observer but was lost from view. This is the only seabird that I have missed in the Oslo fjord this autumn and it now feels like I have run out of opportunities but I can be happy with everything else I've seen.

Pomarine Skua

Pomarine Skua with Common Gull - lunch!

A very short video of the skua tucking into lunch. You can see it having to flap its wings to deal with the wind.

Fulmar without the colours

Fulmar not quite in focus

Adult Kittiwake

Clubbing

2011-12-13T22:55:00.000+01:00

This evening was the christmas members meeting for NOFOA (local bird club). After I gave a well received presentation on the birding highlights for 2011 (do need to learn the norwegian name for Serin though!) it was time for the mystery bird competition. With a score of 20/22 I was joint winner but feel there was room for some improvement. I need to practice on the identification features of half submerged diving ducks ;-)

I'll never know...

2011-12-13T17:34:00.003+01:00

It really blew today and there were loads of birds to see... or at least I believe so. I was housebound with an out of sorts daughter and it seems like no one else braved the elements or had the opportunity to seawatch today.
Tomorrow though we will find something. Feas/Zinos Petrel has been seen off the Swedish coast and that is only a few hundred kilometres as the Pterodrama flies.....

More to see

2011-12-12T18:12:00.000+01:00

Seawatching from Krokstrand with Fulmar fly-by

Time for some birding again today although I was lucky to get there and back in one piece. The thermometer was a couple of degrees on the red side of freezing and rain was falling on snow covered roads resulting in atrocious conditions on smaller country roads. Oslo airport was also closed for 4 hours due to the runway being too icy which given how prepared they are for "weather" means it was pretty extreme today.

Anyway I survived and the destination was yet again Krokstrand for a spell of seawatching. Strong winds have been blowing from the south resulting in good numbers of seabirds further down on the Swedish west coast so chances were high for something good (it also does help to be optimistic). I started watching at 1015 and immediately picked up both Kittiwake and Fulmar which are the indicator birds for a good seawatch so I felt positive for a good day. Completing my second sweep of the sea I picked up a large diver heading south at moderate range. Looking goose sized with big feet dangling behind and a large blue grey dagger for a bill it was clearly a Great Northern Diver and my second for the year. I sent out a message on the bird alert system and got a message from Per G that he was on his way down aswell so I would have some company.
The Kittiwakes and Fulmars continued to show and peering into the gloom further south there was clearly good numbers Kittiwakes flying around the fjord. There was little else though with very few auks or duck to liven things up. The days possible highlight though didn't let itself be identified. I picked up another large diver, this time heading north but unfortunately on the other side of the fjord. Its enormous size was clear as was its very pale (almost brown) plumage but it crash landed into the sea before I could study the bill and I never picked it up on the water. The pale colour though pointed very much towards it being a 1K White-billed Diver.
Another unidentified bird was a small passerine that flew south about 300m from the shore only 1 metre from the waves. My thoughts strayed towards Rock Pipit but it was impossible to be sure.
Per arrived around noon and we had 45 minutes together before I had to leave. During this time Kittiwakes started heading north into the fjord and went past at great speed. Of about 70 birds I had in total only 4 were 1K's of which one had me calling probable Sabine's Gull before Per calmed me down! 2 Red-throated Divers heading south was a late record.

Just as things were starting to warm up though I had to leave Per to it on his own. As I drove home the inevitable message came in but luckly it was only of a Pomarine Skua of which Per had 2 plus another 100 Kittiwakes (a very good count in these parts). The winds are forecast to blow up again tomorrow along with a lot of rain but I think I'll have to give it another go.

No owl today

2011-12-09T13:47:00.001+01:00

I haven't had a chance to look for the reported owl but it has been looked for by others without success. From the description that has come through to me it doesn't sound right for a Snowy Owl as it was flushed from a tree but on the assumption that it was a large owl sp I wonder if it could have been a Great Grey or Ural. Hopefully it will show again.
The weather now is terrible and with rain on top of snow but an inland Ivory Gull in Sweden a couple of hours over the border raises hopes!

And then the Snow(y) came

2011-12-07T21:48:00.001+01:00

A good 15cm of snow fell last night and winter is now truly with us with minus temperatures throughout the day (although Friday is forecast to have temperatures of +2C and loads of rain which will most likely leave the whole of Oslo resembling an ice rink).
No birds to report from my part but a very interesting second hand report of a Snowy Owl seen by a "layman" out walking his dog will need checking out tomorrow as it is only 20 minutes drive from the house.

Great Grey Owl

2011-12-06T21:14:00.001+01:00

I awoke with excitement today as I had agreed last night to make the trip for the Great Grey Owl in the company of Kjetil Johannessen. We punctuated the 2 hour drive to Hvaler with one stop and some decent drive-by birding. The drive-by birding consisted of 2 Great Grey Shrikes plus a third on the return journey and a Carrion (as opposed to Hooded) Crow which we saw fly over the road at a regular site for this rare Norwegian bird. The stop was at the lake of Skinnerflo where we had a good selection of geese with 5 Tundra Bean, 26 Taiga Bean, 3 Pink-footed, 3 Greylag, 80 odd Canada and a Canada x Greylag Hybrid plus 90 odd Teal and a similar number of Mallard. Strangely not a single diving cuck and the only swans were 3 Mute. At one time I had the 2 Bean sub-species plus Pink-footed in the same 'scope view. The structural differences of Tundra Bean were very apparent when seen in direct comparison with the larger, longer necked Taiga.
Enough digresion though, today was about one bird and one bird only: Great Grey Owl. I have seen one bird very well previously in 2009 plus a bird we glimpsed on our Finnmark trip this May which was flying on the Russian side of the border. It is a majestic bird and well worth travelling to see. We arrived on site at 1030 to the news that the bird had been seen well just after 9 but not since. Well time to start looking. There were 10 of us there but the majority seemed happy to stand and chat on the assumption that the bird would return to hunt over its favoured meadow. I decided to put in a bit more effort but eventually returned to where the others were standing. After a few minutes at 11.50 I saw a movement in the trees on the other side of the meadow and there it was perched looking at us! After a couple of pats on the back we were all enjoying great views and were slowly able to approach the bird to within about 30 metres (on Sunday it had sat 7m from the road and was oblivious to the big lens being pointed at it).
In poor light these were the best photos I managed (heavily cropped) but the video has come out a bit better.

A stop at Kurefjorden on the way back revealed that the Scaup flock had increased to 30 with now 2 adult males amongst them.

Foreign climes

2011-12-05T09:35:00.001+01:00

Oslobird became Amsterdam (non)Birder this weekend so little for me to report. In Amsterdam the crows were black rather than the hooded variant I am used to in norway and Ring-necked Parakeets screeched above the streets. Otherwise the birdlife was pretty much the same as Oslo.

Whilst I was away it seems that most of the local birders got to grips with Leach's Petrel with a couple of birds being seen and yesterday news came through of a Great Grey Owl that has been present for a week a couple of hours drive from Oslo and is showing very well....I think I know what I will be doing tomorrow.

No birding today....

2011-12-01T20:36:00.001+01:00

Today was a day when I didn't really have any time for birding as I had a number of meetings during the day but when I arranged the meetings earlier in the week that was fine as today was not supposed to have any strong winds and therefore be of no particular birding value.
Well that turned out to be a poor decision as the strongest winds of the week blew today. A quick recheck of my schedule showed that I could fit in 20 minutes seawatching from Fornebu in the morning. From the warmth of the car with very strong winds blowing outside and rain falling I picked up 3 Fulmars arching majestically over the fjord and 2 Kittiwakes passing close in. There were also 16 Little Auks past in the short time I watched plus a few Guillemots and Razorbills. It all looked very promising and the winds were still getting stronger but time was pressing and I had to get on.
At 14.29 the message I had been fearing came through: Leach's Petrel close in off Fornebu seen by, of course, Per G. Within 15 minutes I had wrapped up the meeting and was hot footing it down to Fornebu. Got there at 1510 but of course the petrel was gone and not to be seen again. However I stayed until dark at 1600 and was rewarded by very good views of a young Pomarine Skua that flew past very close to land, an adult Gannet (my first record in the county I think) that flew off over land after a circuit of the fjord, only one Fulmar and 2 Little Gulls including one 1K that flew over the beach in front of us in the twilight. So for a day when I didn't have any time for birding it turned out OK but I would have loved to see the Leach's.

Less sea to see and more birds to see

2011-11-30T19:47:00.001+01:00

I definitely deserve points (birds) for trying and today I got some reward. After heavy overnight winds I was on station at Krokstrand at 0845 just 15 minutes after it became light to see anything. Winds were still moderate and the light and viewing conditions were excellent so I felt that yes this could be a good day. Auks were immediately obvious with Little Auks and undetermined Guillemots/Razorbills heading in both directions but mostly south.
The first really good bird took only 10 minutes to get itself in the notebook. A young skua was picked up going south on the other side of the fjord but slowly made its way towards my side and sat on the sea a few times. It was a dark, almost black bird with nice double whhite flashes on the underwing, a barrel chest and strong two-toned bill - in other words a dark phase 1K Pomarine Skua. Whilst watching this I also noted Fulmar and Kittiwake. Things then calmed down for a bit but there was always good numbers of Little Auks and especially Common Gulls moving south. The next bit of excitment came in the form of a 1K Little Gull making its way slowly south and then not long after this came the absolute highlight but also most frustrating bird of the day. I always start my scan looking at the closest shore before scanning to the left over the water and on this scan I picked up a Grey Phalarope at less than 100m range. I immediately saw what I needed to confirm the ID with the thick bill confirming it wasn't Red-necked (however small the liklihood of that would be so late in the year) and then decided to run to the end of the small breakwater with camera raised in the hope of getting a fantastic point blank picture. Well 15 seconds later I was in place but where was the bird? I just couldn't locate it. I assume it had landed as it had been flying slowly but I couldn't see it. How frustrating!! (45 minutes later Ketil Knudsen had joined my and he briefly glimpsed a Grey Phalarope flying around the corner from where I had seen it so chances are it was the same bird that had landed and remained invisible to me).
After this excitement there was another Little Gull and more Kittiwakes and Fulmarts. I gave up at 1230 by which time I had racked up 75 Little Auks, 8 Fulmars, 6 Kittiwakes, 68 Common Gulls, 42 Guillemots/Razorbills the majority of which were most likely Guillemots, 17 Commn Scoter and 6 Velvet Scoter.
One of my hopes for the day had been Leaches Petrel and I got news later in the day that one had been seen going south just a few kilometres north of me. Unfortunately I got the news 4 hours after the bird was seen so it had presumably slipped past unoticed.

Fulmar

Kittiwake

I decided on a quick trip with Ketil to Kurefjorden to see if I could see Red-necked Grebe as one had been reported there since my visit last week. Well no red necks (on the water at least) but 3 Slavonian Grebes, 14 Great Crested Grebes, 4 Little Auks (looking very our of place), a Great Grey Shrike (I've now lost count!), a flock of 12 female Scaup, a calling Chiffchaff, Black Woodpecker and a few Common & Velvet Scoters.

A tasty morsel

2011-11-29T17:48:00.001+01:00

The strong winds from the south continue so seawatching was again on the cards for today this time from Krokstrand. I was joined by Per Gylseth whose company allowed me to persevere longer than I would otherwise (but also probably longer than was necessary!).
At times there was enough movement of birds that it felt worthwhile and the hope of something rare was there but there were also long periods of nothing more than white capped waves, drizzle and mist.
Totals were 30 Little Auks many of which came very close to land, 2 of which actually few over our heads and 3 of which became a tasty meal for Great Black-backed Gulls. The auks didn't seem to realise the threat the gulls posed as I witnessed one land next to a gull (which was the only other bird to be seen at that time) and then promptly be pounced upon.
9 Kittiwakes flew south although saw only one flying north, 2 Fulmar flew north and one south and there was a scattering of Guillemots and Razorbills. 34 Common Scoter were offshore in a few small groups alongside 3 Velvet Scoters.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was a flock of 30 Wood Pigeons I saw in a field close by the seawatching location - this is a late record especially for such a large flock.

Off the southern tip of Norway today 10,000 Little Auks were counted and the observers noted that 100 were eaten (the predators noted as being GB-b Gulls, Glaucous Gull, Peregrine and Gannet). Our 30 with 3 falling victim to GB-b Gulls feels rather insignifcant in comparison!

Lots of sea and a few birds to see

2011-11-27T20:49:00.001+01:00

Ever the optimists Per Christian and I wereat Hulvik at 0820 before it was even truly light. The wind was strong and fromthe SW as predicted and we knew some good birds had been not too fat to thesouth yesterday so our hopes were high. As the light improved we were howeverdisappointed to see very little other than waves. The first hour was in factvery quiet with 9 Velvet Scoters and a few Little Auks the only excitement.Then at 0920 we had a really good bird with a monster of a Great Northern Diverheading south at reasonably close range. Unfortunately we picked it up a bitlate so couldn’t enjoy this local major rarity as much as we would have likedbut it gave us enough energy to keep going. The volume of birds picked up a bitafter this with a total of 3 Kittiwakes and another 20 or so Little Auks mostof which were heading south although a few also went the other way.

We were sea watching from under the coverof a small pine tree which hosted 3 Goldcrests for much of our vigil. At onestage I had a bird less than a metre over my head and was just centimetres awayfrom being able to grab it with my hand. I was able to take some passablepictures of these little gems although the bad light took some shine off thefinal result.

Goldcrest

Lots of sea to see you see

2011-11-25T15:36:00.001+01:00

Strongish winds were again forecast for today, although not as strong as the near hurricane hitting the west coast of Norway, so of course I had to stare out to sea again. I chose the inner Oslo fjord from Fornebu this time (no point in travelling a long way to most likely just look at waves) and indeed there was quite a lot of sea to see. Luckily there were three others who had the same thought as me so an enjoyable time was had birds or no birds. There were some birds out there and a single immature Kittiwake was at least a proper seabird and 2 Little Auks also looked like they may have recently arrived. Otherwise just 8 Razorbills alongside the usual suspects and 5 Waxwings dropped in and allowed me to snap off one picture before heading off again.

Waxwings

Quite a day

2011-11-24T21:31:00.001+01:00

Well the strong winds never really happenedand Rune Z and I spent only 45 minutes at Krokstrand this morning with 8 CommonScoter, 1 Velvet Scoter, a couple of unidentified auks and 40 Common Gulls beingpretty much it. Not a great start to the day but you only find birds if you go lookingso we sat course for Kurefjorden. Arriving in the Kurefjord area a CommonBuzzard flew low over the road which is a good record so late in the area. Sostarted we to drive towards the bird tower and when we could see over the fjordwe stopped to scan with the scopes. As I got out of the car I thought I had theBuzzard again but hang on, wasn’t this bird a bit too large and wasn’t thatplumage more like an immature Golden Eagle?! Indeed it was and it gave greatviews as it flew over us and then headed off leisurely to the other side of thefjord. Unfortunately the camera was in the back of the car and by the time Igot it out the bird was flying away. The resulting picture was however a touchbetter than the effort from Fornebu.

Golden Eagle

After getting over the excitement of theeagle we started scanning the water and picked up a Great Grey Shrike perched ona fence post on the water’s edge (my 14^th of the autumn!). On thewater were scattered grebes and ducks. In total 10 Slavonian Grebes and 20Great Crested Grebes. Also a probable Red-necked Grebe at great distance but wecouldn’t clinch the ID due to the distance and bad light. 100+ Goldeneyes, ahandful of Eider and Red-breasted Mergansers and 2 Common and 2 Velver Scoters.As we scanned from the bird tower I picked up another large raptor and thisturned out to be a Rough-legged Buzzard which gave great if slightly distantviews as it hunted over fields and frequently hovered. To round things off we hada calling Chiffchaff in the bushes although failed to see it.

We still had a couple of hours available tous so decided to head inland where a Ruddy Shelduck has been present a coupleof days. Driving along we had a couple of groups of Whooper Swans by the roadincluding one of 53 birds with a single Pink-footed Goose in the midst.

Arriving at Levernes near Rakkestad it wasclearly a fantastic area for birds with a river valley with much farmland anddamp fields and is presumably a great area on spring passage and for breedingbirds. We couldn’t locate the Canada Goose flock that the shelduck has been associatingwith at first although did find a few Whooper Swans with a single Bean Goose(too distant to safely assign to race) and yet another Great Grey Shrike (takingme to 15 sightings at 10 different localities this autumn). Also a flock of 30Bramblings and a calling Black Woodpecker. We eventually located the geese distantly and chose to drive around to theother side of the valley to get better views. 190 Canada Geese were feeding onspilt corn in a field and amongst them was a colourful (if plastic?) femaleRuddy Shelduck and a Pink-footed Goose. Also a goose that has been reported asa hybrid CanadaxBarnacle but all I could see was a Canada Goose with anabnormal amount of white on the face (size was same as Canada and all otherplumage details looked the same as the Canada Geese it was associating with).Also around 80 Mallard here with a single Wigeon amongst them.

All in all a very good day with 3 speciesof raptor, shrikes, grebes, geese, a national rarity and good company.

Waxwings

2011-11-23T20:38:00.001+01:00

Only incidental birding today. At Smestaddammen there were still 2 Wigeon alongside 80 Mallard and the family of 5 Mute Swans. The male was giving the three young a hard time and trying to drive them off the lake - there childhood is now over, time to fend for themselves.
Two flocks of Waxwings seen today, one of 50 birds and another of 15 with a male Sparrowhawk in fast pursuit.
Strong winds are forecast overnight so tomorrow I'll be doing some seawatching. There are even stronger winds forecast for Friday so there is a good chance something good will turn up in the next few days although it is starting to get a bit late. Maybe a Grey Phalarope of Leaches Petrel.

Little Gull

2011-11-22T15:31:00.001+01:00

Time for a bit of birding today. I spent sometime at Fornebu searching for the Shag (a real local rarity) that was seen yesterday but failed on that score. However I did find an adult Little Gull which is a pretty good record this far up the fjord. The bird was at first sat on the sea and didn't look so healthy but later flew around a lot and then looked very perky showing off its smart white overwing and black underwing.
Otherwise 19 Razorbills including a flock of 13 and only 4 Guillemots indicating that many have either died or hopefully found there way out of the fjord. 34 Common Scoters and 4 Velvet Scoters were the best of the ducks and a well marked male Sparrowhawk briefly perched and showed itself off.

Then off to Sørkedalen where I had thought to go searching for woodpeckers again but the forest was covered in freezing fog so I lost my interest quite quickly. However the fields were under the fog so I tried for the Bean Geese that have been seen here and succeeded. Just a single bird present rather than the 10 seen on Saturday. This is quite a strange location for Bean Geese but the stubble field which has attracted them is presumably rich in split corn.

Taiga Bean Goose

This bird wasn't straightforward to assign to race but I believe that even though there is little orange on the bill that this is a Taiga (fabalis) Bean Goose based on the bill being long, no grinning patch and narrow lower mandible plus there being some white around the bill.