This winter is one of those old fashioned winters
that your grandparents will have told you about and that climate change deniers
will use as proof for their delusions. It is the end of March and it is still
cold and it is snowing and spring is still to come. I must admit that enough is
enough now though and having to shovel 15cm of snow this morning is I hope the
last time I have to do it for 9 months or so. But it is not just the weather
gods that are providing but the bird gods are also giving.
On Sunday birders and twitchers but few toggers were
out in force enjoying a couple of good birds found by some of Oslo and Akershus’s
finest. First Bewick’s Swans were found at 2 sites (this species has become so
scarce that it should be a national rarity now) and then a male Black-throated
Thrush turned up in a birders garden. I played it cool and waited until Tuesday
to go for them and ended up having one of those days that makes you think that
twitching has something going for it 😉
I did not intend to go for the thrush but the swans
were tempting especially as they were with a flock of Whoopers estimated at
over 800 strong so I knew it would be quite a birding spectacle. On the way I could
also check out the Taiga Beans and go for Woodlarks which I now knew were back.
A couple of Woodlarks sang high above me despite it being -5C, the Taigas
played hide and seek in an undulating field and then I was ready to go
swanning. The flock was on what looked to be a potato field. The swans were
arriving from the nearby river when I got there and I kept scanning and
scanning for the Bewick’s and it wasn’t until a good half an hour had passed
that I saw what I thought was two Bewick’s arriving with a small group of Whoopers.
On the deck though I only found one and over the next half an hour continued
scanning made me certain there was only the one bird present. A coupe of
bugling Cranes flew over which were new for the year but there was no other viz
mig to note.
It was now midday and I had intended to keep on
looking for swans and geese but thought what the heck why not go for the
thrush. It was an hours drive but 40 minutes of that was to get me back to Oslo
so it wasn’t really out of my way…. I had very good instructions on where to
park and where to walk to view the thrush without scaring it and when I arrived
I also found chairs had been put out and another birder was already there –
luxury twitching! She had only just arrived and not seen the bird but it only
took about 15 minutes before it flew in for just a minute and showed relatively
well before vanishing again. It seemed to be loosely associating with the few
Blackbirds in the area which had arrived just before it did. This is my second
Black-throated Thrush in Norway. After the thrush it was only a 15 minute drive
to see the long staying Oslofjord King Eider. Despite it being about 2.5km out
it was surprisingly easy to see in the scope and I even managed some video.
I might have twitch more often 😊
male Black-throated Thrush (svartstrupetrost) and the bill of a male Blackbird
Bewick's Swan (dvergsvane)
it was an impressive job by the finders to pick out Bewick's from such a large flock of Whoopers
the male King Eider (praktærfugl) at 2.5km range
Woodlark (trelerke) in song flight
some of the over 700 Whooper Swans (sangsvane), there were very few juveniles
Pink-footed Geese (kortnebbgås) coming into land
Taiga Bean Geese (taigasædgås) at the top and Pink-feet at the bottom
Great Grey Shrike (varsler) still in Maridalen
A Little Grebe (dvergdykker) has also turned up at Østensjøvannet. Here it is with a male Goosander (laksand), Coot (sothøne) and Tufted Duck (toppand)
Friday to Sunday was spent at Tangen, Kjell
Mjølsnes’s house which (as I have written many times before) must be the best
birding house in Norway. The occasion was the spring NSKF meeting and as usual
the meeting was scheduled for a time of the year when the birding would be so
poor that we would manage to do NSKF work instead of being out birding. And it
worked – we were very hard working and on Saturday did not even leave the house
although there is always something to see from the windows….
What we can see from the windows is fascinating
though. Two Woodcock were often to be seen feeding on the lawn (something I
have only ever observed from Kjell’s living room), Hen Harriers flew by, a male
Smew and Scaup could be seen from the viewing platform on Kjell’s barn and very
close by were flocks of geese and swans.
We did manage some
other birding on the way to and from the airport and Black-throated Thrush and
male Steller’s Eider were twitched. I had hoped to finally see Stonechat in
Norway but a pair of birds that had been wintering in the area were not to be
found and had probably perished as the Europe wide cold spell had left its mark
even here although surprisingly there was no snow. Passerines of any kind were
incredibly scarce and Lapwings that had previously been in the area had also
disappeared and there were no signs of spring. Woodcocks were also seen in a
number of places other than Kjell’s garden which is a sure sign of how
difficult conditions had become for them and desperate they were. Here are videos of Woodcock (rugde) , Black-throated Thrush (svartstrupetrost) and Steller's Eider (stellerand):
male Black-throated Thrush - this bird has been hanging out on this manure pile for a few months and seems very at home
Long-tailed Duck (havelle)
arctic conditions
Orrevatnet as viewed from Kjell's barn had just a few small area of open water where this male Smew (lappfiskand) had sought refuge
this male Steller's Eider is a rare bird in SW Norway and was a big surprise
Tundra (rossicus) Bean Goose (sædgås) with Greylags
one of two Woodcock forced into looking for worms on Kjell's lawn in the middle of the day. The large eye is because this bird is normally nocturnal. Here it had been scared by an oerflying Sparrowhawk and had frozen
they feed very actively and are constanly digging into the ground looking for worms
