Winter has regained its grip on the land and nighttime
temperatures in Maridalen are falling to -13C and it remains negative in the
day despite blue skies and sunshine. Many of the resident birds are very active
singing and displaying but any hope of early migrants has been put on hold.
In the forest I spent some quality time with the male Hazel
Grouse that we viewed last Tuesday when guiding but now I have been able to
watch him in sunlight. He appears to be unpaired but has a good territory that
has held Hazel Grouse in at least the two decades I have visited the area.
Hawfinches have returned to breeding areas in Maridalen and
are banging out their squeaky “song” and I was able to see some quite well at a
feeding station.
male Hazel Grouse (jerpe)
it doesn't seem right to see such a large bird clambering around on such thin branches
female Hawfinch (kjernebiter)
and a more colourful male
the male with a Greenfinch (grønnfink) that seems tiny in comparison
Crested Tit (toppmeis)
female Greenfinch
and male
female Siskin (grønnsisik)
and male
male Brambling (bjørkefink) - unusually many have wintered in and around Oslo
Bullfinch (dompap) and Bramblings
female Blackbird (svarttrost) - I don't remember so many wintering in Maridalen before
Jays (nøtteskrike) are starting to "sing" and can sound like Goshawk, Buzzard and Tawny Owl
I was guiding yesterday and despite fog we had a good day. I
took Tony who was visiting Oslo from Manchester to Maridalen and we trudged
through snow and peered through the fog and were rewarded with Hawk Owl,
Three-toed Woodpecker, Hazel Grouse, Dipper, Crossbill and Crested Tit amongst
others.
I had been very anxious that the forecast fog was going to
be so thick that we wouldn’t see beyond the tips of our noses but although it
wasn’t that bad it did mean that for example scanning distant tree tops for
anything interesting was out of the question. The Hawk Owl was located by
walking around its recently favoured areas (we walked 9km in total during the
day) and it was Tony’s very keen eyes that spotted it perched lowish down in a
tree. We watched it for a good while and it changed perch twice and whilst
clearly looking and listening for rodents it once again did not make an attempt
to catch anything. It was in an area where Moose have been feeding and there
was some bare ground exposed and I believe this may make hunting easier for the
owl.
The ‘pecker that misses a toe and the Hazel Grouse were
found in expected sites but we had precious little else in the forest with for
example not a single tit of any species except at feeders.
Hawkie
after preening there appeared a hole which shows just how thick its feathers are but also hints at a real lack of body fat as a result of little food
male Hazel Grouse (jerpe) in a foggy forest
he moved to a birch and was eating catkins high up above our heads as can be seen in the video
male Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett). He can be heard drumming in the video
The weather is now far more autumnal than wintery with
temperatures up to 8C in the day and no overnight frosts. On Sunday snow gave
way to rain and it’s all quite gloomy and grey.
Fieldfares are around in enormous numbers with up to 2000
stripping rowan trees and also feeding again on the fields. Amongst them have
been at least 20 Redwing, 2 Starling and an exceptionally late Mistle Thrush. The
Mistle Thrush is actually the latest ever recorded in Oslo as was a Meadow
Pipit today which really show how mild it is at the moment. There are also very
good numbers of Goldfinch (>250), Brambling (>110) and Yellowhammer
(>120) so it is all very birdy.
A trip to Huk in fresh southerly winds yesterday revealed no
sea birds but three Long-tailed Ducks were without doubt in Oslo waters 😊
Pine Grosbeaks continue to entertain and I have had up to 47
in a day in. Hawkie continues to entertain the masses although in the poor
weather we are having now it is in fact to possible to have him all to myself.
I witnessed him fly into an overhead cable yesterday as he powered down from a
tree top towards something on the ground about 30m away. He seemed unharmed but
it goes to show how focused he was on a possible prey item that the unnatural
obstacle that the wire is did not register with him.
Oslo's latest ever Meadow Pipit (heipiplerke)
and Oslo's latest ever Mistle Thrush (duetrost)
Goldfinches (stillits) are still around in exceptional numbers
and there are still lots of Redwing (rødvingetrost)
and Brambling (bjørkefink)
and thousands of Fieldfare (gråtrost) which strip rowan trees of their berries in just minutes
photographic evidence that I have seen Long-tailed Duck (havelle) in Oslo waters
there is very little to see on Maridalsvannet at the moment except for a handfull of Goldeneye (kvinand) and this Common Scoter (Svartand)
a shaky video of a Cormorant (storskarv) swallowing a Perch (abbor) on Maridalsvannet
filming Hawkie
here reacting to a Sparrowhawk (spurvehauk) that landed closeby
and this is how he reacts to a Goshawk (hønsehauk) flying by
on Saturday morning when it was still crisp and wintery
Magpies (skjære) giving him a hard time
a video of Pine Grosbeaks taken on my phone at a couple of metres range today
this male was a noticeably more scarlet rather than claret colour red
