Time for a mid-week update, not because I have seen
anything particularly special but because I have time to sit in front of the
PC.
We are enjoying very summery weather at the moment
with temperatures in the twenties but as soon as the calendar shows it is
September then there is a real autumnal feeling to the birding - on this
morning’s dog walk close to the house I heard Brambling and Dunnock and
Fieldfares were flocking and feeding on apples.
My birding has been quite urban recently with trips
to Østensjøvannet and Frognerparken where a Shoveler was a very unusual guest.
In September I would normally be checking out the Taiga
Bean Geese and looking forward to my trip to Værøy. I fear that for the second
year running that I will not be able to travel to Værøy and I have yet to find
the time to visit the geese (and try to read collars) although the first GPS
bird arrived there on 18 August which is a very early date.
Shoveler (skjeand) in Frognerparken
this Sedge Warbler (sivsanger) at Østensjøvannet
another acro warbler then turned up in exactly the same place. My gut feeling was Marsh Warbler (myrsanger) but the pictuers give me more of a Reed Warbler (rørsanger) feeling
Ruff (brushane) and Teal (krikkand) on the floating mats of water weed
Today was only -9C but with a north easterly wind gusting at over 10m/s
it felt a lit colder than yesterday. This weather is a real killer for birds
with food hard to find and extra energy needed to keep warm. I toured Oslo’s
hotspots today and found far fewer birds than I would have expected to see a
couple of weeks ago. Some birds could of course have successfully moved away to
warmer climes (wherever that might be at the moment) but the two young Moorhens
that have been in Frognerparken were absent today and have I fear met their
maker. It is interesting that if the winter had been mild and these birds had successfully
over wintered then they would presumably do so again next year and their offspring
the same thus evolving a mini population with a new migration strategy, but
their demise just goes to show that moving south to warmer climes is, and has always
been, the best strategy. The Teal population at Frognerparken was also diminished
to three birds but I have also noticed in previous winters that the birds
disappear when it is really cold and icy but soon return so they presumably
have an alternative location somewhere nearby although I can’t think where that
would be.
Despite the weather I saw Oslo’s first migrant Oystercatcher of the
year. Two birds have wintered at Bygdøy (this is very unusual) but today there
were three birds although none of them looked particularly happy. A Little
Grebe was also here, and a light coloured young Peregrine flew through. The bird was ringed although my photos are too poor to make out even the colour of the ring.
At Østensjøvannet 350 or so Mallards are keeping a tiny area of water
ice free and thankfully the City Council seem to have accepted their error in
trying to outlaw feeding and have instead changed the signs to outlawing the
dumping of food waste. When someone came with some bread the birds went pretty
wild showing how necessary continued feeding is (once it has started). Amongst
the Mallards the usual suspects of the adult female Pintail, a young male
Wigeon and single Barnacle and Canada Goose were still present and accounted for
although the Coot population has fallen by one bird to seven. Quite a few birds
had clumps of ice on their beaks and feathers which didn’t look to healthy.
Maridalen appeared birdless and the wind was blowing the snow across the
roads creating polar conditions.
This male Mallard (stokkand) had a serious amount of ice on its bill
as did the young male Wigeon (brunnakke)
the only open water at Østensjøvannt
the icy conditions at Huk, Bygdøy and the three Oystercatchers (tjeld)
Little Grebe (dvergdykker)
this Magpie in Maridalen had been sitting on top of one of the famous statues in Frognerparken and was being photographed by a tourist with her iphone but by the time I got my camera out it had dropped down and the moment has passed..
young Peregrine (vandrefalk)
the bird is ringed but none of my photos allow any detail to be seen
With seemingly little new to find I decided on Friday to make use of the
nice light and try to get some better photos of the quite varied birdlife in
Frognerpark. The birds that seem to have settled in for the winter seem to be
split into two groups: the bread eaters and non-bread eaters. In first category
are the Mallards, Mute Swans and three species of gull. The non-bread eaters
are the Moorhen (eating grass whilst I was there), 13 Teal which seem to find
plenty of natural food, 3 male Goldeneye and 5 Herons. There are some species
though which have a foot in both camps. The male Wigeon was grazing grass but
also fighting for bread and the 14 Tufted Duck at times were diving under the
mass of bread eating Mallards although what they were eating was difficult to
say.
one-legged, headless Grey Heron (gråhegre)
Moorhen (sivhøne)
Mute Swan (knoppsvane) pair
female Teal (krikkand)
adult male Teal. There were also two young males who were in a much less smart plumage
Tufted Ducks (toppand)
adult male Wigeon (brunnakke)
note the green on the head. This is sometimes thought to be a sign of American Wigeon genes but occures so often that in cases like this is just a natural variation within European Wigen
It’s all quite wintery at the moment with snow and a cold north easterly
wind. Birds are wisely keeping their heads down but trips around Oslo yesterday
and today revealed some of the usual suspects. In Maridalen yesterday I
relocated one of the Pygmy Owls and even recorded a bit of song. A couple of
Goshawks were also calling and in territorial display flights which was
surprisingly early.
At Fornebu Water Rails were vocal but the Bearded Tits are well and
truly settled in and a couple of pings was the only evidence I had of their
continued presence.
Today it was so windy that a trip around Maridalen revealed nothing
except a Cormorant on the lake. At Frognerpark the Moorhen is still going
strong and has clearly decided to try to spend the winter here. Only 5 Grey
Herons were present but 11 Teal, 11 Tufted and the male Wigeon were all still
present.
Huk, Bygdøy held Common and Velvet Scoter and a single Guillemot but
nothing rarer and Østensjøvannet had nothing exciting – I had a hope that the Iceland
Gull from last winter may have reappeared this winter.
I was so desperate for something new and exciting that I visited just
about every birding locality in Oslo except for Bygdøy yesterday. I even paid a
very fleeting visit to the rubbish dump for gulls (always a sign of desperation
for me). What I should have done though was stay loyal to Maridalen where a
keen pair of eyes spotted an overflying Long-eared Owl which then fought with a
Sparrowhawk. This is a late record of a species that isn't even on my Oslo list
and just goes to prove that birding can always produce surprises.
My two visits into Maridalen produced nothing more exciting than a
Nutcracker. The dump held only Herring Gulls and Østensjøvannet had just the regular female
Pintail alongside a couple of hundred Mallards and 8Coot.
Fornebu did give very good views of 6 Bearded Tits and a couple of
calling Water Rails but that is to be expected at the moment.
Perhaps the best birding of the day was at Frognerpark. Here an amazing
9 Herons were roosting in a tree at head height very close to a path. This
species only started being seen regularly in the park a couple of winters ago
so to see 9 birds that have clearly got used to humans was quite a sight. 12
Teal is also a good count for a species that has also only recently started to
spend the winter here and the (ringed) male Wigeon that arrived as a young bird
last winter has also returned in full adult plumage. A Moorhen was unexpected
as were a pair of Mute Swans (again a species that you wouldn't see here two years
ago but which now breeds).
It is snowing today but tomorrow it will all turn to rain...
one of 9 Grey Herons in Frognerpark. With a bit of time one cold get amazing pictures here although there were rather a lot of branches in the way
a late Moorhen (sivhøne) which may well try to spend the winter
6 of the 12 Teal including the only 2 males
adult male Wigeon (brunnakke)
and the obligatory Bearded Tit shots
the male pictured above was one of a pair in Holtekilen that showed well whereas this female was one of two pairs in Storøykilen that spent most of their time silently feeding on the floor of the reedbed
