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
The Hawk Owl has currently made Maridalen the most popular destination
for bird photographers in the whole of Norway. They seem oblivious to the other
treasures that the Dale holds though and yesterday I was alone with the likes
of Pygmy Owl, Goshawk and Pine Grosbeak before briefly joining the throng when
I was lucky enough to see Hawkie catch a shrew of some kind which is the now
the third type of rodent I have seen him take.
We are having a cold spell now before it warms up again next
week. Nighttime temperatures have dropped to -13C and despite it being sunny it
has not risen to more than -3C in the day. Despite this there are, to my
surprise, still hundreds of Fieldfares enjoying the rowan berries. Even though
they quickly strip individual trees of their berries there are still berries
galore and it will be interesting to see how long the flocks remain. A few
Redwing also remain but these very rarely spend the whole winter here.
Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)
Pygmy Owls are less showy this year which I believe has to do with what food they are hunting but when they do expose themselves then the local passerines often take exception
adult Goshawk (hønsehauk). This bird seemed far less massive than the one I saw a few days ago but it may just have been due to posture
Grozza
Yesterday I drove around a corner and saw a line of photographers in a field and then saw Hawkie on the wires between me and them so there had to be a drive by video (for the record the homo sapiens were at a very respectable distance from the surnia ulula).
staring intently at something
he then launched himself into the field and took something in short grass
which turned out to be a shrew
on Thursday morning the owl was being given a lot of space and hunt unimpeded
by the afternoon though an excess of enthusiasm had taken over
Bullfinches (dompap) are quite numerous although are probably outnumbered by the Grosbeaks and feed on rowan berries in the same way as there larger cousins
a Common Scoter (svartand) on the lake
2 female Common Crossbills (grankorsnebb) and a Greenfinch (grønnfink) on ice and snow where they looked to be getting water
and a male Crossbill and 2 Siskin (grønnsisik) doing the same
and Goldfinches (stillits) seemingly doing the same although there may also have been wind blown seeds
