Back in Oslo I am now getting tired of winter. We have had
one of the longest cold spells in Oslo for many, many years and there is no indication
of it stopping. Temperatures have not risen above zero since 20 Jan and since 1
Jan we have only had plus temperatures on 16 – 19 Jan. Although I always say
that I like “proper” seasons it does get a bit boring when nothing changes. One
possible upside from this long winter is that we will get a much more noticeable
beginning to spring migration when the thaw finally comes. One thing for sure
is that we will not be seeing an early arrival of the Taiga Beans this year.
On Tuesday I had my first owling trip of the year, a year
and a day since the first trip of 2024 which produced 11 singing Tengmalm’s.
Owling conditions were good with no wind and temperatures of -14C but there was
no moon which may or may not (depending on who you speak to) be an important
factor. The result of the evenings endeavour’s was just a single Tengmalm’s
which sang constantly and could be heard at over 2km range but which was not
close to the road. It is still early in the spring but this disappointing
result is I believe due to a collapse in the rodent population but there is
still time for things to change and there are always local variations.
In Maridalen I have seen Pygmy Owls in three different locations over the last three days and all sat
high and were easy to see which is how it should be.
I am guiding this weekend and on Sunday we will drive up to
the taiga areas in Hedmark with the hope of Hawkie, Piney and Sibe Jay. It is
forecast to be sunny with little wind but very cold but these should be good conditions.
I have had a chance to go through my Tromsø pictures on the
computer so present a few more here.
a close Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)
Moose are becoming easier to see in Maridalen but luck is still needed
the Østensjøvannet Water Rails (vannrikse) have not been that easy to see so far this winter but this one showed well
Common Eiders (ærfugl) in Tromsø
a Queen Eider (praktærfugl) with her Common cousinns
from the left: female Common Eider, 2 different looking Queens, a young male Common and an adult male Common
Our first mid winter trip to Tromsø has been a resounding success. We arrived at the end of Sami Week, an annual celebration of all things Sami, and got to see the Norwegian Championships in both lasso throwing and Reindeer racing. The reindeer racing happened on a snow lined downtown street on a 201m course. It was explained that 201m is the internationally defined distance for the sport but no explanation was given for why. A skier holds on to the reins whilst the animal runs and covers the distance in around 17 seconds. It all looked great fun although the animals didn’t exactly look thrilled whilst being harnessed up. Animal welfare was not mentioned once..
The Northern Lights also put on a show and this is one of the main reasons the City has become such a popular winter tourist destination and the streets were heaving with winter clothed tourists from ever corner of the globe. This tourism results in hotel prices going through the roof and rented accommodation being used for Air BnB rather than for locals or students who need it and is causing quite a lot of resentment among many natives.
I put on a «show» for the 100 or so students in Junior’s 8 storey high student block when whilst making food I slightly burnt some mince causing the smoke alarm to go off and the whole building to be evacuated. The fire brigade arrived within 10 minutes and were very good about it - I even think they were grateful to me for being given something to do on an otherwise boring Sunday evening ☺️
But what about the birds I hear you say. Well, they were tip top super. King Eiders and an adult Iceland Gull topped the bill and all seen whilst walking from Junior’s into town. Passerines are of course going to be in short supply in winter this far north but an abundance of rowan berries resulted in small flocks of Waxwing and and most surprisingly a Redwing which would be an exceptional mid winter sight even in Oslo.
The trusted superzoom and mobile phone resulted in the following documentation of the delights of Tromsø (this is done at the airport and I may come with some better edited photos later):
King Eider (praktærfugl) pair
Adult Iceland Gull (grønnlandsmåke)
Fieldfare (gråtrost)
Redwing (rødvingetrost)
I saw no divers in the field but this Yellow-billed was in Tromsø Museum
Where I also had my best ever «views» of a Gyr Falcon (Jaktfalk)
According to accepted Norwegian birding wisdom Shags (toppskarv) never perch like this…
Purple Sandpiper (fjæreplytt)
Herons have been roosting in the heronry trees by Junior’s flat all winter and they were present and noisy when we were there
My frustration at the lack of birds has been rather obvious
of late but I had forgot about the fjord off Fornebu which last winter held
exceptional numbers of seaduck due, apparently, to a vast hatch of young
mussels which they fed on.
On Thursday after an uneventful walk around Fornebu we then
checked out the sea and whilst the numbers of Common Eider, Velvet and Common
Scoter were back to normal levels (20-30 of each species) we did have 7
Long-tailed Duck which is a very good count here and best of all Elvis, the
long staying resident King Eider put in a rare appearance from land.
Also, a part of the fjord, Frognerkilen is an urban location
best known for being able to feed the ducks and swans but there is also a small
reedbed where I plan that one fine day I will add Bearded Tit to my Oslo list.
A Kingfisher has recently been reported from here and after three
attempts I also eventually saw it. Chatting to a man with a very long lens
though revealed that he had been watching it for a couple of months and has
managed to keep it quiet and not post (yet) any pictures on his SO ME so good
on him and the bird!
One of my unsuccessful visits was enlivened though with a
Jack Snipe which I think has been pushed out the reedbed due to a very high
tide and was stood upon some floating reedstems.
The weather forecast shows no return to wintery weather in
the foreseeable future and I am sure that Maridalsvannet will not freeze over
until January at the earliest. And who knows maybe we are in for such a mild
winter that it won’t freeze over at all which will be a first (though I think
that I remember one previous winter without ice before January).
Common Eider (ærfugl) and the noticeably smaller King Eider (praktærfugl)
my camera was really playing up but you can glimpse the left half of a Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) here...
... and the right half here
Kingfisher (isfugl)
the Marsh Tits (løvmeis) are still showing well in Maridalen
On Tuesday, 6 hours and 11km of walking in a foggy Maridalen with Wayne over from Guernsey could only turn up a Three-toed Woodpecker. Next day the Hawk Owl is back in its favoured place….
Three-toed Woodpecker - the highlight of a hard going days guiding
Hawkie of course showed the next day
Moose was a target when guiding and we saw lots of fresh droppings and footprints in the snow but no animal. We did see where one had fallen through the ice though...
Wednesday night 3 hours owling with Tommy and Maja gave just 2 very distant heard only Tengmalm’s and a very close Tawny that refused to perch in the open. I plan to go again on Friday with Jr and of course wouldn’t be surprised if there are owls galore…. It was cloudy on Wednesday night but little wind and was warm at +2C. I normally only go owling on cloudless nights so this may be the key factor (Friday is forecast to be cloudless).
Video of the Tawny Owl hooting including its Hawk Owl like warbling. We initially heard the bird from close to 1.5km away
Birding outside of guiding has been good though with my first Skylarks, Snow Buntings and Whooper Swans of the year. Best of all though was a pair of White-fronted Geese with the first Greylags at Bygdøy. I went there specifically with White-fronts in mind due to a few turning up further south so was mighty chuffed to find them.
White-fronted Goose (tundragås) with Greylags
there is little flooding currently at Hengsenga, Bygdøy and the weather forecast does not suggest we will get a big flood like last year
Snow Bunting in a still snowy Maridalen
and my first Skylark of 2025
The male King Eider (praktærfugl) seen from Huk at a distance of around 3km
