Goldeneye

Relatively warm today and a few new birds at Bygdøy but Maridalen is still in winter modus and Fornebu is surprisingly devoid of passerines – a walk around Nansenparken revealed just one Great Tit!!

On Bygdøy there were now three Lapwings, over 200 Greylag, I heard a fly over Snow Bunting and there were 3-5 Stock Doves with two of them singing.

A visit to Østensjøvannet revealed no increase in the area of open water but there were a lot of birds with Goldeneyes and Tufted Ducks now back. Four Goldeneyes were also on the one small area of open water on Maridalsvannet.

male Goldeneye (kvinand) with Mallards

Goldeneye pair

 

female Goldeneye

here we can see the inner eye lid which is like a windscreen wiper

three Lapwings on Bygdøy. The left hand bird is a female and the other two males

a so-called "inter-sex" Mallard most likely a female with a lot of male hormones

the male Wigeon x Mallard hybrid

here the hybrid and the intersex Mallard. These intersex bird can often be suspected of being hybrids and the similarity in head pattern can be seen here

 

I normally don't spend time with plastic wildfowl but in the snow the Ruddy Shelduck made a nice subject

Wood Pigeons (ringdue) are nearly even better looking though

the Goshawk (hønsehauk) as perched up in the same tree in Maridalen where it was having  good preen. Note the huge talons

 

Urban birding

I am at risk of doing too much exercise! After yesterday’s tramp through the forest in search of Hazel Grouse I had one of my irregular Oslo by foot and public transport days although must admit there was a lower percentage of foot than normal.

One reason I chose to concentrate on urban Oslo today was that it has snowed all day so I thought there might be some concentrations of birds in the parks and I also had little desire to be out in the car.

My first stop Frognerpark where I thought there might be some signs of spring with an expectation of Greylag Geese, summer plumaged Black-headed Gulls and maybe some Starlings. Well none of those were present. The lake was nearly completely frozen and held just the expected ducks: 200 Mallards, 9 Tufted, 6 Teal and a female Goldeneye. The only gulls were four Herring and it is difficult to understand why there have been so few gulls here all winter.

Down on Bygdøy I was surprised to find that quite a few Greylags have now arrived with 82 on the fields of the Kings Farm. No other geese species amongst them but I expect something exciting to turn up before the end of the month.

By the grain storage facility at Vippetangen there were as usual a number of Goldeneye diving for spilt grain but amongst 400 of them I could only find 5 Tufted Ducks and a few Mallards.

By the Opera there were a lot of gulls resting and amongst them I saw a couple of ringed birds that I have also seen up at the Alna rubbish dump but found no Caspians or white-winged gulls. A Mute Swan family here with 7 youngsters was an unusual sight at this time of the year as the parents have normally sent the kids packing which was the case with another group of 4 youngsters who were looking a bit lost.

In the Botanic Gardens the Brambling flock has grown in size and added quite a bit of colour but I didn’t see any Blackbirds or Fieldfares which have presumably eaten up all fruit and berries in the park and have been forced to look for food elsewhere.

the snowy scene today with newly arrived Greylag Geese (grågås) on Bygdøy

there is only one male amongst the 6 Teal (krikkand) that have spent the winter at Frognerparken

a very smart bird

 

he was calling quite a bit but I didn't see him displaying and it didn't look like he was actually paired with one of the 5 females

three of the four duck species that were present at Frognerpark: Teal, Tufted Duck and Mallard

here is the long staying tame and ringed Teal who often keeps to herself and doesn't mix with the other Teal. I was unable to read the ring but see that it is from Stavanger Museum, Norway and starts with 62 and ends with 61

male and female Teal but I don't think they were paired. Note how the females speculum which should be green actually looks blue at this angle

an "intersex" Mallard. These birds which are probably females with an overdose of male hormones can resemble hybrids and I have previously mistaken a similar bird for a Mallard x Wigeon hybrid

Tufted Ducks (toppand) might boast fewer colours than Teal but are also pretty cool



This large swan family was still togther

but these 4 youngsters have been left to look after themselves. They won't find much food out there!

part of the Goldeneye (kvinand) flock at Vippetangen. Adult males are in a majority

Bramblings (bjørkefink), Tree Sparrows (pilfink) and a single Chaffich (bokfink) at the Botanical Gardens

a very large 2cy Great Black-backed Gull (svartbak) dwarfing an adult Herring Gull (gråmåke)

a ringed 2cy Great Black-back. Not many of this species are ringed in Oslo as they do not come to bread as readily as Herring Gulls. This one received his bling on 19 August 2015 in the same spot and has since been seen just a handful of times in Oslo. This bird is probably the one I photographed at Alna Dump on 9 Feb

one of the pale Herring Gulls that you occasionally see and wonder if they have a bit of Glaucous Gull (polarmåke) blood in them. This one is standing in front of the ringed GBBG

The red ringed Herring Gull that I have seen twice previously but have had major problems reading correctly. The code is X4DT but even with this view I have problems. This bird was ringed at Rainham on 30 Nov 2013

Greylag Geese are now back and despite being feral as f**k are quite smart



 

Even more to write about

The car has had to go into the garage for a couple of days. This allows me to become The Eco Birder for a couple of days as I rely on public transport and then once I've paid for the repairs I will become The Poor Birder for a couple of months.

So using public transport (the day ticket very generously provided free of charge by the garage - equivalent to a 0.5% discount on the repairs!) I decided to bird Oslo. The signs of spring were a bit more difficult to find today with low cloud and temperatures around zero. There is still snow on all the fields and the forecast for the next week is for temperatures below zero 24/7 so winter hasn't let go just yet.

I visited Frognerparken twice hoping to be able to get better pictures of the Iceland Gull (grønlandsmåke) than yesterday. At 10.00 there were no gulls to see at all perhaps due to the low cloud. Returning at 13.00 there were a number of gulls coming to bread and it was with them. However a loose dog then ran onto the ice and repeatedly disturbed them. They flew up but quickly landed again although the dog didn’t give up and they eventually flew up to a nearby roof top. I took some pictures of the gull here but then they all flew back down to the ice and scoffed the bread that was lying on the ice. I managed a few pictures here before they all flew to the other end of the lake where a lady was throwing out bread. I hurried over there (not easy when there is ice everywhere) and was rewarded with the Iceland Gull at a couple of metres range. Close range though doesn’t necessarily mean that it is easy to take good pictures. It was too close, I was above it and the background was ugly although amongst all the pictures I have found that are OK especially one flight shot. My time with the bird was cut short when all the gulls, Jackdaws (kaie) and Feral Pigeons (byduer) flew up in the air. It took a couple of minutes before I saw the reason which was a male Goshawk (hønsehauk). The gulls flew off in a tight flock and didn’t return in the next half an hour. It is interesting that the dog was merely a nuisance for the birds whereas the Goshawk was seen as deadly threat.

1st winter Iceland Gull (grønlandsmåke)

This pipe empties fresh water run off into the lake and alongside the bread on offer seems to be an important reason for so many gulls dropping into the lake

being close doesn't necessarily ensure a good picture. Here the bird was only 3 metres away and I had to use the smallest zoom of 150mm.

In my travels today I saw in total nine Greylag Geese (grågås) and three Wood Pigeons (ringdue) so they are starting to arrive in force and a pair of Whooper Swans (sangsvane) heading north were a pleasant sight and a taste of things to come.

This first winter male Goshawk scared off all the gulls. It looks like he has been in the wars with something having taken a big chunk out of his tail

Todays interesting gull. A 100% "Herring Gull" (gråmåke) but with yellow legs

female Mallard

female Mallard

also a female Mallard. This is the same bird that had me thinking a hybrid Wigeon influence but it would appear to be a female Mallard with a serious hormone problem. Interestingly she seemed to be shunned by the other Mallards and there were certainly no males interested in her

female Teal

here the speculum is looking two toned green and blue. It only took the slighest change in angle for the colour to change