Farewell January you will not be missed

The last week of January has been quite like the preceding three, i.e uninspiring, with the exception of reacquainting myself with my Hazel Grouse. We can now look forward to February with hopefully some cloudless, freezing cold, nocturnal trips interrupted only by the sound of trees cracking in the cold, owls of various sightings hooting and northern lights flickering overhead. By the end of the month the very first spring migrants will also with luck have arrived and then we can really look forward to the spring and all the bounties it brings.

I have had a few walks in the forest but it is incredibly quiet there with, other than the HG, hardly a bird to see or hear. There are ZERO finches in the forest and even in more suburban areas with feeders there are hardly any so a flock of 18 Hawfinches that I came across at Østensjøvannet one day was quite a surprise.

A noisy Nutcracker (nøttekråke) was one of only a handfull of birds seen on my forest walks but it is always a good bird to see.

the Pygmy Owl (spurveugle) has become harder to see again and when it does give itself up it is usually high up as here with a Magpie (skjære)

Mallards (stokkand) at Østensjøvannet

where this female Teal (krikkand) is still hanging around

and where with some patience Water Rails (vannrike) can be seen

an unusually large flock of Hawfinch (kjernebiter)

Woodpeckers are not really making themselves known yet although I have heard a drumming Great Spotted and this female Black Woodpecker was making a lot of noise hacking away at a dead tree trunk

these are still entertaining me

Still too nice

Cloudless nights mean that there are fewer and fewer birds every day, or at least that is how it seems.

Encounters with Jack Snipe, Bearded Tit and Siberian tristis Chiffchaffs have been the highlights of the last few days as a wing bar or two continues to elude me.

Singe pairs of Bearded Tits are in two reedbeds at Fornebu but are for the most past very low down and are I believe still feeding on insects. They call loudly only very occasionally and it seems to be when they have lost contact with each other. Today I had a pair feeding in reeds just 3-4 metres from me for a good 15 minutes and it was possible to hear very, very quiet calls which I assume were to make sure they stayed together but they were incredibly difficult to see until they perched on a reed just over the ground for a couple of minutes and preened. They were only two metres away but were almost impossible to see let alone photograph.

I have had upto two Jack Snipe but lack of observations from day to day suggests to me that these are new birds that are moving through and just stopping for a day before continuing.

My best views of Beardies were on Wednesday when there was thick fog

a Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) in the open

droppings and bill marks in mud are a good sign that snipe are around

this Jack was much better hidden. Can you see him?

should be easier in this picture

there are a lot of Long-tailed Tits (stjertmeis) around this autumn and flocks move through very quickly

a ringed Siberian tristis Chiffchaff at Fornebu yesterday. A quite classic individual that was also heard calling

it was together with this unblinged bird

the lone 1cy Whooper Swan (sangsvane) is still at Fornebu. It loosely associates with Mute Swans but is often alone

And a trip to Østensjøvannet gave some photographic birds

male Mallard (stokkand)

young Moorhen (sivhøne)

female Pintail (stjertand)

Shoveler (skjeand)

side by side with a Mallard

and a late Adder (hoggorm). This was very small and I believe hatched this year

A foggy week

This week has been foggy! Every day the weather forecast has said the sun will be shining in Maridalen and every day, until Friday, it has just been thick fog. Friday though more or less made up for the whole week.

On Wednesday I visited Fornebu to try to be under the fog which I was, just. I also had a target bird. I have been avidly reading about the Dutch Spectacled Eider and thinking whether I should take a trip to Amsterdam and thought I could try to recreate some of that rare eider twitching feeling by seeing if I could see the returning/resident male King Eider (first seen as a 2cy in August 2018) in the Oslofjord. Normally only seen with some luck and from a boat it has this week been seen with a 100 strong flock of Eider at telescope distance from Fornebu. When the distance is over 2km though we are talking about bad views but I enjoyed the challenge of finding it. It was joining in with the male Common Eiders in display and if it continues to show an interest in female Common Eiders then there is a chance it will be seen close to shore in the spring as it was in April 2022. There were also at least 290 Velvet Scoter which is an enormous flock for these parts and a sure sign there is a good supply of food. Goldeneyes are also around in good numbers so the story that you often hear that the Inner Oslofjord is dying is not quite that simple even if some species such has Cod have more or less disappeared.

At Huk I also saw the flock of Purple Sandpipers numbering at least 16 and here the rocks were covered with baby mussels so yet another sign of a healthy fjord.

The Hawk Owl survives in Maridalen although the fog has made finding it hard and I wonder whether a single Pine Grosbeak eating the last rowan berries at Grefsenkollen and then three migrating NW over Hawkie will be my last Oslo bird for a few years.

On Friday a Pygmy Owl also showed in Maridalen and a Tawny Owl that evening made it a three owl day in the Dale! Whilst the Hawk Owl is still clearly searching for rodents, and I believe really struggling in the snow, the Pygmy Owl clearly had his eyes on tits at a feeding station and this gives the species an advantage over other species that are rodent specialists.

A real surprise in Maridalen was a Merlin on Friday. My attention was drawn to it by the Hawk Owl that had become alert and was staring at on a tree top quite a distance away. I dismissed it as a Sparrowhawk but something stirred in my grey matter and I looked at it again more closely and realised it was probably a Merlin and when it then flew that ID was confirmed. This is Oslo’s first January record (and there are none from December either).

The sunny and relatively warm weather (just over zero) on Friday also caused a number of species to start singing and woodpeckers to drum.

I have had nightly trips into Maridalen with Jr where she drives meaning I can use the thermal imager. With it being cold and the ground and trees covered in snow the imager works exceptionally well at the moment. Mammals have been very scarce though with just one Moose and three Roe Deer seen but roosting birds have been unusually easy to find with two roosting Treecreepers and also a few roosting Magpies found. I will have a separate post on the Treeceepers as they are quite fascinating.

I will start with that undoubtedly is one of my very worst videos although it is at least not shaky

King Eider (praktærfugl), Common Eider (ærfugl) and Velvet Scoter (sjøorre) at more than 2km range. The two birders in the boat took a much better picture

Pygmy Owl (spurveugle) in the Dale

after so much time watching the Hawk Owl I had forgotten how small Pygmy Owl is

Hawk Owl at sunrise (picture taken at 09:06)

at one stage it got ready to pounce but in the end nothing happened. I assume it had heard a vole under the snow

not an easy hunting ground and I saw no rodent tracks on the snow

a couple of Yellowhammers (gulspurv) observed the owl from a respectful distance

the Merlin (dvergfalk) which I found due to the Hawk Owl

I had hoped to be able to get pictures of owls in front of the moon but it is now too late as it disappeared below the horixon at dawn

a 2y male Pintail (stjertand) that is overwintering in Oslo

and an overwintering Teal (krikkand)

a very strange Mallard (stokkand) presumably with a good dose of domestic duck in it. With that yellow bill I am also unsure if it is male or female

Purple Sandpiper (fjæreplytt) and cockles?

and here lots of baby mussels

a Robin (rødstrupe) in an unexpected place

Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett)

This Water Rail (vannrikse) at Fornebu would disappear in holes under the snow

one of those Herring Gulls (gråmåke) that remind you why you don't like gulls

not many rowan berries left for this Pine Grosbeak (konglebit) to extract the seeds from

this is probably my last picture of a Grozza in Oslo for 3-4 years (until the next invasion). You will be missed