Yesterday was the first day with some passerine migrants
flocking, if in small numbers, on the fields in Maridalen with 10 Mistle
Thrushes, 6 Fieldfare, 10 Skylarks, 20 odd Chaffinch and the first Brambling
all together. And this is just the start of things to come! The first Lapwings
are also back with two reported on Saturday and then I had 5 birds yesterday
and they were even displaying giving their evocative calls whilst Skylarks sang
overhead – things cannot sound more springy than that!
Maridalen’s best bird of the year, and one which may be,
although I hope won’t be, hard to beat, came on Friday when a Red Kite flew in
front of the car. It was flying low and into a strong head wind but
unfortunately never stopped and heard south over the lake and I was able to
watch it for over 10 minutes. When it got to the southern end of the lake it
then started soaring and was in sight for so long that I decided to drive down
there but of course couldn’t find after the 5 minutes it took to get there.
This is now my fourth sighting of the species in Maridalen and the second best
views I have managed. I often proclaim that a day will be a great day for
raptors and talk about Falsterbo Lite but very rarely do my predictions come
true. On Friday I would definitely have proclaimed that the day was absolutely
awful for raptors and we wouldn’t see any - bar maybe a local Goshawk – just shows
how much I know!
Saturday had me guiding Paul and Ann from Connecticut and a
very enjoyable day it was but for a bird guide it was a nightmare with, despite
my utmost efforts, none of the three target species revealing themselves. I had
communicated that it would not be easy to find them given the time of the year
but that all three didn’t play ball was a major disappointment. We did see a lot of other birds though...
when I first spotted the Red Kite (rødglente) from the car it was close and flying at tree top height clearly looking for food but it kept flying south into the strong wind and never came closer
it looks as though it had recently eaten as the crop seems full
flying over the lake with appartment buildings under Grefsenkollen as the background
and here flying over Storøya
this years must count as an average date. Given how low cold it was in Jan and Feb then I had expected a late arrival this year but the thaw has come suddenly and without nighttime frosts the snow has melted quickly and most importantly for Lapwings the ground has thawed
once you find the eye then you also just about make out there is a Long-eared Owl (hornugle) in this picture
the video of the Long-eared Owl may be pants but I did manage to take a quite nice video of a Badger at the same place:
Mistle Thrush (duetrost)
there has been a steady passage of Whooper Swans (sangsvane) heading north
We had a nice dump of snow on Friday night which has left
Maridalen and the forests nice and white although in the city it has since
melted so everything is grey, wet and frankly, not nice!
Even though the surroundings now look different the birds
are pretty much the same and the exodus of thrushes is now more or less
complete with the birds I see being, I believe, ones that will try to spend the
winter and with there still being lots of berries in the urban areas then this
may be possible for many of them. The Mistle Thrush remains but has stopped
trying to defend his rowan trees and was today sharing them with Bullfinches,
Blackbirds and Fieldfares in seeming harmony. It saves a lot of energy having
to chase off all comers but means the berries will disappear much sooner so I
doubt he will remain until January now.
Fieldfare (gråtrost)
the Mistle Thrush (duetrost)
a Blackbird (svarttrost)
and a late Redwing (rødvingetrost)
the Mistle again
a familiar silhouette
it is always a joy seeing Grozzas eating berries in the snow
The supply of rowan berries which earlier had seemed
infinite has now been seriously dented by the vast flocks of Fieldfares and
most areas are now suddenly stripped clean. The Fieldfares have mostly moved on
now with just tens rather than thousands. Every now and again you come across a
lone Fieldfare that has taken ownership of a single small rowan bush and
defends it from other birds.
Far more exciting though has been finding that one of the
record late Mistle Thrushes that has been knocking around Maridalen has
declared ownership of a cluster of three rowan trees that are still full of
berries and is noisily chasing off anything else that tries to help themselves
including Blackbirds, Fieldfares and Bullfinches although I have yet to see
Grozzas try their luck. This behaviour suggests it has decided to stay here as
long as it can which may be a few weeks at least. Already the latest record in
Oslo it will be exciting to follow it in the coming weeks.
Mistle Thrush is a rare overwintering bird in Norway with
many of the records being of birds surviving on mistletoe (hence the name).
Mistletoe is itself rare in Norway with none that I am aware of in Oslo and
most is to be found on the west side of the fjord south of Oslo.
Mistle Thrush (duetrost) and food
frosty breath which can also be seen in the next video
the call in the video is a new one for me but in the next two videos (one taken with superzoom and the other with my phone) you also hear the normal call which he was making whilst chasing all the other birds off
a frosty Grozza
a trip to Huk gave little except for 13 Purple Sands (fjæreplytt) and interestingly 5 Grozzas that headed south east calling quite high up. With the supply of berries dwindling birds are probably moving around more now
Hawkie
here he chose a very public place to hunt at sunset allowing me to try to get some arty shots
