Mjøsa, Vorma & Glomma

Anders and I did the Mjøsa, Vorma, Glomma winter trip again today. It was quite windy so there was no problem with mist this time, but the waves were rather on the large side meaning we could have still missed quite a lot. At Minnesund, highlights were three Smew (all redheads) together, 3 inland Guillemots and a majestic adult White-tailed Eagle.

We visited Petter Osbak in Feiring and whilst enjoying a coffee got to see the female Grey-headed Woodpeckers that visits his feeders once or twice every day and which is the only bird being reported in the whole of Oslo and Akershus this winter. On Mjøsa we could only manage to find 2 Slavonian Grebes but no divers of any description (we had really hoped to find a White-billed).

Travelling down the Vorma we bumped into Gjermund Graver at Eidsvoll who could tell us we had just missed a Kingfisher and we then managed to drive past a male Smew that he later found. All our other stops along Vorma and Glomma were remarkably bird free and no more so than at Årnes were we had had in excess of 700 waterfowl a couple of weeks ago (mostly Canada Geese) but this time had only 70 of which 60 were Mallard.

We stopped at the dump in Oslo and again failed to see the Glaucous Gull although it was seen in a park nearby today so is clearly still in town. Leif, the leucistic Herring Gull was again at the dump.

female Grey-headed Woodpecker (gråspett)

2 distant Slavonian Grebes (horndykker)

adult White-tailed Eagle (havørn). I believe that the adult pair we saw at Årnestangen in the spring and summer are the same birds that we saw on the Vorma in winter. This belief has been strengthened after an adult was found dead last(?) winter along the Vorma and since then there has only been one adult seen at both Årnestangen and Vorma

Misty birding

Today I was out with Anders and we headed up to Mjøsa and then followed the Vorma and Glomma Rivers hoping for interesting water birds that had been pushed out from frozen lakes further inland. It was fantastic weather with temperatures down to -10C, blue skies, really thick frost on trees and the ground and no wind. The lack of wind proved a problem with mist swirling over both Mjøsa and on the rivers making viewing very difficult in places and we must have missed a lot of birds.

The only real sign of birds on the move was an enormous flock of 530 Canada Geese on the Glomma River at Årnes. This is a very late record for such a large flock and is actually the second largest flock recorded in the whole of Norway in 2018. The largest flock of 550 birds was in Hedmark a month or so ago and this is undoubtedly the same flock that is now finally and slowly making its way south. A single Greylag was the only other goose in their midst unfortunately and Whooper and Mute Swans were only present in small numbers.

There were far fewer ducks than I was expecting with around 100 Tufted, not many more Mallards, a few Goldeneye, 2 Common Scoter, only a single Goosander and best of all a male Long-tailed Duck all we had. We had no divers and just 3 Slavonian Grebes.

Raptors were confined to a single Rough-legged Buzzard which is a very rare winter bird in these parts and a surprising find given the complete absence of other raptors and Great Grey Shrikes during the day suggesting there are no rodents in these areas.

We took a drive through the forests of Nes and I had a very strong feeling we were going to find a Great Grey Owl but that feeling was just plain wrong and a single Pygmy Owl was about the only bird we saw in 30 or so kilometres!

The Gloma River at Årnes with ice forming, thick frost on the trees and fields and loads of Canada Geese

some of the Canada Geese with Whooper Swans and Mallards

the male Long-tailed Duck (havelle) when the mist lifted a bit

Today's Pygmy Owl

Tufted Ducks (toppand) on the Vorma Rivers at Eidsvoll

Less Beans

Yesterday saw lovely blue skies, no wind, dry air and temperatures just below zero whilst today was cloudy, misty, rainy and temperatures were hovering just above zero. Neither day did much to encourage migration but yesterday’s un and todays rain has caused the thaw to start although temperatures are forecast to fall below -10C next week so we will still have to be patient in our wait for spring.

Yesterday I returned to the Glomma River. Only 55 Taiga Beans were now present, and I would not be surprised if the other 23 from yesterday have returned to Denmark. There were now lots of droppings on the ice which were absent yesterday and help confirm that the birds did arrive yesterday morning. The geese were frequently up on the ice picking at something – whatever it was too small for me to see and I wonder if they were eating insects. Whatever it is they will surely lose weight until they can start feeding on the fields which may be in over a week?

I visited other sites on the river and found Slavonian Grebes, Long-tailed Duck and Scaup along with my first two migrating Wigeon of the year but there was no viz mig to witness.

In the evening Per Christian and I went owling. It was perfect conditions in that it was windless and with temperatures “only” dropping to -4C it was actually quite comfortable to be out. We had a very good start with 5 singing Tengmalm’s Owls in the first 2-3 kilometres but then after this we had nothing. I had hoped to be able to get some good photos of a Tengmalm’s but despite our best efforts we only observed one in flight in the light of our torches and never managed to see it perched.

Today I visited Bygdøy and Fornebu where Greylag numbers are slowly building up and a flock of 22 was on a snow-covered field feeding under a large tree where the snow had melted. Small flocks of Starlings at both sites were the only real sign of passerine migration and a couple of birds were singing and mimicking other birds including Redwing which did suddenly transport me into the spring until they flew off and I abruptly returned to winter.

the sun was shining on the ice. The Taiga Beans can be seen on the ice 

there were only 3 ringed birds. One had a neck collar : 7U who I first saw here in March 2014. One had a green leg ring having lost it GPS collar and can be identified as 10 who I also first saw here in March 2014. The third bird only has a metal leg ring having lost its neck collar and unfortunately cannot be identified.

what are they picking at?

"7U" can just about be seen in this picture

here is the single Pink-footed Goose (kortnebbgås) that is together with the Beans and which acted as those it maybe paired with one of the Beans

Whooper Swas (sangsvane)

three Slavonian Grebes (horndykker)

Greylag Geese that have found the only snow free ground at Bygdøy

Lapwings in January!

I had a plan to go searching for owls in the deep forests of Aurskog Høland and Nes but once I was on the road there was far too much snow in the air for that to be a good idea. So I thought I would check out what over wintering waterfowl I could find on the Glomma and Vorma rivers.

The most numerous species were Cormorant and Tufted Duck with over 120 birds of each and I recorded also Whooper and Mute Swans, Goosander, Goldeneye and Mallard but in no large concentrations and no rarer species of the type Smew or Scaup which I had hoped for. The last couple of days has seen small arrivals of geese and Lapwings along the southern coast of Norway and I had a vague hope of some geese on the river although with there being so much snow on the fields I thought the chance was very little. And indeed I found no geese but I did find 2 Lapwings which I had never expected because conditions here inland are completely unsuitable for this species and they will surely die unless they manage to fly a few hundred kilometres to the south very quickly. There are only two previous January records of Lapwing in Akershus both from 2006. One of these related to a dead bird and the other was at one of the locations where I had one today so two birds today was indeed exceptional.

I also had a magnificent adult White-tailed Eagle that twice put Cormorants and Goldeneyes into the air but never tried to catch anything whilst I watched. I had good views of Dippers which were also singing and a couple of Little Grebes on an ice-free river were an unusual inland record.

I had no owls or shrikes on my travels until I got back to Oslo when the Great Grey Shrike revealed itself in Maridalen and would therefore seem to be finding enough food despite over 50cm of new snow.

Lapwing (vipe). The chances of this bird are surviving must be close to zero. Note how its belly feathers are hanging down and were frozen

same bird looking for food

and the second Lapwing which had chosen an even worse place to look for food

the white island in the middle of the river is where the Lapwing was

a flock of Tufted Duck (toppand)

Dipper (fossekall)

Little Grebe (dvergdykker)

adult White-tailed Eagle (havørn). The bird is ringed but I cannot even work out what colour the ring is

Great Grey Shrike (varsler) in a wintery Maridalen

Oslo Glaucous!

I was brought up to understand that a yellow circle in a weather forecast implied that one would see the sun. I have over years realised that this might be the case with weather forecasts in England but that in Norway it has a completely different meaning – in fact it generally means we don’t have a clue what tomorrows weather will be (and therefore has the same meaning as the symbol with a few drops of water, or the symbol with a few white “snow” crystals or the symbols with either light or dark grey cotton wool). Therefore, I shouldn’t have been surprised or disappointed when today turned out to be cloudy although I would have preferred to see that yellow disc.

I took a tour to the far north of Akershus to see what the Minnesund area had to offer. With the mild weather there were fewer waterfowl than I had hoped but a vigorously singing Dipper was obviously happy with the conditions. The mild weather meant that there was no ice mist hanging over Mjøsa and I was able to pick out 3 Slavonian Grebes and a Long-tailed Duck at some distance. Whilst watching these a few gulls flew up calling and I suspected a raptor but it wasn’t until a couple of minutes later that I noticed a White-tailed Eagle flying away from me (would have passed quite low of my head if I had been looking in the right direction). Despite these good species the undoubted highlight was a flock of Waxwings feeding on apples. I estimated 30 birds but a check of my photos revealed there were twice as many! They were very confiding and in better light I could have got some great photos as there was lots of interaction between the birds as they quarrelled over feeding rights to the juiciest apples. As it was though I had to use high ISO and low shutter speed so didn’t manage any sharp action shots but video worked better.

I worked my way south along the Vorma and Glomma rivers but found no geese or any large numbers of swans. There were zero gulls at Langvannet (where the Iceland Gull was seen on Saturday) and this led me to hope that there would be god numbers at the tip at Alna. As I drove up there 10 minutes later I could see there were indeed good numbers (well in excess of 200) and nearly the first bird I focused my bins on was a stonking 1^st winter Glaucous! It was looking straight towards me and was a dark bird so I waited until I saw it sideways on (to eliminate possibility of a hybrid) before celebrating this surprisingly rare Oslo bird (not quite annual) and sharing the news. I got a phone call from Stig Kalvatn a bit later and it turned out he was there at exactly the same time as me but viewing from a different (and closer) place than me. Just need to relocate the Iceland Gull now and turn up a(nother) Caspian or Yellow-legged to give proper payback for my visits to rubbish tips this winter.

1st winter Glaucous Gull (polarmåke) at the Alna dump

much larger than the Herring Gulls 

surprisingly dark when seen head one but was very pale in flight

squabbling Waxwings (sidensvans) 

Both these Waxwings are adults (red waxy tips to the secondaries) but note how the bird on the left also has red waxy tips to the tail feathers. Both birds have a wide yellow tail band and are therefore both males I think.  I can't remember having seen red waxy tips to tail feathers and Svensson doesn't mention this at all. BWP does however mention that for adult males "shafts near tips sometimes red, occasionally extending laterally into narrow glossy waxy plates"

My only picture of he White-tailed Eagle (havørn) 

Yellowhammer (gulspurv)

Starting the New Year

The New Year was spent in England with birding definitely not on the menu - I was on holiday ;-)

Back in Norway I started my 2017 birding with a much needed walking and public transport tour of Oslo yesterday where highlights were the Shag (which hadn’t been reported since 14 Nov although I don’t think many people have been looking), a Long-tailed Duck and a Peregrine. 39 species were in the notebook by the end of the day.

This morning we awoke to -14C (and just a dusting of snow) and I thought I would head up to Minnesund and the Vorma river where a few good birds have been seen recently. When I arrived it was even colder than -14 and an icy fog was swirling over the water making viewing conditions very difficult. I eventually found a Long-tailed Duck plus some swans, Tufted Ducks and Goosander.

Moving south to Eidsvoll I stumbled upon some Whooper Swans in a stubble field and then noticed some dark heads amongst them. It was very difficult viewing conditions but I eventually found there were 9 Tundra Bean Geese, 2 Pink-footed Geese, 2 Greylag Geese and 28 Canada Geese. Apart from the odd mixture of injured, feral and hybrid geese that spend the winter at Østensjøvannet, geese are extremely rare in January in Oslo & Akershus and this flock of 4 species is a sign of how mild and snow free the winter has been so far (although that looks like it will change soon with the river starting to freeze over). I was also hoping to find some White-fronted Geese during the course of the day as this species is in Southern Norway in apparently record numbers at the moment although none have been recorded in Oslo & Akershus.

I checked various other places along the Vorma and Glomma rivers without finding anymore geese although a (previously reported) male Gadwall was also a very rare January record.

My driving revealed no roadside Hawkies or Great Grey Shrikes and a single Sparrowhawk was my only raptor.

The geese were very difficult to view in the stubble. Here are 2 Greylag (grågås) and a Tundra Bean (tundra sædgås) in the left inset and a Tundra Bean and 2 Pink-footed Geese (kortnebbgås) in the right inset

The 2 Pink-feet

In this picture I captured 12 (of the 13) grey geese but normally there were just a couple of heads visible

The geese are I think sitting down but the size difference to the Whooper Swan looks enormous 

Tundra Bean and Greylag 

Tundra Bean and Pink-foot

Whooper Swans (sangsvane) and Canada Geese with the town of Eidsvoll in the background 

Whooper Swans coming in for landing

note how pink the feet of the juv Whooper Swan is compared to the black feet of the adult. I have never noticed this before 

The male Gadwall (snadderand) 

Long-tailed Duck (havelle). I don't think there is any doubt this is a 1st winter bird but I am unsure as to sex. I previously thought the grey scapulars were a sure sign of male but after reading up I am not so sure now.

Mallards (stokkand) in flight

frost

looking NE over Mjøsa from Minnesund 

and looking NW from the other side

Udenes Church. The Glomma River to the right is favoured by the Taiga Bean Geese in the spring. Today the river was starting to freeze over and the swirling mist made it difficult to see if there were any birds