It’s all a bit wet and windy at the moment and the dry spells
when they come need to be used well for as long as they last. Spells that
started dry but turned wet allowed me to hear a rare Oslo Quail found by the
nearly young but already come Jack D at Hengsenga and to get second goes at the
Rb Fly.
slightly better shot of the Rb Fly with the bazooka being deployed on a rare occasion
A Maridalen nocturnal trip last night was far too windy and
birds were very few and far between. Much more cooperative were two separate
Moose which are not a usual sight in the summer months. One showed extremely
well by the road with the Grasshopper Warbler serenading it.
Regular readers of this blog will be aware of my exceptional
ability to fail to take exceptionally good videos. I am not talking
about my videos being shaky and out of focus as that at least means I took the
video, no I’m talking about all the videos I fail to take because of
my continued inability to press the record button.
Yesterday evening saw yet another monumental f**k up and
quite possibly the all-time best video that I never took when
I had a Great Grey Owl at about 15m range with a large vole in its bill. The
vole was still alive and its feet twitching when the owl delivered the killer
bite to the head, ate the head and then swallowed the body all whilst looking
at me. The light was good, it was in sharp focus and I was holding the
superzoom steady but had I pressed record? I thought I had, I even thought I
had checked the red circle was showing in the top right corner of the view
finder. But no, of course, I hadn’t and I am still kicking myself.
We are talking about a video (that wasn’t) so incredibly
good that David Attenborough would have paid me for the honour of narrating it.
This video which was taken immediately after has me
expressing my utter contempt for myself whilst the owl looks on….
Great Grey Owl (lappugle) just after it swallowed a big vole but you'll just have to take my word for that as I FAILED to film it
This happening arose as Jack accompanied me on a trip to
deepest Hedmark to try to get to the bottom of the GGO situation anno 2026. We
checked 4 platforms and 2 old Buzzard nests without finding any incubating GGs.
At the platform that I have visited twice before in April the pair were present
and the female was very aggressive with bill clicking beginning when we were
50m away and had yet to see her. She also adopted a threat posture and looked
like she might fly at us at any moment. Her bill clicking also brought the male
in who sat a bit less open but also clicked at us. This aggression from GGO
when they do not have young to protect is most unusual (perhaps unprecedented) as
is the fact that the pair clearly remains in breeding modus but have not yet
laid eggs and it is surely too late now.
the female in threat posture
the male
the males
the pair with the female on the left
The hunting bird we saw was an encouraging sign but the fact
it ate the vole rather than flying off with it to feed a mate leaves me not
knowing whether or not it was a breeding bird. I do know of an occupied nest
but have yet to visit that site as it has been important that I find my own
birds but I may have to give up on that hope for this year.
We ruined our finger nails scratching on trunks under every
woodpecker hole we saw with only a Great Spotted pecker ever flying out but at
a nestbox we did finally find breeding Tengmalm’s although it was Jack who
scratched so I still do not know if I have a technique that works.
Other birds seen were a couple of Capers but again females,
Black Grouse, Wryneck and Woodcock but it was a cold day with temperatures
falling below zero as soon as it got dark and that probably caused less
activity than we could have hoped for.
we had two roadside sightings of Moose
Back in Oslo this morning I was faced with the realisation
that springs undoubted highlight - the wader migration at Svellet - is pretty
much over. Water levels rose another 20cm yesterday to 4.03m and whilst there is still
mud and shallow water there are clearly few remaining areas where there is food
in the mud and wader numbers were nearly halved from yesterday and many were
just roosting rather than feeding. It is a travesty that such an
internationally important staging post for shorebirds cannot be managed better
but that pretty much sums up «conservation» in the world’s richest and «best»
country.
Svellet 6th May. There is still (dry) mud but water levels have risen a lot
In Maridalen it looks like the 3rd Lapwing nest has now hatched with there being four young near it and no bird still incubating and yesterday’s brood of three is actually four but I never saw these two broods simultaneously so there remains a very small chance that one single brood of four 1-2 day old young was able to cross a ditch.
a brood of day old Lapwing (vipe)
rarity of the day was this all black corvid on the Lapwing field. I concluded with it being a 2cy Rook (kornkråke) rather than a Carrion Crow (svartkråke) but it ain't always straightforward especially at distance in heat haze. Interestingly the Lapwings which always tried to chase away any intruding Hooded Crows left this bird alone
As is typical after guiding, the species that were difficult
to find have served themselves up on a silver plater in the following days….😂
A male Three-toed Woodpecker has showed exceptionally well
in Maridalen in a small area of flooded forest with dead trees well away from
the species normal areas and the exact area we checked unsuccesfully on
Saturday for Black Woodpecker (and had no other ‘peckers either). And Black
‘pecker which was our most striking miss at the weekend has of course also
shown well….
Pygmy Owls have just been waiting for me on roadside trees
and two in a day was so noteworthy that it required a comment on eBird (our
local reviewer is a meticulous young man😉).
A visit to the Hazel Grouse saw me heading straight for
where we had the male on Saturday and what do you know - he was in exactly the
same tree and I only used 10 minutes from leaving the car to see him rather
than nearly 2 hours. He was high up in an alder tree but I was able to clamber
up a slope and see him nearly at eye level for a long period of time.
Two different Marsh Tits still in Maridalen maintain the
hope of the species establishing itself although they are not a pair and one of
them is the (mostly) silent bird which always is hanging with Willow Tits and
which best case has an identity crisis and worst case may be a
hybrid. The other bird loves to call and is either on its own (although earlier
there were two vocal birds together) or with Blue Tits.
Jack and I visited Owl Road last night in glorious positions
- a cloudless starry night sky, -16C, no wind and even a tiny slither of a
moon. Three Tengmalm’s Owls meant a 200% increase on 9 days earlier but we had
no other owls (it was the same date last year when I showed Jack his very firstGGO).
The sun has been shining but temperatures remain a long way
south of zero so early spring migrants are still to arrive but from the middle
of next week we are forecast to have temperatures above zero and some rain.
This will probably be all that is needed for the first geese, Snow Buntings,
Skylarks or Starlings to show up if there are suddenly snow free flecks on the
fields.
only three toes
the rings on this tree suggest that a Three-toed has been in this area quite a while...
Moose have also showed well but were absent at the weekend
Pygmy Owl in the snow
I attempted some flight shots and nearly succeeded in a sharp shot
my Hazel Grouse (jerpe) photos were nothing special but I am happy with the videos which have him singing and eating snow
singing
owling on Owl Road
and Pygmy Owling in Maridalen with the bird on top of the highest spruce
I then had a very nice photo shoot with him or perhaps her
and a Robin (rødstrupe) in the snow
and these little beauties are still giving of themselves
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
