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
The New Year was spent in a damp England where I didn’t even
have bins let alone a camera although my ears did pick up a Firecrest as the best
bird.
We returned on Saturday night to a very cold Norway (-17C)
and from today we are forecast to have a up to 50cm of snow so it is a big
contrast and it will not even be easy to get out whilst it is snowing.
I had a short window yesterday morning to check out Maridalen
and was happy to reacquaint myself with both Hawkie and Piney but otherwise I
have nothing much to report. I took no pictures or video but have some from
after Christmas that I never posted so will let them adorn this post, the first
from what will hopefully be another exciting birding year although I will not
be focusing on lists in 2025.
do you see Hawkie on the telegraph pole?
the Yellow/Orange legged and billed Herring Gulls continue to stand out in Oslo
here the difference is very obvious with a normal bird on the left
Christmas has been spent in Oslo where it has been quite grey and unpleasant weather although we did surprisingly end up with a white christmas with a snow fall on the 24th although warmer temperatures since have left us with just ice.
The Hawk Owl continues to find Maridalen to its liking but move around quite a bit in its search for rodents. The last few days it has been on the same power cables which hosted a lost Cockatiel in July - there can't be too many places where both the species have occurred!
Pine Grosbeaks are becoming harder to find with few rowan berries left and surprisingly they do not seem to have invaded the city either where there are berries to be found. That does not mean they are impossible to find and a quick trip out this morning revealed a small group including a fine adult male.
adult male Pine Grosbeak (konglebit)
3 young birds or possibly adult females
Hawkie on wires
it has also been hunting low down from roadside trees
Today I had the pleasure of guiding Mathieu from Belgium to
see the best that Oslo could offer in 4 hours. Mathieu got three lifers: Hawk
Owl, Pine Grosbeak and Three-toed Woodpecker so the session was an undoubted
success but rarest bird was a Starling! I dismissed the bird (sitting distantly
in a tree) as a Blackbird as Starling is not at all on my radar at this time of
the year in Oslo but Mathieu who did not have that “knowledge” thankfully
pointed out the error of my assumption.
male Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett) drumming
a very unseasonal Starling (stær)
Pine Grosbeak (konglebit), unfortunately they only showed in the tops of spruce trees
we did see the Hawk Owl closer than this but I like this shot
Yesterday there were possible reports of both Iceland and
Caspian Gull by the Opera. I was nearby and managed 10 minutes without finding
them before I had to leave. This rases the prospect of reaching 210 for
#Oslo2024 but I feel that I have hung my bins up now so don’t think I will
spend anymore time looking for them. Many of the local Herring Gulls have
exceptionally orange bills and legs at the moment. The reason is unknown but
must be diet related and they look quite freaky.
this bird was ringed as a chick on one of the Oslo islands and was registered as a Herring Gull. It looks more like a Lesser-black Back (which is very rare in winter in Oslo) but has caused debate and its ID has not been agreed up (hybrid is of course a possibility). Better photos can be seen here
