The first quarter of the year is now complete and an ice
free Østensjøvannet is sure sign that spring is here as was the sound of
singing Chiffchaff today. The ice has gone very quickly at Østensjøvannet – on Wednesday
when I saw the Smew there was just a small ice free area where all the birds
were concentrated but by Saturday all the ice was gone. The period when there is
just a small ice free area is a good time to be at Østensjøvannet because it is
possible to get good views of many species so it is a shame that it was so
short this year. The Saturday visit was to see a Pochard that had been found
and another visit today revealed both the Pochard and Smew to still be present.
There must be a lot of small fish as there are good numbers of Goosander but
there are few dabbling ducks and unfortunately the Black-headed Gulls look like
they have already decided they are not nesting here for yet another year. The
lake has previously had up to 2000 breeding pairs and lots of work has been
done to ensure there are suitable nesting sites but something else, which I
believe is a lack of food, has put the gulls off the lake.
In Maridalen the first Meadow Pipits have arrived and Twite
remain in very good numbers but there is little else and definitely no raptor
passage which I hope to see each day with sun….
female Pochard (taffeland) at Østensjøvannet
and a male Tufted Duck (toppand)
I scanned all the gulls for something rare but reading colour rings was the most exciting thing in the end. Here three different types of colour ring on Black-headed Gulls. The white and green are Norwegian and the red is from the UK (I have yet to receive details on it)
J88E was the oldest bird and was ringed as an adult female at Østensjøvannet 31st May 2015. It has been seen many time since but only in the Oslo area and it wintering grounds are unknown
J0280 is the bird that has travelled most. Ringed in Oslo 9 June 2022 it has been seen in Milton Keynes, England in January of both 2023 and 2025
Whooper Swans (sangsvane) are still moving through and this group was in Maridalen yesterday
Adders can be found sunning themselves in the same places each (sunny) day and it is still only males that are out
Black Woodpeckers (svartspett) are excavating a new hole after using the same one for the last 3 years
Scaup is only seen very occasionally in Oslo in winter with
only three January records of single birds in 2004, 2013 and 2021. That was
before 2025 though when a small flock was discovered on 18 Jan on the fjord.
The site is, as far as I know, rarely visited so the birds may well have been
present a while. There are 7 birds and they have the company of up to 5 Tufted
Ducks. They are diving to find food quite close to shore and keep returning to
the same spot so there is clearly a rich but small (in area) food source. There
are three males and four females. All the males are clearly 1st
winter birds and while I assume that the females are also 1st
winters I am not sure and there is some variation in how they look especially
the extent of white around the bill.
That these birds are present and clearly find food is together
with the huge numbers of Velvet Scoters, Goldeneyes and Eiders a sign that something
is good in the Oslo fjord despite the repeated assertions that the fjord is
either dead or dying. Populations of many fish are critically low but mussels
would seem to be present in great numbers which is I think the main reason for
all the seaducks this winter. There are quite a few Common and Cormorants and
the newly arrived Shags but other fish eaters are very scarce with just a few
auks and no divers or grebes.
From the same spot I could see in the telescope good numbers
of Velvet and Common Scoters, Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser and 10
Razorbills and 4 Long-tailed Ducks so this was a very bird rich Oslo fjord and
also a spot that I will have to visit more often.
7 Greater Scaup (bergand), 3 males and 4 females. The smudges in white flanks and grey backs show the males to be 1st winters. Of the females the one at the top has a sizeable and clearly defined white patch around the bill which may mean she is an adult but the other three are I believe 1st winters
here seemingly dabbling for food
with 3 Tufted Ducks (toppand)
and with 5 Tufties
with a female Tufted at the bottom
female Scaup and female Tufted. Here the white area around the bill is a clear difference but some Tufted also have this which is when you need to look at other differences such as the head shape, over all size (Scaup is larger), the paler cheeks of the Scaup and a smaller black "nail" on the bill of the Scaup
This post will inevitably include H & G but will cover
what was, for me, a very exciting experience. Thursday was a sunny day with a
thick frost covering everything and Hawkie was posing in a tree top when I
arrived. He was moving from tree top to tree top which I interpreted as meaning
there was no food to find and he was restless to move on but then suddenly he
launched himself out over the stubble field. I tried to follow in the camera
and just pressed the shutter hoping that I would capture something exciting. I
saw the owl hit the snowy ground and then could see a mouse running away from
it over the snow! I assumed therefore that the hunt was a failure but then saw
that the owl did have a mouse in its talons. It flew back up to the tree from
which it had descended and I quickly ran to get to a position from which I
could better see it with its brunch. In the few seconds that I used to reposition
myself the owl must have snipped off and eaten the head as my pictures show it
to have a head when it landed in the tree and to be headless once I had started
taking pictures again. The head or perhaps the brain does seem to be a delicacy
as I have previously noted a vole with a large hole in its head. The owl pulled
at the mouse a few times and seemed to eat some of it from around the open neck
area before swallowing the remains whole.
I was very unsure as to how my pictures, and film of all this
would come out as my fingers were cold and I had no real idea what settings I
had chosen on the camera but with the good light I have actually managed some
quite OK documentation.
Later in the day I had a pair of Crossbills feeding in a low
tree which also allowed me to watch them carefully extracting the seeds from
cones with their specially adapted beaks. There are still lots of Crossbills
and lots of cones and I guess egg laying will start soon in the New Year.
The cold weather is now set to end for a week so
Maridalsvannet that was in the process of freezing over may well remain ice
free until the New Year. It is proving very popular with Cormorants with upto
12 birds clearly finding lots of fish.A
family of Whooper Swans is also present and they have had the company of a late
Tufted Duck and a Canada Goose which I believe to be the injured bird that I
last saw on 18 November but which would seem to have just been very successfully
avoiding my gaze.
Yesterday was very birdless in Maridalen despite it being a
good day weather wise. I registered NO thrushes of any kind and finches and even
tits were hard to come by.
Hawk Owl spotting something
just before it strikes a mouse running over the snow
here we see the mouse in its talons
and here a mouse erupting from the snow
and running away over the snow which I had seen whilst taking the photos
I was very surprised to see that the owl had caught a mouse which must have been the one that was running over the snow. The owl that escaped was I assume under the snow and was rudely interrupted when the owl crashed into the snow to take its buddy
when it landed the mouse had a head
by the time I had repositioned myself the head was gone
I managed to film the swallow
this Blue Tit caught the owls eye but I don't think was in danger
male Common Crossbill (grankorsnebb)
and his mate
Whooper Swans (sangsvane) with a Tufted Duck (toppand)
and with a Canada Goose
Cormorants (storskarv)
Goldfinches (stillits)
did you really think you wouldn't see a pic of a male Grozza?
where there is snow it is very easy to see if Grozzas have been in the area as it looks like there has been a murder due to all the blood red berries staining the snow
still a work in progress - getting good pictures of Grosbeaks with the city in the background. Here the bird was momentarily in just the right spot but it was before sunrise on a dark day and me and the camera were not ready
