A single Marsh Tit has now proven to be very settled in
Maridalen. It hangs very closely with two Willow Tits on a couple of horse
fields where they feed primarily on the floor and find food in or close to
piles of manure. What they are eating though I am unsure – it could either be seeds
or insects (perhaps eggs). There is only a single Marsh Tit and I have now changed
my previous observation from a pair to just one as I was only focused on
identify and documenting one of the birds and just assumed that the bird it was
with was also a Marsh Tit but seeing how close company this bird keeps with
Willow Tits that assumption was only making an ass out of you and me. I also
wonder whether the initial observation of two birds can stand as two as it was initially
reported as an unsure record with a photo of just a single bird.
Anyways, this bird seems settled for the winter and there is
clearly an abundance of natural food although once winter sets in then I expect
it will move to feeders. It calls surprisingly little, or at least gives the characteristic
“pitchoo” call very sparingly whereas the Willow Tits are churring away all the
time. This makes initially discovering it difficult but once the Willows are
found then the Marsh Tit should not be far away.
Apart from this little bit of excitement Maridalen feels
quite dead. There are no flocks of finches on the fields and the lake only has
a handful of expected species (Goldeneye, Goosander and Cormorant). With it
being so mild there are still quite a few Fieldfares finding worms to eat on
grass fields but I am clutching at straws.
The Maridalen Marsh Tit (løvmeis) anno 2025
finding some food in the horse muck
I'm not sure if it has taken a seed or an insect egg
here the Marsh Tit is feeding with a Willow Tit (granmeis) which is at the back. Note the much white and large cheek of the Willow
this had the makings of a very good comparison of the 2 species but ended up being blurry. The Marsh is closest
here the Marsh is at the back. Note also the large white wing panel of the Willow which is muck less obvious on the Marsh
Willow
the Marsh
Marsh on manure
Willow to the left and Marsh to the right
Marsh flanked by the two Willows. In this shot the Marsh seems to have an obvious white wing panel
Willow
Willow
Willow
2 of 5 Twite (bergirisk) that stopped briefly whilst I was watching the tits
this Treecreeper (trekryper) was searching for food on spruce cones which is a behaviour I cannot remember seeing before
These 5 Bullfinches were part of an all male flock of 6 birds - again something I cannot remember seeing before
Yesterday evening saw my fourth owling trip of the autumn
and my number of species encountered has now increased to three although the
target owl – Tengmalm’s – continues to elude me.
#3 was a Pygmy Owl which showed itself after sunset but before
it got dark as is usual for the species. It came to me and then proceeded to
hunt close to me when I also picked up a Three-toed Woodpecker which to my
surprise was active so late. A Tawny Owl made quite a lot of noise in the area
and twice I heard another noise which sounded owl like but I could not place to
species. It is still early days so I haven’t given up on pulling in a Tengmalm’s
or two in the coming couple of weeks.
A trip to Fornebu yesterday was with Yellow-browed Warbler
as a specific target. Not that one had been seen there but on Sunday there had been
a couple of inland records north of Oslo which had me hoping there were birds around.
There were good numbers of Chiffchaff including one that looked very tristisy
(but did not call) but I saw no wing bars nor heard any swiist calls.
Atempts to find more Jack Snipe have turned up blanks at
both localities I had them last week suggesting birds have been moving through
although birds should also turn up that will hang around at least until the
first cold period.
a Pygmy Owl (spurveugle) on almost the exact same branch that I have previously photographed Tengmalm's on
see it?
an autumnal Chiffchaff (gransanger)
flocks of Pink-footed Geese (kortnebbgås) continue to head south of Oslo when the winds are favourable
this Slavonian Grebe (horndykker) has been at Fornebu for a long time now and is now in winter plumage after having arrived still in summer plumage
a flock of 5 Twite (bergirisk) in Maridalen were my first of the autumn and a quite good record of a species that is more more regular on spring passage
this juvenile Whooper Swan (sangsvane) at Fornebu is most likely the same bird that was first seen at Frognerkilen on 27th September. Normally young birds would still be with their parents and also still close to the nest site so for a lone juvenile to turn up away from a nest site so early is very unusual
We have now had two nights without frost and along with
southerly winds I have been expecting a flood of migrants. Of course, that has
not been the case and viz mig has been a particular disappointment with just a
few flocks of Pink-footed Geese, 2 Cranes and a Kestrel. I had a real hope for
a few raptors but it is clearly still too early still (and I have this “surprise”
every year at this time….).
Despite the lack of viz mig there has been an arrival of new
birds. Dunnocks and Redwings are suddenly back and singing from woodland, White
and Grey Wagtail are suddenly wagging away and there are considerably more Lapwing, Mistle
Thrushes, Chaffinches, Bramblings and a large Twite flock in Maridalen.
Surprisingly though there are no Robins back yet but that must happen soon.
The Hawk Owl has been showing very well as it exploits a
rich source of Bank Voles (klatremus) and I was very happy to be able to film
it dismembering and then eating one.
A trip to Østensjøvannet was very birdy with lots of noisy
gulls and various wildfowl with a pair of Smew being the absolute highlight.
The video I have long wanted to capture showing the beheading, entrails removing and swallowing of a vole
Hawkie on a wire
and on its way down for what ended up being an unsuccessful vole hunt
this video has a few sequences with it giving its call that I also heard frequently when it first turned up in November
male Smew (lappfiskand)
pair
and with a Grey Heron (gråhegre)
3 male Teal (krikkand)
and a close of up another bird
the Heron was not at all popular with the Black-headed Gulls (hettemåke)
Goosander (laksand) are also back
3 species of returning gulls on the ice and 2 male Goosander
Grey Wagtail (vintererle) is back in the Dale
as is Dunnock (jernspurv)
and Redwing (rødvingetrost)
and a large flock of Twite (bergirisk) is having a stop off on its migration
and the first White Wagtail (linerle) of the year
not in Maridalen and not a good picture but I cannot remember capturing Parrot (furukorsnebb) and Common Crossbill (grankorsnebb) together before
Canada and Greylag Geese in Maridalen suddenly became very alert when this fox appeared
