Thursday 31 October 2024

Thank God for Grozzas

If it wasn’t for the influx of Pine Grosbeaks this late autumn then it would be very dire out there. This period of time used to be good for seawatching or perhaps an influx of geese but not this year and not for the last few years either. Up until about 10 years ago we seemed guaranteed to have a good storm which would result in lots of exciting seabirds. In recent years these storms have not occurred or when we do get some strong southerly winds they invariably bring very little with them.

The Grosbeaks might be brightening things up but they are not yet settled and quite a few people have really struggled to see them, if they have seen them at all. They are a very trusting species and often allow ridiculously close approach as this video taken with my phone taken around one metre range shows:

 


and of course the obligatory selfie with Piney

But when they are in a flock they rarely make any loud noises and can sit in the same tree for a very long time. It is only when they are scared or decide it is time to move on that they will make loud calls. Single birds are usually quite vocal as they are searching for their kin but once they have found a flock to join then they too become quiet.













unfortunately when I encounter adult males it is foggy and dark




here the sun is just shining through the fog





this bird with a lot of red is I presume an advanced 1cy male but could perhaps be a 2cy male





although all the preceding pictures are of birds feeding on rowan seeds they spend equally as much time high up in spruce trees feeding on buds


and also in this instance in a pine


it was pretty foggy at Tryvann when I found at least 35 birds. Here the 118 high telecom tower is just peeking out above the fog
there have been some other birds. Here a Blue Tit (blåmeis)
here a size comparison of Blue Tit and Pine Grosbeak

  

Waxwings (sidensvans)



and a Mistle Thrush (duetrost)

this Meadow Pipit (heipiplerke) flew up from the ground in Maridalen without ever making a noise which makes it a scary pipit. I don't think its hind claws look particularly long but cannot make it into anything else


Monday 28 October 2024

The luck of the birder

Luck is a major factor in life and no less so in birding. A flyover bird will only be seen if you are in the right place at the right time and ditto hearing a calling bird. Hard work and long hours in the field will obviously increase your chances and knowledge of especially calls will help you find a lot more birds but luck is still probably the single most important factor.

The last couple of days have certainly been lucky for me. On Saturday as I got out of the car at home I heard a goose calling that I immediately recognised as from one of the Bean Geese and I just had time to get my bins from the car and see it was a Taiga Bean! – species 204 in #Oslo2024. Then today I was in the car in Maridalen when a message came through of a Yellow-browed Warbler in Oslo. 12 minutes later I was at the site and after a further three minutes I had species 205 on the list!!!! That was where my luck run out though. The bird was by a kindergarten and I am not a fan of hanging around places frequented by small kids with a big camera over my shoulders… I therefore had my camera in my bag and after just a second of watching the YbW I went to get my camera out such that I could digitally record this moment. Of course, once I had the camera raised I couldn’t find the bird again. A couple of minutes later I glimpsed it in flight as it was being chased by a Goldcrest and this was also the only time I heard it call. Another 45 minutes of waiting gave no other sign of it and the three other birders who arrived after me were not lucky either. But I had been lucky 😊 Even if it was my worst ever view of the species I had at least seen it and it was safely on the year list despite me having given up on seeing the species at all this year.

 

Pine Grosbeaks are still being seen and I had eight in Maridalen today but they are clearly still on the move and not yet settled although I am sure that quite soon there will be some settled and reliable flocks.


still 2 months to go and my Oslo year list is 205 (203 post redpoll lump), this is a total way beyond what I thought possible

Piney in Maridalen today



Friday 25 October 2024

Piney has arrived

I have now lived in Norway for 23 and a half years. It took me 10 years to see my first Pine Grosbeak and that was on the breeding grounds in Pasvik, Finnmark but I followed that up with my first Oslo bird the next year on 29 Oct 2012 with my first Oslo bird. That winter there were lots in Maridalen although as it was not a berry year they were always feeding in the top of the highest spruce trees.

Late autumn in 2016 there were a few birds in Oslo and then autumn 2019 there was a proper invasion which was surprisingly followed up only two years later by another invasion. Piney has long vied with Hawkey as my favourite bird but I realise now that maybe I have seen enough of them…

Finding them is cool but twitching them as I did today has lost most of its charm.

I had been suitably motivated by finding the first birds of the autumn on Wednesday that I went on a long walk in the forest yesterday. I was sure I would find many flocks of Grosbeaks as well as plenty of owls (ever the optimist..) but had only a single Black Grouse for my efforts. Today though Grosbeaks were being seen everywhere around Oslo and I joined others at the restaurant at Grefsenkollen where a small flock was splitting its time equally between eating rowan seeds and then flying into spruce trees and eating buds. Maybe they see that there are so many rowan berries and realise that they have food sorted for the next 6 months and think it might start to get boring so want to spice up their diet a bit.

It was nice to see them though 😊 and especially adult males.

 

In Maridalen I failed to find any Grozzas but a flock of 35 Waxwings were nice. They were initially ignoring the rowan berries and eating aphids and flycatching but in the afternoon were wolfing down the red berries. A flock of 9 Common Scoter sleeping on the lake were my first of the autumn and raises my hopes of a Long-tailed Duck dropping in.


adult male Pine Grosbeak (konglebit) in a sea of rowan berries



an adult female or a 1cy bird




look at all the liquid oozing out of the berry

they also fed on spruce buds



Waxwings (sidensvans)

spot the Common Scoters (svartand)

a beast of a Goshawk (hønsehauk) that looked like it could eat me

I am by NO means a plane spotter but I was intrigued when I saw these 4 vapour trails. A check of Flightradar24 showed apparently no planes in the area so they had to be military


the Norwegian airforce only flies F35 and F16 so as they are clearly not the former I guess they are F16s unless they are from a foreign military. They were flying NNE at a great height and I heard nothing from them