Big Owls

So, tell us about those big owls, I hear you say.

 

Owls are an attractive species for guiding and generally the larger they get the more sought after they are. The occurrence of most species of owl in Scandinavia, and especially the exciting ones, though is correlated with the abundance of rodents which goes in cycles. In the bottom year(s) of the rodent cycle there may be no breeding of owls over huge areas and I have heard of people going on organised trips to Finland especially to see owls and not seeing a single one. In the top years though there can be many owls of a number species and a visit in one of these years will have you scratching your head when other people tell you they were in the same area the previous, or next, year and saw nothing or had to work really hard for their one sighting.

After my success with Great Grey Owl last spring I already have people booked to come over for Great Grey Owl this May but have tried to make it clear that there is no guarantee there will be any breeding this year and therefore without a nest to visit it will be very difficult to find any. I have therefore been very anxious as to how it would be this year. My visits to Owl Rd earlier in the spring revealed only a couple of Tengmalm’s and no GG which was in stark contrast to last year however I have heard that it is better further north in Hedmark, or at least in some areas there, and it therefore seems that rodent numbers are varying locally.

I decided to keep on driving north to Hedmark on Wednesday after having dropped Jr off at the airport and had an afternoon and evening to see what I could find. It was still very early in the season (2 weeks prior to my visit last year when I found two occupied GGO nests) and I did not find any GGO on nests however I have it on good authority that less than a week before a number of birds could be heard at night including by the natural nest I found last year so the birds are clearly there and have just hopefully not laid eggs yet – a visit in two weeks time will confirm the situation. I did have GG at one site though and the bird which must have been a female came to greet me by perching above me and snapping her bill. So, this bird which while not yet incubating eggs on the nearby nest platform was acting in an aggressive way which clearly suggests that she is at least getting ready to nest. What is important now is that rodent numbers remain high enough for the owls to believe they can raise at least some young to fledging. If rodent numbers are on their way down then the owls may give up on their nesting attempts even if they have been singing and mating.

I was happy that I did have one GG under my belt though and the went looking for Ural Owl. I visited the area where I last had breeding birds and a scratch of a tree trunk below a nest box resulted in a female flying out! I really did not expect this to happen for two reasons: firstly Ural Owl females are famous for sitting tight and often not leaving the nest even when the nest box is opened up and two I had really begun to believe there must be something wrong with my trunk scratching technique as it failed completely to work last year with Tengmalm’s even when I knew a hole to be in use.

The owl proceeded to land in a nearby tree where it growled at me and called gruffly. I am not sure what the calling was for – maybe to call in the male (who I did not see) or perhaps meant to scare me off. Whatever the reason, I did not stay long and hopefully she quickly returned to the nest. In 4 to 5 weeks if the eggs have hatched then she will perch close to the nest whilst the young may be visible in the nest hole.

So, very exciting times are ahead but only if rodent numbers don’t crash.

 

Here a few pictures and videos where you can see the anti predator responses of the female of both species.

Greay Grey Owl (lappugle)

can you spot the Ural Owl (slagugle)?

My trip to Hedmark wouldn’t have been complete without a visit to Starene where there were still good flood waters and lots of geese including Tundra Bean and White-fronted. I do love this site! And I also had Wood Lark at one of their usual locations.

Starene

 

Woodlark (trelerke)

Some excitement came on the drive home when I saw smoke and blue lights ahead of me and came across a burning car and fire trucks. A check of the map showed that I had not alternative route and just had to sit it out. It was exciting watching the firemen at work and thankfully I was able to find out that nobody had been injured. The car had just started burning whilst I was being driven and the driver stopped and called the fire brigade. Because it was in the middle of nowhere it took a long time before the fire trucks arrived by which time the car was completely ablaze. To illustrate how isolated we were, I was the first car to arrive from my direction which must have been at least 20 minutes after the fire brigade were called and in the 45 minutes I was stuck there only two other cars arrived behind me.

Twitching a sleeping Stone Curlew

Whilst I was birding Oslo yesterday a message came through that a Stone Curlew had been found at Årnestangen. With under 50 records it is a national rarity and the only previous record in Akershus (it is still to be seen in Oslo) came just last year. This year’s record is interestingly the earliest ever in Norway. It goes without saying that I have not seen one in Norway.

I didn’t really consider going for it even though from the photos that were put out it was clear that the bird was at its daytime roost (they are primarily nocturnal birds) and it didn’t move at all until it was almost dark. In other words, it would have been an easy yet very boring twitch. I have to admit that this apathy to twitching is just a tad extreme especially as I do take my Akershus list seriously – I am just 7 species off the lead and everyone who is ahead of me has been birding here for at least a decade and in some cases 3 or 4 more than me so there are bound to be species that will turn up that they currently have over me.

I had no expectation that it would be present today (I am more open to day 2 twitching) but whilst walking the dog a message came through that it was again roosting in exactly the same spot. It was far easier today to make the decision to twitch and it ended up being as easy as I expected and also as boring. The bird was watched from a very safe range with lots of heat have and it not doing anything but hey, a tick’s a tick 😊

Årnestangen was otherwise very quiet with only a few raptors on a day that I had expected there to be many although a few Ospreys were my first of the year and a young Peregrine put on an amazing show as it chased and repeatedly dived at a Lapwing before eventually giving up allowing the Lapwing to fight another day.

A quick check of Maridalen on the way home revealed the first Black-throated Diver and Wheatear of the year.

Stone Curlew (triel). I am still debating with myself if this can be called a record shot but the video shows it better and I did manage to catch the only time when it did something other than sleep

and my first Wheatear (steinskvett) of the year on the same stones where I normally get my first bird

The annual early spring outing to Gressholmen

Yesterday saw me watching some big owls very well in Hedmark and I will come back to them in a day or so but first an update from a good days birding in Oslo.

Every spring the car needs its service and I use this carless day to go out to the islands and today was that day. I only visited Gressholmen but it was a good trip even though it is still way too early for anything that exciting. However 3 Slavonian Grebes at close range were, as always, a treat and they even displayed a bit. These, a Green Sandpiper and a Great Grey Shrike which even sang a bit were all Oslo’s first records of the year..

After this a trip to Middelalderparken failed to reveal anything rare among the few hundred gulls bathing there (although turnover is clearly high so things can always turn up). A very pale mantled Lesser Black-back and a yellow-legged and slightly dark mantled Herring Gull got some attention. I also managed to fit in a trip to Østensjøvannet before the car was ready to be picked up and thankfully didn’t need any additional work doing to it.

Slavonian Grebe (horndykker) pair

This video has lots of display and interaction between the birds

And this short extract shows some interesting display with what seems to be the unpaired bird trying its luck before being chased off. Note how it dives under water and then starts penguin displaying which gets a positive response from the other bird before its mate turns up

look at the reflection of the black head feathers

all 3 birds which were a pair and I believe a male

the pair of Smew (lappfiskand) still at Østensjøvannet

the yellow-legged Herring Gull that isn't a Yellow-legged Gull...

this pale backed Lesser-black Backed Gull (sildemåke) is ringed and its life history and other pictures suggest is an intermedius with some pigment problems (note that the primaries are not black) rather than a graellsii

Great Grey Shrike (varlser). It was intently staring at the ground in an area with lots of Water Vole holes but I did not see it catch one which would also have been a large prey item

I only discovered this Greylag Goose nest when it hissed at me as I almost stood on it

this young Herring Gull looks to have got some paint on it

there were 6 Ringed Plovers (sandlo) on Gressholmen which probably represent the entire Oslo breeding population

And a video of a drumming female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker from earlier in the week

An Easter not to remember

I have often written that Easter is my favourite time of the year for birding in Maridalen and indeed it still is even if that doesn’t necessarily mean it is always as productive. The timing of Easter of course varies from year to year and a late Easter will always be better so this year’s relatively early Easter which has coincided with lots of fresh snow has unsurprisingly not been one for the birding memory books. I have been out early every morning but there have hardly been any new birds of signs of viz mig.

The absolute highlight on that score being three Red-throated Divers flying in high up and then circling the lake calling before landing and displaying on the lake. This is one of the earliest ever records in the Dale but in most years the lake would still be frozen until at least the middle of April so the conditions aren’t normally conducive to any water birds this early. In addition RtDs have only recently established themselves as local breeders so we didn’t previously have birds using Maridalsvannet for more than a day or two whilst on migration (and birds heading further inland will not come through for a few weeks) whereas now they are an expected sight through the whole breeding season.

Tomorrow’s weather forecast does actually look quite promising so I may have written this downbeat post a day too early.

In the absence of any interesting bird photos I will chart the changing weather conditions.

me scoping the lake on Wednesday 1st April when it was till sunny

lots of snow at 8am on Friday 3rd

the fields at Kirkeby on 4th April at 07:18

and the fields at Nedre Vaggestein also on the 4th which unsurprisingly held hardly any birds

Kirkeby again on the 4th but now at 0852 when at least the sun had come out but stil no birds

and Kirkeby at 0822 today the 5th. Not a pleasant morning

and looking over the lake from Nes at 0829. There may have been lots of grounded waterfowl out there but the fog meant their presence or not will remain one of earths great unanswered questions

 

And a video of a drumming Lesser Spotted Woodpecker from before I went to England. A pair is now well established and with luck I will find their nest hole.

A week gone by

As I write this it is just +1C and snowing outside the window. This is in stark contrast to England where Jr and I spent a loooong weekend looking at flowering daffodils, bluebells, wood anemones, Firecrests and Red Kites. Firecrests have now become ten a penny in my childhood birding haunts where I definitely did not see a single one (40 years ago….) when I was a young birder and Red Kites now cruise over urban areas looking for a snack. In contrast to these species that have become much commoner I also heard a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker which would appear to be the first eBird record for West Sussex this year. It was a rare species when I was a lad but has clearly become even rarer in the (may) intervening years.

Before we went to England Maridalsvannet was still frozen and Østensjøvannet still half so. Now Maridalsvannet and, I presume, ØV are ice free but surprisingly Sognsvann proved to still be covered in ice on a walk with The Beast today. We are still waiting for the big arrival of thrushes but lots of Chaffinches have arrived although we are still waiting for the big arrival of Bramblings. Yesterday was a good day for Pink-footed Geese with 3000 or so passing over Maridalen in just an hour of observation but there did not seem to be anything else moving. Maybe I will still get big raptor da

Mute Swan (knoppsvane) pair on Maridalsvannet. I have not seen them getting any grief from the Whooper Swans so may be there will be far less swan drama this year although I still think the lake is a very suboptimal locality for them. Both birds had colour rings although I was unable to read them

Pink-footed Geese (kortnebbgås) heading north over Jr in Maridalen yesterday

a lone Pink-foot with Greylags by a frozen Sognsvann today

a large flock of Pink-feet over Nes in Maridalen

a pair of Smew (lappfiskand) at Østensjøvannet before we went to England. It has now become an expected event that the species will turn up as soon as the ice starts melting there

another species that has appeared in Sussex since I left is Egyptian Goose (niland) which still breeds during the southern summer, i.e our winter

Goshawk (hønsehauk) nest at Sognsvann today. This pair must surely be the most accepting of humans in the whole of Norway

me scoping an ice free Maridalsvannet yesterday

A weekend in the mountains with memories for life

adult Golden Eagle (kongeørn)

Siberian Jay (lavskrike)

This weekend I was so lucky to spend with Per Christian at his cabin in Ringebu. This is my third visit after trips in 2022 and last year. This year’s trip was about 10 days earlier than the previous two and an absence of many of the early passerine migrants that we had seen on previous visits was explained by this but otherwise conditions felt similar. There has been little snow in these mountains this winter and at the sides of the road the depth was no more than 50cm and areas of rock and lichen were already exposed. Down in the valleys the snow was completely gone but there was still a lot of ice and apart from Whooper Swans, geese and some Cranes there were few migrants.

Muen mountain at 1424 m was still covered in snow but even here rocks can be seen sticking out

here we are at around 760m and looking eastwards over Gubrandsdalen. The eastern slopes are fertile farmland and as can be seen spring comes early

Owls of the both the day and night active varieties were completely absent and raptors were also thin on the ground except for eagles. We started Saturday off with a young Golden Eagle and an adult White-tailed Eagle flying over it and then in the afternoon came across a couple of Goldens that appeared to have been a pair and which flew very close to us for many minutes and called lots. We were on a road and close to cabins so if we had come across a nest it would be rather amazing that they had chosen to be so close to human activity. From what I can make out they also do not normally make themselves so obvious if disturbed by a nest but I cannot think of another reason for their behaviour. 

One of the birds was in its 6th calendar year and only just old enough to breed. Perhaps this pair is newly formed ot even still forming which may expain all the noise?

I have never previously seen Golden Eagle so well and it was an experience I will never forget. Unforuntely though it was quite challenging documenting them as the sun was behind but I managed some video and photos I am pleased enough with.

In this video you can hear them calling very well. Apparantly as a species they call infrequently but this was not the case for us

a video grab of the pair

the other bird was clearly fully adult

I did not manage to get as good photos of the younger bird 

I have asked Facebook how old this bird is and have got an answer that it is in its 5th plumage meaning it is a 6cy. It is (just) old enough to breed even if its plumage is not fully adult. 

the Golden Eagle seen earlier in the day which is I believe still in juvenile plumage and therefore a 2cy

the upper tail of the same bird as it goes into land

the adult White-tailed Eagle (havørn) that was above it

At the cabin the Siberian Jays did not show at all on Saturday and even though I was worried PC was still guaranteeing we would see them and whilst enjoying coffee on Sunday morning up to six birds provided a yet again unforgettable experience as they fed within spitting distance of us.

Siberian Jay (lavskrike)

Another, for me, new experience came on the drive home when we discovered around 30 Black Grouse in a roadside stubble field. I have never come across them like this before and cannot recall seeing a picture in Norway of similar behaviour. They were equally split male and females and although one male was displaying I do not think it was a lekking congregation but rather feeding birds. When we first saw them at speed from the car I had no idea what they were and even if they were living creatures so after stopping the car and walking back to them it was a real shock to discover their identity.

two male Black Grouse (orrfugl)

and here a number of females

Otherwise, it was geese and swans that were the entertainment on the drives up and down. On the way up a stop at Starene revealed Tundra Beans and White-fronts amongst 2500 Pink feet and on the way back we came across many flocks of swans and geese along a very long stretch of the Glomma in both stubble and flooded muddy fields. We twitched a Bewick’s Swan and found more Tundra Beans and White-fronts.

Tundra Bean Goose (tundrasædgås) with Pink-feet (kortnebbgås)

and three White-fronts (tundragås) with Pink-feet

A visit to the shooting ranges at the fabled BT Banen was a strangely bird less affair apart from a showy Great Grey Shrike.

Great Grey Shrike (varsler)

All in all a weekend that will last long in my memories.

a normal Willow Tit (granmeis)

and a very distinctive bird with a white tail

these four Cormorants (storskarv) heading north over the mountains were a surprise