On Thursday morning I had just parked the car at Huk after having dropped Jr Jr nearby when my phone plinged - a Great Grey Owl was hunting in Lillomarka. I dropped my plans of finding a Little Auk on a fog covered fjord and headed for the forest. I arrived on site after a 25 minute drive and 15 minute walk and found the bird fairly quickly. It was only 800m from the bird at the end of September so easy to assume it was the same bird but quite a few birders (myself included) have been in the area since with no subsequent sightings. It had clearly heard a rodent and was nearly falling off the branch as it prepared to drop onto the prey beneath it. I saw it soon catch a vole (being eaten in the above video) and dive unsuccessfully for another before after half an hour it disappeared into woodland on the edge of the marsh where it had been hunting.
Whilst watching it I could see that the flight feathers all looked to be browny grey and I remembered that the September bird clearly had two generations of flight feathers with darker moulted feathers contrasting with older (juvenile?) ones which showed it was a 2+cy. Checking the photos on the PC I could also see the pattern on the underside of the tail feathers was clearly different to the Sept bird and the tail feathers were also noticeably pointed. This and the single generation of flight feathers show the bird to be a 1cy i.e born this year.
So this was exciting that this small area had attracted two different GGO within 7 weeks but that was only part of the story. I went back in the evening which is now early as sunset is just after 4pm as I planned to have a second go for Tengmalm’s Owls this autumn. At 4pm a GGO appeared in exactly the same area as the bird in the morning. It made no attempts to catch food and never seemed to have heard anything and then after close to half an hour of being on the same perch it moved fairly quickly a couple of hundred meters to the south and then disappeared into the forest just as it got dark. I took this to mean that it was hunting within the forest but in hindsight it may well have been continuing its dispersal looking for productive hunting grounds. What is really exciting though is that photos show this was NOT the same bird as earlier in the day (or September)! It had rounded tail feathers so is not a bird of the year (although I do not have photos of the flight feathers to confirm) and the pattern does not match the Sept bird.
And why do I have hindsight? Well, a thorough search by me and others this morning from before sunrise revealed no GGO at all, so maybe we just chanced upon two birds moving through.
As in the 2019/20 when Maridalen attracted four different GGO it amazes and fascinates me how a single area far away from any known breeding grounds can suddenly attract multiple GGO. How do they end up in the same place? It is not as though there is an abundance of rodents - the post sunset stint revealed not a single owl of any species despite perfect conditions.
Looking at my post from 2020 when I individually identified four different GGO in Maridalen I don’t remember making an effort to age them so will maybe go back through my pictures to see what I can make out. However 2019 was a year with no recorded breeding of GGO in Norway due to an absence of rodents in the breeding areas so they were always unlikely to be juveniles (the two proceeding years had been very good though so there were a lot of birds dispersing in desperation).
the morning bird atop the high thin stump in the middle of the picture
and here on that stump
the evening bird on the left side of the trunk of the pine in the middle of the picture and Akshada Risbud who took the following picture which was much better than I managed
it really was quite dark when Ashkada took this picture but her superior skills as a photgrapher and better equipment resulted in a much better picture than I managed:
I do like this silhouette though
And here are the comparison pics of the three birds from this autumn showing why they are different and also how to age them
the very pointed tail of the 1cy bird is very easy to see and contrasts with the rounded tails of the two other birds. The different patterns of the tail feathers are easy to see.
I don't have a shot of the wing of the afternoon bird as it was always looking straight at us but note that the 1cy bird on the left has flight feathers that all have a browny grey base colour whereas the 2+cy bird from September has two generations of feathers with some having a base colour of dark grey and others browny grey. This may mean that bird can be aged as a 2cy but I will go with the 2+cy to be safe and also because I have not read myself up enough on the subject of aging GGO
I have frequently heard that one can individually identify GGO based on their facial markings. I have tried this and clearly don't have the observational skills to do it as I do not see that it is possible especially as the features people see are ones that change based on posture and whether the bird is dry or wet... But one difference that can be seen here is the black mark to the right of the bill of the afternoon bird. Whether this is a consistent feature of that bird though or just due to a displaced feather at the time of the picture is not something we will ever know unless the bird is seen again (and identified based on its tail feathers)
Oslo is enjoying very settled weather with blue skies and little wind. There are overnight frosts which cause puddles and even a small very sheltered bay on Maridalsvannet to freeze over but by mid afternoon it is quite warm.
The Pine Grosbeak invasion has fizzled out but we may see more bird arrive in a week or two based on previous years. I found a single bird at Grefsenkollen on Tuesday but none have been reported in the town on berries.
An interesting sighting of a Hawk Owl keeps the hopes alive for an owl winter as does the (re)appearance of. A Great Grey Shrike in Maridalen. The Hawkie was reported on eBird where it is a “sensitive” so I can see no details of when or where it was seen but can see it was in November.
Maridalsvannet was as flat as a pancake on Tuesday and revealed a flock of 11 ducks sleeping in the middle of the lake as well as 3 Common Scoter close to the shore. Even in the scope I couldn’t identify all the birds in the flock of 11. Most were clearly Common Scoter but not necessarily all and I needed to get closer. Once I had got closer the flock was awake and turned out to be 10 Common Scoter and a Scaup. The Scaup therefore means I have completed the list of mountain breeding sea ducks this autumn and is a rare bird on Maridalsvannet with it being only my eigth record. It was also the first in Oslo this year.
Leaving Maridalen on Wednesday I noticed a large flock of Hooded Crows on a stubble field which just kept getting larger with small groups flying in to join them from the direction of the city. I counted 130 which is a HUGE count and I felt sure there would be something all black amongst them. At first I only found a few Jackdaws but then suddenly there was an adult Rook (kornkråke) - yet another good Oslo bird.
Pine Grosbeak (konglebit) at Grefsenkollen on Tuesday
a young Scaup (bergand) with 10 Common Scoter (svartand) all of which I think are also young birds. Th bird to the right in the magnified section looked very different to all the others but I am unsure as to whether it is an adult female or a young male that has come much further in its post juvenile moult than the others
proof of where they were
Great Grey Shrike (varsler) on Tuesday. It had just been bathing and it feathers were in a bit of a mess which is why I think the wing patch looks so large
and on Wednesday when the wing patch looks much smaller. We can also just make out the thin white wing bar showing it to be a young bird. I had not noticed this on Tuesday. It is of course possible that they were two different birds but they were in exactly the same tree and the head and bill patterns look the same. This video is from Tuesday:
adult Rook (kornkråke) together with Hooded Crows (kråke)
going through my photos from Tromsø I noticed that there were two Common Eider of the northern subspecies borealis . Their orange bills really stand out and you can also see one of them has "sails". In addition I think the head and bill has a subtly different profile to the other birds
this female Great Spotted Woodpecker (flaggspett) in Maridalen really caught my eye with its browny underparts and forecrown
I am posting this from the airport in Tromsø having just spent a long weekend with Jr. Even though the sun does not officially disappear under the horizon until 27 November the days are already considerably shorter than in Oslo and as it was also very damp and overcast most of the time it never really got very light. It was not particularly cold though and the only snow was on the tops of the highest mountains that can be seen from the city.
On Saturday night though there was a short period where there were cloudless patches and we saw the northern lights for about 10 minutes.
All the trees had lost their leaves and walking around the city and in the woodlands was a particularly birdless affair. I recorded only 23 species but 4 of were additions to my admittedly rather meagre Troms county list and were all good local birds. The first was a Collared Dove which I twitched in a garden where it has been regularly reported since the end of September. I then heard a Common Crossbill whilst waiting for the bus outside Juniors and most surprisingly had a flock of 16 Long-tailed Tits flying over the cathedral in the city centre. I heard them first and couldn’t work out where the sound was coming from, at first I thought it was being played through a loud speaker by a shop, but then looked up and they were flying over! It was quite a surreal sighting given how few birds I was seeing otherwise. Last new species was a Nutcracker on a walk today which I had hoped to see as this years invasion into NW Europe has produced quite a few sightings up here.
On the sea there were farfewer ducks than we saw on our visit in February but a flock of 200 Common Eider in the harbour did contain a single Queen Eider.
Prestvannet was not frozen but held far fewer ducks than in the summer (just Mallard and Teal) but a huge number of Herons with a count of 92 being, I am sure, the highest number I have ever seen in one place. A Little Egret had been seen with them last week but was unfortunately not to be seen this weekend.
I didn’t get photos of any of the new species but the Queen Eider (praktærfugl) is visible in this video and the photos
After my first sighting of Pine Grosbeak on Wednesday, I found none yesterday but today had ten in total including my first adult males and my first in Maridalen. It is not quite invasion tendencies yet but I reckon we will have a good, if gradual, arrival. The birds I saw today were in spruce but they will turn up in an urban car park soon.
Maridalsvannet was completely calm today and revealed a total of 12 Common Scoters and the juv Black-throated Diver which is still present and may well not leave until the lake freezes which the way things are going may not be until well into 2027.
It is so mild that dragons are still flying and I also had a butterfly today which flew too quickly but was probably a Comma (hvit C).
a very late Black-throated Diver (storlom) in Maridalsvannet
Common Scoter (svartand) and a Wigeon also on Maridalsvannet today
Crested Tit (toppmeis) are quite easy to find at the moment
2 Pine Grosbeaks (konglebit)
and another two which were part of a flock of eight that were all in this tree top and included two adult males but it was only when they flew that I realsied how many there were
the Grozzas were at Grefsenkollen which has a great view over the city and fjord
these two ferries (one coming from Denmark and the other Germany I believe) offer mini cruises and always seem to race each other into Oslo in the morning
one of two Marsh Tits (løvmeis) at the feeders in Maridalen today
I've had some feedback that I didn't sound particularly happy with my sea gazing yesterday which did after all included a Grey Phalarope which is a VERY good bird - so good that it is only my 4th in Norway (3 of them have now been from same place - Krokstrand) and the first in Oslo & Akershus for 6 years. I guess I have overly optimistic expectations based on just one or two epic seawatches close to ten years ago and am forgetting how dire sea gazing usually is close to Oslo so should be happy with what others would describe as a fantastic day. One thing I really missed was the complete lack of skuas. I know that the global population of Great Skuas has been hugely affected by avian flu but there is also clearly something up with Pomarine Skua which used to be an expected feature of late autumn storms but nowadays I hardly see an autumn record of 1cy birds AT ALL in the whole of Norway. I have heard that one reason that Steller's Eiders are suffering is that Pomarine Skuas are predating them on the breeding grounds due to a repeated lack of Lemmings on their Siberian breeding grounds. What I don't know though (and maybe know one knows due to the dire situation in Russia) is when the last time Pomarine Skuas had a successful breeding season.
Anyways yesterday was a GOOD day and so was today because I got myself a Grozza. It was a sunny day with little wind and I was determined to find one so with the Beast in tow went walking in the forests of Lillomarka. And I did not have to wait long - just 10 minutes after leaving the car I heard one of the most magical sounds known to man and then saw the little beast of a bird. It was in an area of mixed spruce/pine forest with no rowan berries and although they eat the buds of coniferous trees I think the seeds of rowan berries are preferred so I reckon birds are just passing through the forests and will eventually settle in the city. I later heard another overflying bird(s) so they are clearly on the move as hoped/predicted. Otherwise it was eerily quiet in the forest but I did hear and then see a Hazel Grouse and heard a distant hooting Pygmy Owl so there is still some life in the forest.
The video has the magical sound of the Pine Grosbeak (konglebit) and the Hazel Grouse (jerpe):
Pine Grosbeak (konglebit). The reddy colouration suggests it is a 1cy male but it is not straightforward aging/sexing them
I have been searching for Pine Grosbeaks in vain but lots of rain and southerly winds are hopefully just holding them up and the first two were reported in Oslo yesterday so the hope lives on. If they don’t arrive in any numbers then I really think this winter will be the most uneventful I can remember in Oslo. There are no new signs of owls turning up and I cannot even find a Pygmy any more. The Great Grey Shrike and Buzzard also seem to have moved on which is a sure sign of lack of rodents.
The southerly winds gave hope of a last chance for some sea gazing and today, finally, I saw some birds that were clearly displaced by the storms further south and west. Three hours at Krokstrand were for once, in recent years, worth it and gave a number of good local birds. A Grey Phalarope topped the list although views could have been better and single Gannet and Fulmar and a few Kittiwakes and Little Gulls made it feel like the old times. There were good numbers of Razorbills but no other auks, not even a Guillemot and certainly no Little Auks which I had hoped to be present. My eBird checklist can be seen here.
As I write this a Manx Shearwater has been seen off downtown Oslo and I can hear outside that the winds are stronger than this morning when I was gazing so a longer gaze may have paid dividends.
I hardly took a photo in the dark, damp conditions but here is what I managed to document:
the view from today's chosen watchpoint which was right next to the car such that I could take shelter if it rained too much
a young Kittiwake (krykkje). The building in the background is Filtvet Fyr and is about 3km away
On Monday I had my first Waxwing of the autumn in Maridalen and yesterday there was a small flock eating berries by the shop when I was grocery shopping. There really is something magical about their call! But what really got my pulse racing yesterday was a message on the Hedmark rare bird group on Band saying that 65 Pine Grosbeaks had been observed viz miging flying south. When I saw who had reported them - Jonas Langbråten - I assumed that they were from the Kongsvinger area and got very excited as this is only 80km or under 2 hours flight time for a Grozza from Oslo. I immediately drove to an area where I thought there would be the best chance of observing any viz mig in Oslo but without any luck. It was only later that I saw that they had actually been observed in Femund which is 250km away... so I think they are still a day or two away from Oslo but I am sure they will come. We are having very wet weather today and tomorrow but I have definite plans to find them on Friday when conditions are forecast to be better. In 2024 the first bird was seen 24 October, in 2021 on 23 October and in 2019 on 21 October so if I find them they will have turned up bang on cue!
As I have previously written there are enormous amounts of berries on ornamental rowan and asal trees in the city but very few remaining in the forests. This means that if the birds come then they will be very urban as was the case in 2019 - here they are at a petrol station!
my first Waxwing (sidensvans) since March 1st so it was definitely (yet) another reunion
a Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) that I discovered "naked" without any technical help, not that that was an aim but because my thermal imager has decided not to work...
Tree Sparrows (pilfink) in Maridalen. I assume they are a pair but males and females are the same so I don't know if there are any plumage clues to tell which is which. Tree Sparrows remain common in Norway including in urban areas
owling on Sunday night gave only a single Pygmy but Tengmalm's are being caught by ringers on the coast and on islands (including a 1st year bird at Lista that had a Finnish ring) there is a definite movement and I think I will give Tengmalm's another chance in October if we have a wind free night.
