Post guiding silver platter

As is typical after guiding, the species that were difficult to find have served themselves up on a silver plater in the following days….😂

 A male Three-toed Woodpecker has showed exceptionally well in Maridalen in a small area of flooded forest with dead trees well away from the species normal areas and the exact area we checked unsuccesfully on Saturday for Black Woodpecker (and had no other ‘peckers either). And Black ‘pecker which was our most striking miss at the weekend has of course also shown well….

 Pygmy Owls have just been waiting for me on roadside trees and two in a day was so noteworthy that it required a comment on eBird (our local reviewer is a meticulous young man😉).

 A visit to the Hazel Grouse saw me heading straight for where we had the male on Saturday and what do you know - he was in exactly the same tree and I only used 10 minutes from leaving the car to see him rather than nearly 2 hours. He was high up in an alder tree but I was able to clamber up a slope and see him nearly at eye level for a long period of time.

 Two different Marsh Tits still in Maridalen maintain the hope of the species establishing itself although they are not a pair and one of them is the (mostly) silent bird which always is hanging with Willow Tits and which best case has an identity crisis and worst case may be a hybrid. The other bird loves to call and is either on its own (although earlier there were two vocal birds together) or with Blue Tits.

 Jack and I visited Owl Road last night in glorious positions - a cloudless starry night sky, -16C, no wind and even a tiny slither of a moon. Three Tengmalm’s Owls meant a 200% increase on 9 days earlier but we had no other owls (it was the same date last year when I showed Jack his very firstGGO).

 The sun has been shining but temperatures remain a long way south of zero so early spring migrants are still to arrive but from the middle of next week we are forecast to have temperatures above zero and some rain. This will probably be all that is needed for the first geese, Snow Buntings, Skylarks or Starlings to show up if there are suddenly snow free flecks on the fields.

only three toes

the rings on this tree suggest that a Three-toed has been in this area quite a while...

Moose have also showed well but were absent at the weekend

Pygmy Owl in the snow

I attempted some flight shots and nearly succeeded in a sharp shot

my Hazel Grouse (jerpe) photos were nothing special but I am happy with the videos which have him singing and eating snow

singing

owling on Owl Road

and Pygmy Owling in Maridalen with the bird on top of the highest spruce

I then had a very nice photo shoot with him or perhaps her

and a Robin (rødstrupe) in the snow

and these little beauties are still giving of themselves

Taiga guiding

This weekends guiding had me praying to the Bird Gods and wondering what I had done to displease them before eventually being giving their slightly limited blessing.

Martyn, Jo and Stella had come to Oslo to see our special winter birds and especially Hawk Owl and I was determined they would leave happy.

On Saturday the target was the specialities of Maridalen and surrounding forests and on Sunday it was the taiga areas of Hedmark. 

Saturday was sunny, windless and cold with temperatures down to -20C in the forest and on Sunday it was forecast to be same but ended up being cloudy with occasional snow and temperatures down to -23C. We experienced near white out conditions a couple of times when we were in low cloud and whilst cool to experience it was not the best conditions for finding birds.

On Saturday the targets were Hazel Grouse, Pygmy Owl and interesting woodpeckers. Hazel Grouse took an hour and a half and just as we were about to head back to the car empty handed I had one last attempt and finally a bird sang. It then took another 15 minutes to find the bird but it then sat directly above us in a tree and was so unaffected by our presence that it never even looked down at us.

Otherwise, the forest was very quiet with no peckers of any type.

Maridalen gave us Crested and Willow Tits, Goshawk, Dipper and Hawfinch and eventually Pygmy Owl which showed very well but far too briefly.

So, the two main targets were delivered but peckers disappointed.

 

Sunday we had a two hour drive to the taiga and I kept hoping the forecast sun would appear the further north we drove but instead we just saw lower and lower cloud. The forests were covered in thick snow but where were the birds?!? We slowly drove the forest roads for over 4 hours and saw only 11 species and only around 40 individual birds of which Bullfinches made up half of these…. 

For a long time a female Capercaille was the top bird before a Three-toed ‘pecker gave itself up but far too briefly and partly made up for the lack of peckers the day before but we still failed to see a Black. But where were the taiga species? Hawk Owl (which was the #1 priority for the whole weekend, Pine Grosbeak and Sibe Jay?

People were dozing off in the car but I was still searching for a lump on a tree top and FINALLY a Hawk Owl gave itself up. Only 30 metres from the road it showed just long enough for me to set up the scope so its yellow eyes could be studied before stooping down and never reappearing. That was the last bird we saw in the forest and a fitting end to the trip but I would have liked to be able to find Grosbeak and Sibe Jay. It wasn’t through lack of trying and if the sun had been shining then I think we would have had more birds perching on tree tops but we play with the cards we are dealt with.

 

Pictures were not my priority but here is a flavour of the weekend.

watching Hawkie

can you spot him?

a bit more recognisable here

the football in a tree is "my" Hazel Grouse

very close but he never lifted his head and looked at us!

female Capercaille (storfugl)

Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)

and a Three-toed 'pecker leaving stage right

Getting fed up of the freeze

Back in Oslo I am now getting tired of winter. We have had one of the longest cold spells in Oslo for many, many years and there is no indication of it stopping. Temperatures have not risen above zero since 20 Jan and since 1 Jan we have only had plus temperatures on 16 – 19 Jan. Although I always say that I like “proper” seasons it does get a bit boring when nothing changes. One possible upside from this long winter is that we will get a much more noticeable beginning to spring migration when the thaw finally comes. One thing for sure is that we will not be seeing an early arrival of the Taiga Beans this year.

On Tuesday I had my first owling trip of the year, a year and a day since the first trip of 2024 which produced 11 singing Tengmalm’s. Owling conditions were good with no wind and temperatures of -14C but there was no moon which may or may not (depending on who you speak to) be an important factor. The result of the evenings endeavour’s was just a single Tengmalm’s which sang constantly and could be heard at over 2km range but which was not close to the road. It is still early in the spring but this disappointing result is I believe due to a collapse in the rodent population but there is still time for things to change and there are always local variations.

In Maridalen I have seen Pygmy Owls in three different locations over the last three days and all sat high and were easy to see which is how it should be.

 

I am guiding this weekend and on Sunday we will drive up to the taiga areas in Hedmark with the hope of Hawkie, Piney and Sibe Jay. It is forecast to be sunny with little wind but very cold but these should be good conditions.

I have had a chance to go through my Tromsø pictures on the computer so present a few more here.

a close Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)

Moose are becoming easier to see in Maridalen but luck is still needed

the Østensjøvannet Water Rails (vannrikse) have not been that easy to see so far this winter but this one showed well

Common Eiders (ærfugl) in Tromsø

a Queen Eider (praktærfugl) with her Common cousinns

from the left: female Common Eider, 2 different looking Queens, a young male Common and an adult male Common

Jack and co. are still going strong