How bad will the winter be?

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

and a Little Gull (dvergmåke)

Waxwings have arrived and Grosbeaks are coming

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.

A quiet week

After last weekends snow we have generally had warm weather although cloud free nights have meant the mornings are cold. Thursday was an exception with strong southerly winds and cloud which led Jack and I to sea gaze from Krokstrand. A single Kittiwake and a few Razorbills which outnumbered Guillemots about twenty to one were the only indications of birds driven in by the wind.

Seeing the sea at Krokstrand

Maridalen has seen a small arrival of mountain breeding sea ducks which is typical for mid to late October and their arrival follows winter coming to the mountains which forces them off their breeding lakes. Common Scoter are to be expected but single Velvet Scoter and Long-tailed Duck are far more exotic. We just need a Scaup now to complete the set.

There has been little to record on the passerine and raptors front but single Common Buzzard, Great Grey Shrike and Pygmy Owl keep up the hope that we will have an owl(y) winter.

A Long-eared Owl at Fornebu yesterday which I was able to twitch acted like a migrating bird that was having a layover but it would also be a bonus if some again spent the winter there.

Long-eared Owl (hornugle) - could almost have described this meeting as a reunion

it was discovered first by Magpies and then Hooded Crows and Jackdaws causing it to fly off

and Pygmy Owl (spurveugle) in Maridalen

Maridalen 14.10.26

and on the 16th when it was cloudy

The first snow of the autumn

No new reunions this time although I have strengthened my acquaintance with the subjects of my last two posts.

The Med Gull has clearly hung around and was seen at Østensjøvannet on Thursday before disappearing again. A family walk around the lake on Sunday revealed it was back but it was gone again on Monday. It was together with Common Gulls and was feeding together with them on football pitches looking for worms rather than the bread eating Black-headeds. There are plenty of places in Oslo that attract Common Gulls searching for worms but that will change once temperatures fall below zero. If the Med Gull decides to stay the winter then it will probably out of necessity become a gluten lover.

the picture I had hoped to take last week - 1st winter Med, Common and Black-headed Gulls together

Med and Common Gull

looking for worms

Talking of temperatures below zero the first snow fell on the hills around Oslo at the weekend although it has turned warmer again now.

no snow in this photo of a very autumnal Maridalen yesterday

I have now found two Pygmy Owls in Maridalen with both still in the forest and there has been a bird in another place so currently three birds is a good start to the winter season. Two more sightings of Great Grey Owls close to Oslo also give me hope for an owl winter. One was hunting from wires along a busy road in farmland which is a sure sign of how bad the rodent situation is in the forests. I had a nocturnal session in Maridalen last night with high hopes for a Tengmalms or two but it disappointed with only a single Tawny and surprisingly no noise at dusk from either of the Pygmys I had seen earlier in the day.

Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)

No sooner than the photographers filled up the feeders for the winter season and Marsh Tits are back in Maridalen although I am sure they never left and will most likely have bred unnoticed. No Waxwings yet but there are still lots of Rowan berries and plenty of time for both them and Grosbeaks to come.

Smew (lappfiskand)

Can you guess which reunion?

Today I had my first sighting of a species since March 1st and early/mid October is an expected date for a reunion after which  I hope for regular sightings through the winter - but what species?

It is a fierce hunter despite its tiny size - it is of course a Pygmy Owl.

I have been keeping my eyes open for one perched openly for a few weeks now but this one revealed its presence by calling and then proved a real bugger to find before finally it was just there on a branch half way up a dead spruce and surprisingly well camouflaged. It then gave a very good showing of itself and was perhaps interested in the presence of the Beast but his impatience was a real annoyance to me.

my first Pygmy Owl (spurveugle) of the autumn. They are now moving away from their breeding sites deep in the forests for winter feeding grounds often close to the city

Back in Oslo and a Med Gull reunion

Due to the almost viral success of my Reunion posts I am sure that you, dear reader, are overjoyed to see that you have yet another one to read….

This one concerns a species that looked like it would become an annual if still rare guest in Oslo before suddenly vanishing from the record books. From 2011 there were almost annual records of Mediterranean Gull including three observations in Maridalen and there was even a breeding attempt a Fornebu in 2022 but after a bird in the autumn of 2023 there has been a complete stop in records, that is until yesterday (my bird at Nordre Øyeren earlier in the autumn doesn't count as Oslo). 

Yesterday' bird (it has not been reported so far today) was at Middelalderparken where the fresh water lake and lawns are very attractive for gulls to wash in and rest on. It gets too little attention though from birders though probably because we have lost our greatest larophile (Sindre Molværsmyr who found Norway's first Pallas's Gull nearby in 2014 has moved away from Oslo) and since his departure the number of interesting gull sightings especially those of the Large White-headed variety has fallen off a cliff. There are a couple of ringers who occasionally find an interesting gull or two but seem to be uninterested in disseminating the news to mere mortal birders. I do think though that there has been a real reduction in the frequency of rare and scarce gulls in Oslo - white wingers definitely are much less frequent not just in Oslo but in Norway generally. The one birder who does still look for gulls on a fairly regular basis, including trips to the tip at Alnabru, is Stig Johan Kalvatn so it was fitting that he found yesterday's bird on his lunch break. After he put out the message it was an easy bus ride for me with the bus leaving 3 minutes walk from one stop and being 3 minutes walk from another - maybe I should be looking for gulls myself...?

There were not huge numbers of gulls in the park yesterday possibly because the lake has, for a long time, been drained for maintenance and mostly resembled a muddy puddle but there was an interesting array of Lesser Black-backed Gulls of all age classes and appearance.

1st cy Med Gull (svartehavsmåke) when I first set eyes on it.

with Common (fiskemåke) and a Black-headed Gull (hettemåke)

three species in one photo. If the BhG had also been a 1cy then it would have been a very educational shot

the gull in the middle and another couple of admirers watching it

A young Black-headed Gull (hettemåke) that I think did a quite good Slender-billed Gull (smalnebbmåke) which seems to be in quite an advanced and abraded plumage for early October

a fairly pale young Herring Gull (gråmåke).  Species is easy enough (unless it is a Great Black-backed Gull in which case I will get my coat..) but what age is it? A 2nd cy due to the rounded primaries? With the uncertainty I have over these birds it is no wonder I normally stear well clear of them...

and a much darker bird that I have to admit to being unsure as to its identity. I had assumed 1cy Lesser Black-backed (sildemåke) when I took the photo but looking at the details on the tertials and great covert feathers I am unsure and it may be a  dark 1st year Herring Gull (gråmåke). A photo in flight would have nailed the ID

a 2cy Lesser Black-backed Gull (sildemåke)

and another 2cy LBbG

and what I believe must be a 3cy LB-b Gull but I wonder why it still has such pink legs. This bird is exceptionally long winged which is a feature associated with ssp fuscus. It were to be a fuscus (which is recorded extremely rarely in southern Norway) then it would have to be 2cy but I am now really getting out of my depth so will stop talking about gulls..

the first Great Grey Shrike (varsler) of the autumn was in Maridalen