Shearwater sighted

I met up today with Debi Shearwater of Shearwater Journeys who was staying near the airport in Oslo prior to leading a Svalbard Cruise. We had a good chat about birding and bird guiding and shared experiences from Finnmark where Debi has also been recently.

Prior to meeting up I searched for Slavonian Grebes (horndykker) on small lakes near Gardemoen Airport hoping for some good photo subjects but failed to find any (a bit frustrating to see from other reports that they were there). More obliging was the male Red-backed Shrike (tornskate) in Maridalen who sat on his usual wire and finally allowed some closish pictures.

male Red-backed Shrike (tornskate). One of my favourite birds and a scarce summer visitor to the Oslo area

 I also located a Green Woodpecker (grønnspett) nest (not too difficult when the young are screaming for food) and settled down to take some photos. I lasted only a minute though as I was devoured by a swarm of mosquitos. In Finnmark mosquitos were hardly a problem (although I did always have long sleeves and trousers on and use spray) but on the outskirts of Oslo be afraid- be very afraid!

male Green Woodpecker (grønnspett) at its nest hole

The Finnmark report will come soon....