Two good birds for the Dale

This morning’s Maridalen dog walking in continued cold northerly winds was a quiet affair save for 2 very good local birds. I noted only 6 birds flying north of which four were Wood Pigeons but the other two were ones that I do not see every year in Oslo although now is exactly the right time to find them. First up was a White-tailed Eagle which is only the 8^th I have seen in Oslo of which 7 have now been in Maridalen and six of these have been in March or April. I picked up the eagle just after I had been musing to myself that there really should be some raptors to see despite the weather (it was the only one I saw) and it was coming towards me but still at such a long distance I could not see it with the naked eye. I took a couple of crappy photos and then decided to move 30m to the otherside of a couple of trees such that I would not have an impeded view when it ended up coming closer – but I never refound it!

After this I heard the call of a Rook and eventually located an all black corvid flying north at long range. My photos will just about count as a record shot. This is my 6^th Oslo and Maridalen record of which four have been in March or April.

Otherwise the Smew remains on the lake and the fields were brown, dry and devoid of birds. The unfavourable whether is forecast to continue for the next 10 days although a shift to southerlys next week might help things. What we really need though is rain.

White-tailed Eagle (havørn) - looks to be a young bird

Rook (kornkråke) #recordshotmyarse

the young female Smew (lappfiskand) with displaying Goldeneyes (kvinand). This bird is only the 4th record on the lake and has now been here 16 days. The three previous records were all one day birds

an Adder (hoggorm) in Maridalen yesterday

this picture was taken by Jr Jr.