The sightings and occasional thoughts of an English birder in Oslo
Monday 18 October 2021
Tristis time
I see that I have returned to infrequent blogging
and that is a sign of the seasons although hopefully the discovery of good local
birds will change things soon. There are far fewer birds now with most of the
thrushes seemingly gone and leaving behind enormous quantities of uneaten rowan
berries which will be welcomed by Waxwings and Grosbeaks if they ever get this
far south.
Ducks continue to move through and although the
Scaup on Maridalsvannet last week moved on I had good views of another Scaup
together with three Pochard on the river at Lillestrøm last Friday.
The weekend was spent doing that most Norwegian of
things working at a flee market where the proceeds go to the local school band
(of which Jr Jr is a member). As a sign of the enormous wealth in this country (and
especially the area of Oslo where I live) we raised 100,000 euros selling the
unwanted household items of people in the neighbourhood. And we do this twice a
year.
Today I walked the beast a t Fornebu in glorious
sunny, windless conditions following a heavy overnight frost that had left
puddles and the ground frozen. I hoped to find Bearded Tits which have just started
their usual autumn wanderings but found none. Next on my list was to find a
rare warbler with Dusky the favoured outcome. As usual though for this time of
the year the only warbler to be found was a couple of tristis
Chiffchaffs. Fornebu has a nearly unique ability to attract these otherwise
scarce birds whilst not attracting anything else….
Siberian (tristis) Chiffchaff #1. Nice brown ear coverts and no yellow tones
the only yellow tones are restricted to the underwing coverts
bit more arty shot
tristis #2
again the only yellow tones are on the underwing coverts
Pochards (taffeland)
this male is the adult
the two male Pochards. The right hand bird is a young male with brown patches in amongst the grey feathers and a less red head
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