It is four days since I last posted and I have so much to tell and pictures to show you that I really should have blogged more often but time in front of the computer is not my favourite past time.
Temperatures have been constantly under zero, most of the time under -10C and bottoming out at -16C and Maridalsvannet has finally frozen over but it took a while. The lake here is always one of the very last to freeze due to it being so deep and always freezes after the salt-water bays in the fjord and also after waterfalls have frozen over on streams and rivers.
Despite the cold though there are always some streams that for mysterious (pollution) reasons do not freeze over and I have of course checked all I come over and found a couple of Jack Snipe and a single Common Snipe so far this week.
I was tempted out of the city to get my dose of Hawkie on Wednesday. Amazingly enough I have not seen one since July last year and when a bird turned up only a half hour drive away the temptation was too great and I filled my boots. The bird was looking for food in a small copse in the middle of an arable field which is a real sign that there are no rodents within the forests which would be its normal habitat.
The rest of my time has been unsurprisingly spent at Fornebu where there are enough interesting birds to keep even the most demanding birder (and photographer) busy and there have been a lot of people there. Never a man for the big crowds (two’s company, three’s a crowd as the saying goes) I have tried to do my own birding but find myself often being followed….
The Bearded Tits are still present and have perhaps been the main focus for the photographers but the warblers are also still present and popular. Every morning when I have arrived it has been with the wonder as to whether they have survived the night and it has been a joy everytime I have discovered them. The Hume’s normally gives itself away by calling but the two tristis Chiffchaffs have never called when I have been there and are found by looking for them flitting around on the sunny side of bushes. The sun seems to have been very welcome to these birds that should be in India and yesterday when it was -15C I saw the Humes and one of the tristis sitting huddled up together enjoying whatever warmth the sun was giving. It amazes me that they are finding food but in fact there seems to be no shortage of insect matter for them to find but they only 6 hours to look for food and then have to survive 18 hours of extreme cold. It has also snowed heavily tonight which will cover the trees and bushes making searching for food much more difficult so I really don’t think they have many days left amongst us. A week ago the Humes was aggressive towards the Chiffchaffs but seems to have realised that is a waste of energy and there is more to be gained (shared heat at night?) by being friends with its phylloscopus cousins.
I will start with pics of hawkie but it is the pictures of the warblers that I most excited about 😁
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| Hawk Owl (haukugle) |
Pictures of the Hume's Warbler (blekbrynsanger) and one of the tristis together. An incredible experience to see them together and for once I feel my pictures do justice to it
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| the tristis seemed to be struggling more than the Humes and frequently had its eyes closed |
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| it also flicked its wings |
The Humes on it own
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| it often hovered under branches or leaves as a Goldcrest does |
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| looking for food in the snow😀😀 |
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| it did come very close |
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| just think what a better camera or perhaps just a better photographer could have done here... ;-) |
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| I have noted on a few occasions that the Hume's cocks its tail and assumes a banana postion ala Blyth's Reed |
And the tristis Chiffchaffs (sibirgransanger). I am not sure if these pictures show both of the birds or just one
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| Where the warblers were |
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