The winter that keeps on giving and giving

 This winter is one of those old fashioned winters that your grandparents will have told you about and that climate change deniers will use as proof for their delusions. It is the end of March and it is still cold and it is snowing and spring is still to come. I must admit that enough is enough now though and having to shovel 15cm of snow this morning is I hope the last time I have to do it for 9 months or so. But it is not just the weather gods that are providing but the bird gods are also giving.

On Sunday birders and twitchers but few toggers were out in force enjoying a couple of good birds found by some of Oslo and Akershus’s finest. First Bewick’s Swans were found at 2 sites (this species has become so scarce that it should be a national rarity now) and then a male Black-throated Thrush turned up in a birders garden. I played it cool and waited until Tuesday to go for them and ended up having one of those days that makes you think that twitching has something going for it 😉

I did not intend to go for the thrush but the swans were tempting especially as they were with a flock of Whoopers estimated at over 800 strong so I knew it would be quite a birding spectacle. On the way I could also check out the Taiga Beans and go for Woodlarks which I now knew were back. A couple of Woodlarks sang high above me despite it being -5C, the Taigas played hide and seek in an undulating field and then I was ready to go swanning. The flock was on what looked to be a potato field. The swans were arriving from the nearby river when I got there and I kept scanning and scanning for the Bewick’s and it wasn’t until a good half an hour had passed that I saw what I thought was two Bewick’s arriving with a small group of Whoopers. On the deck though I only found one and over the next half an hour continued scanning made me certain there was only the one bird present. A coupe of bugling Cranes flew over which were new for the year but there was no other viz mig to note.

It was now midday and I had intended to keep on looking for swans and geese but thought what the heck why not go for the thrush. It was an hours drive but 40 minutes of that was to get me back to Oslo so it wasn’t really out of my way…. I had very good instructions on where to park and where to walk to view the thrush without scaring it and when I arrived I also found chairs had been put out and another birder was already there – luxury twitching! She had only just arrived and not seen the bird but it only took about 15 minutes before it flew in for just a minute and showed relatively well before vanishing again. It seemed to be loosely associating with the few Blackbirds in the area which had arrived just before it did. This is my second Black-throated Thrush in Norway. After the thrush it was only a 15 minute drive to see the long staying Oslofjord King Eider. Despite it being about 2.5km out it was surprisingly easy to see in the scope and I even managed some video.

I might have twitch more often 😊

male Black-throated Thrush (svartstrupetrost) and the bill of a male Blackbird

Bewick's Swan (dvergsvane)

it was an impressive job by the finders to pick out Bewick's from such a large flock of Whoopers

the male King Eider (praktærfugl) at 2.5km range

Woodlark (trelerke) in song flight

some of the over 700 Whooper Swans (sangsvane), there were very few juveniles

Pink-footed Geese (kortnebbgås) coming into land

Taiga Bean Geese (taigasædgås) at the top and Pink-feet at the bottom

Great Grey Shrike (varsler) still in Maridalen

A Little Grebe (dvergdykker) has also turned up at Østensjøvannet. Here it is with a male Goosander (laksand), Coot (sothøne) and Tufted Duck (toppand)

Skylark (sanglerke)

White Wagtail (linerle)