Today I had the pleasure of guiding Mathieu from Belgium to
see the best that Oslo could offer in 4 hours. Mathieu got three lifers: Hawk
Owl, Pine Grosbeak and Three-toed Woodpecker so the session was an undoubted
success but rarest bird was a Starling! I dismissed the bird (sitting distantly
in a tree) as a Blackbird as Starling is not at all on my radar at this time of
the year in Oslo but Mathieu who did not have that “knowledge” thankfully
pointed out the error of my assumption.
male Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett) drumming
a very unseasonal Starling (stær)
Pine Grosbeak (konglebit), unfortunately they only showed in the tops of spruce trees
we did see the Hawk Owl closer than this but I like this shot
Yesterday there were possible reports of both Iceland and
Caspian Gull by the Opera. I was nearby and managed 10 minutes without finding
them before I had to leave. This rases the prospect of reaching 210 for
#Oslo2024 but I feel that I have hung my bins up now so don’t think I will
spend anymore time looking for them. Many of the local Herring Gulls have
exceptionally orange bills and legs at the moment. The reason is unknown but
must be diet related and they look quite freaky.
this bird was ringed as a chick on one of the Oslo islands and was registered as a Herring Gull. It looks more like a Lesser-black Back (which is very rare in winter in Oslo) but has caused debate and its ID has not been agreed up (hybrid is of course a possibility). Better photos can be seen here
Back in the winter of 2012/13 when both Hawkie and Piney appeared
simultaneously around Oslo I started have fairly damp dreams of getting a photo of Hawkie with
a bloody Piney (preferably adult male) in its talons. As Hawk Owls only very
rarely hunt birds this was always going to remain a dream and I soon
realised that just seeing them together would be quite the feat and was pretty
chuffed when I filmed both from the same spot as can be read in this 12 year old post.
This winter I have heard
Grosbeaks whilst watching the owl on a couple of occasions and once had one fly
over the owl but never captured it digitally - until yesterday!!
I had to take quite a few spaces backwards but just managed
to fit them both in the same shot😊
and here it is the long dreamed of picture!
it was easier to take pictures of the two species when they were alone
Great Spotted Woodpeckers (flaggspett) seem to get quite stressed by the presence of the Hawk Owl and frequently mob it. Here the owl had had enough and was chasing the pecker away
the ow favoured an area around a house and I saw it plunge to the ground right by the wall of the house although it did not catch anything that time
here flying up after its unsuccessful plunge to the ground by the house
here the owl had flown close to 150m and plunged to the ground but again did not catch anything
the owl does not seem to be bothered by people, or horses
but he is bothered by Magpies (skjære) even if he tries to ignore them
there are still large numbers of Goldfinches (stillits) in Maridalen. Here they were finding something to eat on the road although I don't know what
on Monday morning there was an impressive display of mother-of-pearl clouds
This post will inevitably include H & G but will cover
what was, for me, a very exciting experience. Thursday was a sunny day with a
thick frost covering everything and Hawkie was posing in a tree top when I
arrived. He was moving from tree top to tree top which I interpreted as meaning
there was no food to find and he was restless to move on but then suddenly he
launched himself out over the stubble field. I tried to follow in the camera
and just pressed the shutter hoping that I would capture something exciting. I
saw the owl hit the snowy ground and then could see a mouse running away from
it over the snow! I assumed therefore that the hunt was a failure but then saw
that the owl did have a mouse in its talons. It flew back up to the tree from
which it had descended and I quickly ran to get to a position from which I
could better see it with its brunch. In the few seconds that I used to reposition
myself the owl must have snipped off and eaten the head as my pictures show it
to have a head when it landed in the tree and to be headless once I had started
taking pictures again. The head or perhaps the brain does seem to be a delicacy
as I have previously noted a vole with a large hole in its head. The owl pulled
at the mouse a few times and seemed to eat some of it from around the open neck
area before swallowing the remains whole.
I was very unsure as to how my pictures, and film of all this
would come out as my fingers were cold and I had no real idea what settings I
had chosen on the camera but with the good light I have actually managed some
quite OK documentation.
Later in the day I had a pair of Crossbills feeding in a low
tree which also allowed me to watch them carefully extracting the seeds from
cones with their specially adapted beaks. There are still lots of Crossbills
and lots of cones and I guess egg laying will start soon in the New Year.
The cold weather is now set to end for a week so
Maridalsvannet that was in the process of freezing over may well remain ice
free until the New Year. It is proving very popular with Cormorants with upto
12 birds clearly finding lots of fish.A
family of Whooper Swans is also present and they have had the company of a late
Tufted Duck and a Canada Goose which I believe to be the injured bird that I
last saw on 18 November but which would seem to have just been very successfully
avoiding my gaze.
Yesterday was very birdless in Maridalen despite it being a
good day weather wise. I registered NO thrushes of any kind and finches and even
tits were hard to come by.
Hawk Owl spotting something
just before it strikes a mouse running over the snow
here we see the mouse in its talons
and here a mouse erupting from the snow
and running away over the snow which I had seen whilst taking the photos
I was very surprised to see that the owl had caught a mouse which must have been the one that was running over the snow. The owl that escaped was I assume under the snow and was rudely interrupted when the owl crashed into the snow to take its buddy
when it landed the mouse had a head
by the time I had repositioned myself the head was gone
I managed to film the swallow
this Blue Tit caught the owls eye but I don't think was in danger
male Common Crossbill (grankorsnebb)
and his mate
Whooper Swans (sangsvane) with a Tufted Duck (toppand)
and with a Canada Goose
Cormorants (storskarv)
Goldfinches (stillits)
did you really think you wouldn't see a pic of a male Grozza?
where there is snow it is very easy to see if Grozzas have been in the area as it looks like there has been a murder due to all the blood red berries staining the snow
still a work in progress - getting good pictures of Grosbeaks with the city in the background. Here the bird was momentarily in just the right spot but it was before sunrise on a dark day and me and the camera were not ready
