Feeding birds

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

Maridalen Thursday 1036

Maridalen Thursday 1118

Hawkie in treetop

Maridalen Thursday 1136

Maridalen Friday 1108