I’ve had a few local evening outings already this spring
hoping to find singing Long-eared Owls. This isn’t an easy task as their song does
not carry far but I have seen there are signs of good numbers of voles in areas
where I have previously found nests later in the spring. My first two attempts
drew blanks but last night I was successful with a singing male that showed
well in the head torch although with temperatures close to +10C he was
surprisingly difficult see in the thermal. His song, in typical fashion, was
very difficult to hear and even at only 20 metres range was strangely quiet.
this is the video I managed, it should've been SO much better...
I thought I had recorded some good video with both my phone
and camera but I did not at all. I had gone out of the car without my glasses
and clearly had my usual problem that I was not actually filming when I thought
I was and was unable to see that the red light was not on. This is no longer a
joke!!
Other than this good but annoying encounter I have recorded
the first Twite and Linnet in Maridalen where Lapwings are now up to three bird
but surprisingly no Chaffinch or Mistle Thrush yet.
A male Smew on the river near Lillestrøm was a nice little
semi twitch.
male Smew (lappfiskand)
the first Twite (bergirisk) of the year in Maridalen
and the first Linnet (tornirisk)
the White-fronted Geese (tundragås) are still at Bygdøy
the gander to the left has a darket bead
the gander has a very well marked belly
6 White-fronts at Årnestangen togther with Canadas
newly arrived Øystercatchers (tjeld) at Huk, Bygdøy
this colour ringed bird was ringed as a breeding bird in May 2014 on an island 6km away and has only been reported a few times since and always around Oslo
Temperatures are pushing +10C on the back of quite strong southerly
winds so I have been expecting some quite large arrivals of migrants but that
has not (yet) been the case. New species are of course arriving and a nocturnal
outing on Sunday revealed my first Woodcock of the year and Oslo’s earliest
ever record. This species is of course under recorded due to its nocturnal
habits but given that the snow had only just started melting it could not have
arrived any earlier.
Woodcock (rugde) - a very early bird but the mud was soft despite the snow so hopefully it could find food
Lapwings are far more obvious and I am always very keen to find the
first returning birds. This year I failed to as one turned up yesterday which Ididn't see but today I did see the now two birds present. March 3rd
is the second earliest ever arrival date only a day behind 2021. A (the?) pair
of Whooper Swans is back in the Dale and it will be interesting to see where
and if they decide to breed and how much beef they have with other swans – both
Whoopers and Mutes.
and one of the two Lapwings (vipe)
and the Whooper Swans (sangsvane)
A trip to Årnestangen, my first of 2025, and then further up
the Glomma river revealed surprisingly hardly any swans or geese although I did
make it up to the Taiga Beans which were still present but had not increased in
number. Given how snow free it is along the river and how warm it now is and
with southerly winds I was really expecting a surge in especially Whoopers but maybe
there is some bad weather further south blocking their return.
a male Goshawk (hønsehauk) displaying in Maridalen
a Great Grey Shrike (varsler) along the Glomma
and the Hawk Owl on Sunday which I expect will be my last sighting of the bird - it seems fitting that it would move on just as the first Lapwing arrives
Jr and I went on our planned trip to Owl Road on Friday night but the results of our endeavours was far from those planned. The weather was pretty good with clear skies and no wind and temperatures just under zero. The only negatives I can think of were no moon and following the warm temperatures we have had most of the snow has melted and there was noise from flowing streams but we could still hear well. The result was just two Tengmalm’s and one Tawny and we covered a lot of ground. I am at a loss as to explain why there are far fewer singing owls now but maybe rodent numbers have declined since the snows started melting. Alternatively things may be so good that the owls are already nesting? It is still very early though and a visit in a few weeks time may well reveal completely different numbers.
The clear skies did allow us to planet gaze and although we were able to see all 7 planets we did see Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Mercury. We looked at the planets from Udenes Kirke where we could see the western horizon well but it was still too light for us to see Saturn just before it disappeared under the horizon. Attempts to find Neptune and Uranus in the telescope were hampered by not knowing how to distinguish them from stars…
The location was chosen to see the Taiga Beans coming into roost which they did a full 48 minutes after sunset and from photos I could see they were still 54 birds. The GPS tagged bird and presumably the whole flock had been on the chosen field since dawn with no visits elsewhere which means they are not being disturbed and are hopefully eating well.
Udenes Kirke and the Glomma River at 17:55 16 minutes after sunset
and the view over the river at 18:27 when the geese came in 48 minutes after sunset
we first heard the geese coming (as can hopefully be heard in the video) before making them out again the red sky
the white area of the river is the disturbed water where they landed
planets: from top left, Venus, Mars, Mercury and Jupiter and its four moons
Jupiter later an hour and 14 minutes later when the position of the moons has changed
We are now having the last days with sunshine and overnight frosts for what looks to be at least the next ten days and temperatures are forecast to rise over +10C next week so it looks like we may have a very early spring.
The Taiga Bean Geese have already arrived and their arrival date of 26 February is the second earliest arrival date after 22 Feb in 2023. Jack and I caught up with them on the 27th and counted only 54 which included the GPS tagged bird 05 and her mate V8 along with Y7 who has lost its neck collar but retains a colour leg ring. Hopefully there are more to come as 54 will be by far and away the lowest number we have recorded. There were very few other birds to be found yet on already snow free fields but down in Aurskog-Høland we found a large gathering of over 300 Whooper Swans and with them were another 2 Taiga Beans but I am certain these are not “our” birds but from a different population.
The White-fronted Geese remain on Bygdøy and I caught up with the wintering 1st winter male Pintail who has gone through a complete transformation from juvenile (female like) plumage so now almost full adult male breeding plumage. He was displaying to a female Mallard so we may have a brood of Pintards to look forward too next autumn and winter. There is a female Pintail at Østenjøvannet so there is also a chance these two may meet up.
The every melting snow in Maridalen allowed the Hawk Owl to spend all of yesterday hunting from roadside telegraph wires and was ridiculously easy to see – if only it was like that on Tuesday when guiding…
The course the Taigas took from Denmark. It is amazing how they set off in exactly the right direction before veering a bit off course when they hit the coast of Norway before correcting again presumably when they had some landmarks to use
here it can be seen that they actually flew over Oslo
The Taigas were along the back of the feed with a few Whoopers which are just about visible in this picture. This field was first used last spring so the birds clearly have fond memories
some of the flock
GPS tag "05" with her mate V8
the two other birds we found which to my mind have a slightly different look
this was the gander
where the 2 extra Taigas were together with Whooper Swans (sangsvane)
The swans were making loads of noise:
Jack getting his roadside does of Hawkie
1st winter male Pintail (stjertand)
he had his eyes set on this female Mallard and followed her around and displayed to her
a male Goldeneye (kvinand)
my first Kestrel (tårnfalk) of the year was this notably pale male
Three Teal (krikkand) at Hengsenga, Bygdøy. These may be early migrants or perhaps some of the small flock that winters at Frognerparken spreading their wings
they went in to land but pulled up when they realised it was ice
