Fools and birds

Guiding is a fool’s game!

On Tuesday, 6 hours and 11km of walking in a foggy Maridalen with Wayne over from Guernsey could only turn up a Three-toed Woodpecker. Next day the Hawk Owl is back in its favoured place….

Three-toed Woodpecker - the highlight of a hard going days guiding

Hawkie of course showed the next day

Moose was a target when guiding and we saw lots of fresh droppings and footprints in the snow but no animal. We did see where one had fallen through the ice though...

Wednesday night 3 hours owling with Tommy and Maja gave just 2 very distant heard only Tengmalm’s and a very close Tawny that refused to perch in the open. I plan to go again on Friday with Jr and of course wouldn’t be surprised if there are owls galore…. It was cloudy on Wednesday night but little wind and was warm at +2C. I normally only go owling on cloudless nights so this may be the key factor (Friday is forecast to be cloudless).

Video of the Tawny Owl hooting including its Hawk Owl like warbling. We initially heard the bird from close to 1.5km away

Birding outside of guiding has been good though with my first Skylarks, Snow Buntings and Whooper Swans of the year. Best of all though was a pair of White-fronted Geese with the first Greylags at Bygdøy. I went there specifically with White-fronts in mind due to a few turning up further south so was mighty chuffed to find them.

White-fronted Goose (tundragås) with Greylags

Snow Bunting in a still snowy Maridalen

and my first Skylark of 2025

The male King Eider (praktærfugl) seen from Huk at a distance of around 3km

Long-tailed Tit (stjertmeis)

a yaffling male Green Woodpecker