After my first sighting of Pine Grosbeak on Wednesday, I found none yesterday but today had ten in total including my first adult males and my first in Maridalen. It is not quite invasion tendencies yet but I reckon we will have a good, if gradual, arrival. The birds I saw today were in spruce but they will turn up in an urban car park soon.
Maridalsvannet was completely calm today and revealed a total of 12 Common Scoters and the juv Black-throated Diver which is still present and may well not leave until the lake freezes which the way things are going may not be until well into 2027.
It is so mild that dragons are still flying and I also had a butterfly today which flew too quickly but was probably a Comma (hvit C).
a very late Black-throated Diver (storlom) in Maridalsvannet
Common Scoter (svartand) and a Wigeon also on Maridalsvannet today
Crested Tit (toppmeis) are quite easy to find at the moment
2 Pine Grosbeaks (konglebit)
and another two which were part of a flock of eight that were all in this tree top and included two adult males but it was only when they flew that I realsied how many there were
the Grozzas were at Grefsenkollen which has a great view over the city and fjord
these two ferries (one coming from Denmark and the other Germany I believe) offer mini cruises and always seem to race each other into Oslo in the morning
one of two Marsh Tits (løvmeis) at the feeders in Maridalen today
Winter has regained its grip on the land and nighttime
temperatures in Maridalen are falling to -13C and it remains negative in the
day despite blue skies and sunshine. Many of the resident birds are very active
singing and displaying but any hope of early migrants has been put on hold.
In the forest I spent some quality time with the male Hazel
Grouse that we viewed last Tuesday when guiding but now I have been able to
watch him in sunlight. He appears to be unpaired but has a good territory that
has held Hazel Grouse in at least the two decades I have visited the area.
Hawfinches have returned to breeding areas in Maridalen and
are banging out their squeaky “song” and I was able to see some quite well at a
feeding station.
male Hazel Grouse (jerpe)
it doesn't seem right to see such a large bird clambering around on such thin branches
female Hawfinch (kjernebiter)
and a more colourful male
the male with a Greenfinch (grønnfink) that seems tiny in comparison
Crested Tit (toppmeis)
female Greenfinch
and male
female Siskin (grønnsisik)
and male
male Brambling (bjørkefink) - unusually many have wintered in and around Oslo
Bullfinch (dompap) and Bramblings
female Blackbird (svarttrost) - I don't remember so many wintering in Maridalen before
Jays (nøtteskrike) are starting to "sing" and can sound like Goshawk, Buzzard and Tawny Owl
I was guiding yesterday and despite fog we had a good day. I
took Tony who was visiting Oslo from Manchester to Maridalen and we trudged
through snow and peered through the fog and were rewarded with Hawk Owl,
Three-toed Woodpecker, Hazel Grouse, Dipper, Crossbill and Crested Tit amongst
others.
I had been very anxious that the forecast fog was going to
be so thick that we wouldn’t see beyond the tips of our noses but although it
wasn’t that bad it did mean that for example scanning distant tree tops for
anything interesting was out of the question. The Hawk Owl was located by
walking around its recently favoured areas (we walked 9km in total during the
day) and it was Tony’s very keen eyes that spotted it perched lowish down in a
tree. We watched it for a good while and it changed perch twice and whilst
clearly looking and listening for rodents it once again did not make an attempt
to catch anything. It was in an area where Moose have been feeding and there
was some bare ground exposed and I believe this may make hunting easier for the
owl.
The ‘pecker that misses a toe and the Hazel Grouse were
found in expected sites but we had precious little else in the forest with for
example not a single tit of any species except at feeders.
Hawkie
after preening there appeared a hole which shows just how thick its feathers are but also hints at a real lack of body fat as a result of little food
male Hazel Grouse (jerpe) in a foggy forest
he moved to a birch and was eating catkins high up above our heads as can be seen in the video
male Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett). He can be heard drumming in the video
