The second half of the week has, unsurprisingly, not been able to measure up to the good start but it has offered some good autumn birding. A trip to Nordre Øyeren today in damp conditions revealed a Svellet completely free of waders despite there being lots of attractive (at least to me) mud still showing. There were three Great White Egrets close by though and this is now a characteristic species for the area in the autumns. Despite it now being expected it is still a bit of kick to set your eyes on them and they are still exotic.
Bird of today was a calling Red-throated Pipit (lappiplerke) that flew right over my head when I was looking over Snekkervika but it wouldn't stop unfortunately. Also still there were two Red-backed Shrikes (tornskate) which are getting to be quite late.
Great White Egrets (egretthegre) - the bird on the right is perhaps an adult with what look like plume feathers sticking out
This video shows a dark juvenile Honey Buzzard and an adult Common Buzzard in Maridalen on Wednesday and continue the great run of sightings I have had this autumn
a video grab of the dark juv HB
and a picture of the pale juv HB that isn't in the video
the dark juv HB with a moulting (adult or at least 2cy+) CB
In this video of a Black-throated Diver family on Maridalsvannet from Thursday the youngster can be seen being fed small fish
juvenile Black-throated Diver (storlom)
BtD family
Goosanders (laksand)
a record breaking flock of 32 Cormorants (storskarv) that flew into Maridalsvannet yesterday and immediately set about feeding (or at least searching for fish) as a flock as can be seen in the video
Shoveler (skjeand) including an adult male in eclipse which I don't remember having seen in Norway before and a pair of Gadwall (snadderand) at Merkja today
A Nutcracker (nøttekråke) collecting hazel nuts in the garden on Wednesday. They do not eat them but rather fill up their throats/crops and fly many kilometers into the forest with them where they hide them to be eaten during the winter. In the video you can see it taking nuts and also see the bulges in its throat
This mink in Maridalen did not seem to have seen me and The Beast sitting only meters away but as can be seen could definitely smell us
Despite me posting a part 1 of my summary of the year it isn’t
over quite yet and I have managed to fit in some birding around festive and
family activities. On the 22nd I guided Emily and Diane from
California for a very cold and crisp couple of hours at Huk, Bygdøy. We had a
good haul of typical species with Purple Sandpipers headlining.
And today I saw one of the Maridalen Pygmy Owls for the first
time in over a month and although I think food is hard for it to find I did see
it with rodent in its claws.
We suddenly had a change in the weather just before Christmas
with temperatures falling below zero and with no wind ice immediately formed in
the bays at Fornebu. We also got the thinnest layer of snow on Christmas Eve so
had a white Christmas too.
Maridalsvannet always takes a long time to freeze over but
has started freezing over in the bays and there is a chance it will mostly freeze
over before the New Year (when in a normal winter it will definitely be frozen)
although I suspect it may take a bit longer.
Pygmy Owl (spurveugle) in the Dale
Cormorants (storskarv) at Huk
and Purple Sandpipers (fjæreplytt) same place
Waxwings (sidensvans) are still in the area where I live and a couple joined Fieldfares that were eating wind fallen apples in the garden
Dausjøelva in Maridalen on 27th Dec
and looking over Nesbukta on the 26th with the first ice forming
There are at least 3 Pygmy Owls in Maridalen at the moment
and on Sunday I finally got to see the one that everyone else is seeing (not that
I haven’t tried) and in sunshine. It was clearly hunting for rodents and made
one unsuccessful attempt to catch something. This is in contrast to previous
years when the owls have been seen to catch many rodents in quick succession.
There have been quite a few news articles about this being a rodent winter but
it is clearly still quite local.
Østensjøvannet proved to be half frozen today not that that
really caused there to be much in the way of new birds although I did have a
single Common Snipe and the Scaup was still present.
A nice surprise at home was a flock of 29 Waxwings that briefly visited an apple tree that still has fruit on it. There are very few Waxwings around this winter but I had been counting on them visiting at least once.
Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)
a classic pose when it has heard something
the female Pintail (stjertand) at Østensjøvannet was along with the Mallards clearly hoping I had food
these two Goldeneyes (kvinand) with bills that are turning yellow must be young females
good numbers of Herons (gråhegre) show there must also be a lot of fish
the ice had concentrated all the remaining (9) Moorhens (sivhøne) and I assume now that all but one or two will move off over night
this really is not a finch winter with seemingly no wintering birds other than resident birds. This (Lesser) Redpoll is a rare sight at the momemnt
the Scaup (bergand) with a Tufted Duck (toppand) and 4 Wigeon (brunnakke)
Waxwing (sidensvans) in the garden
the Maridalen Marsh Tit (løvmeis)
just look how much the appearance of a pale wing panel changes depending on angle
and a Willow Tit (granmeis) where the pale wing panel is always obvious
One of the main birding events around Oslo is the gatherings of migrating waders and waterfowl in Nordre Øyeren especially at Årnestangen and Svellet. I have not given this much attention so far this autumn and have missed the best bits which are normally at the end of July when thunderstorms can bring down a vast selection of adult waders. Now in late August the species variety is significantly less and almost all birds are young birds. On Wednesday I joined up with Jules Bell for a trip to Årnestangen and Svellet and yesterday I visited Svellet and Merkja. The most numerous wader was Ruff with around 250 birds in total and more unusual birds were Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew Sand and Little and Temminck’s Stints.
In Maridalen I have continued looking for raptors and especially Honey Buzzards but despite what I would describe as perfect condition there has been very little to see although the HBs will get their own post later. A young Peregrine has been a regular sight though terrorizing a group of Feral Pigeons that frequent one of the farms and amongst the few Common Buzzards is a particularly pale bird.
Svellet has been Made Great Again and alongside lots of Ruff (brushane) are a couple of Black-tailed Godwits (svarthalespove)
on the neighbouring Merkja two male Gadwall (snadderand) in eclipse
Goosander (laksand) in Maridalen. A female (middle) has managed to raise 8 young which is incredibly gowing considering that the many Goldeneye (kvinand) broods typically and quite quickly decline to one or two, or none
here male (who has had nothing to do with the family before now), a 1cy and mum
a 1cy Peregrine (vandrefalk) has been regular in Maridalen and likes to have a go at a small flock of Feral Pigeons (bydue) that hang around one of the farms
this pale Common Buzzard (musvåk) has also been a regular sighting
I have seen evidence of a Nutcracker in the garden with discarded leaves and nuts from our Hazel Trees on the lawn and today I saw the culprit from the kitchen window:
