Many kilometres have been walked since my last post and many
a time have I stopped to listen to a distant call that I thought heard interesting
but I am still to hear a Yellow-browed Warbler and my autumn is still missing
something vital. Were I to have travelled to a wind blown island then I would
have filled that hole but this autumn has so far not been very productive at
all in Norway so I wouldn’t have seen very much at all and the would probably
just have got very wet and pissed off.
Things have been so quiet here that I have found myself
leaving Oslo in a last ditch effort to at least get some good raptor
experiences before winter comes. A trip to Årnestangen did result in two Hen
Harriers but not quite the views I was hoping for and a trip out to Aurskog Høland
gave many Common Buzzards and Kestrels but nothing more interesting. An upswing
in rodent numbers is happening further north which probably explains why
Rough-legged Buzzards haven’t started coming through yet as they must be
finding enough to eat in the mountains although the first snow which will come
soon may well push them south. A couple of records of Great Grey and Hawk Owl
in south eastern Norway does give some hope that these species are also moving
around and the coming months will be interesting.
my first Hen Harrier (myrhauk) of the autumn and as usual I fail to get a decent photo
a juvenile Buzzard (musvåk) showed slightly better
and an adult male Kestrel (tårnfalk) even better
I got very close to this Kingfisher (isfugl) which was I believe I quite recently fledged juvenile (from a third brood?) but it was always well hidden in the riverside bushes
another collared Greylag Goose (grågås)
Also from Trøndelag in mid Norway, my sighting at Årnestangen was the first reading since it was rung. The population of Greylag Geese that goes through the south east of Norway every autumn has now become enormous
the tagged Taiga Bean Goose has now left Norway. Look at the straight line it is flying in although the kink at the end suggests it has realised it was heading too far to the south
it is not often I see a bull Moose with such large antlers as selective hunting means that there are hardly any older bulls to be seen
a farmer was cutting silage and attracted lots of covids as there were clearly lots of rodents being exposed (and perhaps killed). This Raven found something
When the sun shines now then more and more species celebrate
the longer days and prospect of spring by singing. I have heard various tits,
Greenfinch and Goldfinch singing, Ravens displaying and on Thursday woodpeckers
suddenly started drumming. I heard 3 Great Spotted simultaneously but best of
all was a male Three-toed that showed very well and at times a Great Spotted
could be heard in the background which allowed for a good comparison of their subtly
different drumrolls.
Wednesday was very exciting when I discovered one of the
Pygmy Owls atop a spruce tree. That in itself wasn’t so exciting but was made
it so was that a weasel was running around (and disappearing in holes in the
snow) right under the owl. The owl had clearly seen the weasel and I was
wondering whether it would attempt to take it. Size wize a weasel is large but
is it too large? Or does the owl recognise that it is not a rodent but rather a
ferocious killing machine? Either way the owl whilst intently following the
weasel did not make any attempt on its life and I expect both were attracted to
just that area because there were mice/voles to be found. It is even possible
that the weasel attracts the owl as the weasel may scare mice into the open?
The owl was in the same place for a good half an hour and a
couple of times Hooded Crows and Magpies flew over which caused the owl to
radically change posture and become much thinner and taller and with its tiny “ears”
raised. I am not sure as to whether it was trying to appear large and more
menacing or whether it was trying to become invisible to the corvids.
male Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett) drumming
Pygmy Owl (spurveugle) doing its xmas decoration imitation
reacting to a Magpie flying over - notice the "ears"
and hear when a Hooded Crow flew over
this is only the 3rd time I can remember seeing a Weasel (snømus) and all have been in winter when they are white
apart from the much smaller size, the lack of a black tail tip separates Weasel from Stoat (røyskatt). This picture is photoshopped
Day 3 can only be described as bad. It had clouded over during the night but the cloud was high up and there was no rain. No new birds seemed to have arrived and others had definitely moved on so. A skulky Dunnock was the only excitement I had and I spent much of my time reading the messages that kept coming in of amazing birds on Utsira (where quite a few Oslo birders, if not The Oslo Birder 😉, are at the moment) Grey-cheeked Thrush and Red-eyed Vireo from the west and a Raddes Warbler from the east were birds I would have liked to see on Røst….
I used the thermal imager a bit and found a single Jack Snipe and 2 rats…
I have about an hour of birding tomorrow before catching the ferry back to Bodø. A lot can happen in an hour…(or not).
