Back in Oslo I am now getting tired of winter. We have had
one of the longest cold spells in Oslo for many, many years and there is no indication
of it stopping. Temperatures have not risen above zero since 20 Jan and since 1
Jan we have only had plus temperatures on 16 – 19 Jan. Although I always say
that I like “proper” seasons it does get a bit boring when nothing changes. One
possible upside from this long winter is that we will get a much more noticeable
beginning to spring migration when the thaw finally comes. One thing for sure
is that we will not be seeing an early arrival of the Taiga Beans this year.
On Tuesday I had my first owling trip of the year, a year
and a day since the first trip of 2024 which produced 11 singing Tengmalm’s.
Owling conditions were good with no wind and temperatures of -14C but there was
no moon which may or may not (depending on who you speak to) be an important
factor. The result of the evenings endeavour’s was just a single Tengmalm’s
which sang constantly and could be heard at over 2km range but which was not
close to the road. It is still early in the spring but this disappointing
result is I believe due to a collapse in the rodent population but there is
still time for things to change and there are always local variations.
In Maridalen I have seen Pygmy Owls in three different locations over the last three days and all sat
high and were easy to see which is how it should be.
I am guiding this weekend and on Sunday we will drive up to
the taiga areas in Hedmark with the hope of Hawkie, Piney and Sibe Jay. It is
forecast to be sunny with little wind but very cold but these should be good conditions.
I have had a chance to go through my Tromsø pictures on the
computer so present a few more here.
a close Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)
Moose are becoming easier to see in Maridalen but luck is still needed
the Østensjøvannet Water Rails (vannrikse) have not been that easy to see so far this winter but this one showed well
Common Eiders (ærfugl) in Tromsø
a Queen Eider (praktærfugl) with her Common cousinns
from the left: female Common Eider, 2 different looking Queens, a young male Common and an adult male Common
Our first mid winter trip to Tromsø has been a resounding success. We arrived at the end of Sami Week, an annual celebration of all things Sami, and got to see the Norwegian Championships in both lasso throwing and Reindeer racing. The reindeer racing happened on a snow lined downtown street on a 201m course. It was explained that 201m is the internationally defined distance for the sport but no explanation was given for why. A skier holds on to the reins whilst the animal runs and covers the distance in around 17 seconds. It all looked great fun although the animals didn’t exactly look thrilled whilst being harnessed up. Animal welfare was not mentioned once..
The Northern Lights also put on a show and this is one of the main reasons the City has become such a popular winter tourist destination and the streets were heaving with winter clothed tourists from ever corner of the globe. This tourism results in hotel prices going through the roof and rented accommodation being used for Air BnB rather than for locals or students who need it and is causing quite a lot of resentment among many natives.
I put on a «show» for the 100 or so students in Junior’s 8 storey high student block when whilst making food I slightly burnt some mince causing the smoke alarm to go off and the whole building to be evacuated. The fire brigade arrived within 10 minutes and were very good about it - I even think they were grateful to me for being given something to do on an otherwise boring Sunday evening ☺️
But what about the birds I hear you say. Well, they were tip top super. King Eiders and an adult Iceland Gull topped the bill and all seen whilst walking from Junior’s into town. Passerines are of course going to be in short supply in winter this far north but an abundance of rowan berries resulted in small flocks of Waxwing and and most surprisingly a Redwing which would be an exceptional mid winter sight even in Oslo.
The trusted superzoom and mobile phone resulted in the following documentation of the delights of Tromsø (this is done at the airport and I may come with some better edited photos later):
King Eider (praktærfugl) pair
Adult Iceland Gull (grønnlandsmåke)
Fieldfare (gråtrost)
Redwing (rødvingetrost)
I saw no divers in the field but this Yellow-billed was in Tromsø Museum
Where I also had my best ever «views» of a Gyr Falcon (Jaktfalk)
According to accepted Norwegian birding wisdom Shags (toppskarv) never perch like this…
Purple Sandpiper (fjæreplytt)
Herons have been roosting in the heronry trees by Junior’s flat all winter and they were present and noisy when we were there
Well, I can no longer complain about the weather being too
nice as it is raining and blowing and if, maybe if, I were to venture outside
there could be a whole tree of wing bars waiting for me.
I escaped Oslo’s weather on Tuesday and Wednesday with an
impromptu visit to Tromsø to give Jr some much needed TLC. I arrived to 15cm of
fresh snow and blue skies. There is only one month left of sunshine before the
sun doesn’t rise for two whole months and even now the sun was always low in
the sky. There are still lots of rowan berries in Tromsø which is in stark
contrast to Oslo where a very poor crop was stripped from the trees by thrushes
weeks ago. There were few birds in Tromsø though. I had a good walk when Jr was
at lectures and 60 odd Waxwings was the absolute highlight and also the
commonest passerine (just 30 or so Fieldfares). On the fjord there were flocks
of Eider that were too distant for me to grill and also Long-tailed Ducks. I was
surprised to find a Curlew but otherwise the muddy bay where I had spent much
time in September was a bird free zone.
a Waxwing (sidensvans) in Tromsø
A trip to Fornebu yesterday did reveal some new and slightly
exciting birds. A Wheatear at the same spot as the Turtle Dove had been had, of
course, to be looked at properly but was just of the common variety. It is
truly late record though. A tern then caused me quite a headache. A tern close
to Oslo at the end of October has to be an Arctic but with my tern
problems from September still troubling me and the knowledge that a Common Tern
was seen (and photographed) in the same spot less than 2 weeks ago I was
determined to make sure I got the ID of this one right. In flight from a distance
it did indeed look like an Arctic but I managed to get so close to the bird
that I think I lost the bigger picture. I spent a long time with it perched
just metres from me and also fishing close by (it was snatching small fish from
the water surface) and ended up concluding that it was a 1st winter Common
Tern although the lack of a clear dark bar on the secondaries was at odds with
this but I explained that to myself by it being an advanced bird that had
somehow moulted these to adult feathers already (something that they don’t do).
Later on someone else reported the bird as an Arctic and I quickly replied that
I reckoned it was a Common…. This quickly prompted me to look at my pictures on
the PC (instead of on the back of the camera) and I couldn’t help but agree that
it must be an Arctic although I still find it to be a far from classic bird but
I think that may be because I am not used to seeing them so close at this time
of the year. The more distant flight photos are much easier to ID from.
The hope of a wing bar or two survives with a visit to Værøy
next week now on the cards. This late in the autumn there may well be no
Yellow-browed Warblers but hopefully far greater rarities from even further east.
Or most likely absolutely sweet FA.
a late Wheatear (steinskvett)
it my have been difficult for me to ID this young Arctic Tern (rødnebbterne) but it was not difficult to get close to it
if I had just had this picture from when I first saw it distantly then I think I would have never thought twice about it being a 1cy Arctic
getting a bit closer it is still fairly straightforward
with one of a number of fish it snatched from the waters surface
it was pictures like this that confused me as I expected the secondaries to be pure white but the secondaries are actually mostly hidden under the greater coverts
I also got confused by that I thought were too long legs and too much red on the bill
no real doubt what it is from this picture either
Jack Snipe are still around and the "hunt" for them remains exciting even if I use the thermal
spot Jack?
using the flash on a dull autumn day brings our far more colours
In Maridalen there are now 11 Whooper Swans with the lone subadult now seemingly having attracted a mate and today a lone Pink-footed Goose had joined them
Whooper Swans (sangsvane) the family of 4 which I am sure are the valleys long term birds
2 of the same birds
the additional 7 birds a family of 5 and the two birds below
the bird on the right which is not fully adult turned up first alone and has now been joined by this other bird
a Pink-footed Goose (kortnebbgås). There has been a widespread influx of out of course Taiga Bean Geese in Norway and beyond (including to Ireland for the first time in over a decade) so when I first saw there was a goose with the swans I really hoped that is what it would be
the field that the swans use has also been very popular with Jays (nøtteskrike) with up to 20 feeding there
