Is it or isn't it: a hybrid?

It is half-term holiday this week and today the kids and I visited Frognerpark in Oslo. Whilst the girls fed the Mallards (stokkand) I was able to look through them to see if there was anything more interesting. The two female Teal (krikkand) that have wintered here were easy to spot but there were no diving duck (a few Tufted Duck have been reported recently) and on the upper lake there was a single Grey Heron (gråhegre).

There was one interesting duck amongst the Mallards. I reckon that it may be a second generation hybrid with Wigeon (brunnakke) but have received feedback from Norway's finest (who is rarely wrong) that it is actually a female Mallard with hormone deficiency: it is lacking estrogen and therefore resembles a male (such birds are also supposedly a regular occurence). I have seen many odd Mallards in my time but cannot recall a bird like this. Here is a picture of a first generation hybrid. My bird is obviously not a first generation hybrid but I still think it could be a second generation. A male Wigeon has wintered amongst the Mallards at Frognerpark for the last few winters (although not this one) so would be a potential source of wayward genes. My reasons for thinking hybrid influence are that the bird was slightly smaller than surrounding Mallards (of both sexes), the head shape was, to my eyes, different from Mallard, the grey vermiculations on the flanks were darker than on surrounding male Mallards and therefore more like Wigeon and most importantly the head pattern strongly resembles the first generation hybrid in the link.

However, given that I am not much of a supporter of the idea of the pale gulls being hybrids maybe I should just agree that it is a butch female Mallard?

EDIT: After review of some online articles it is clear that this is indeed a female Mallard lacking estrogen. See here and here

is the bird in front a butch female Mallard (stokkand) or does is have some Wigeon (brunnakke) genes in it

a little easier this one: female Teal (krikkand)

The docks

The big birding news in Norway today was a Snowy Owl (snøugle) near Stavanger. For a species that breeds in Northern Norway, albeit not annually, it is surprisingly rare in Southern Norway (it would't surprise me if it is commoner in the UK than here).
For those of us in Oslo there was little of interest to be seen. My birding today was limited to a quick trip to the docks. Goldeneyes (kvinand) were out in force with at least 600 birds and there was quite a bit of display amongst them. Also 90 Tufted Duck (toppand) and a single Little Grebe (dvergdykker) but surprisingly nothing else (I even checked out the male Goldeneyes looking for a rarer cousin...).
Blue Tits are now singing in the garden and I'm sure it won't be long before Wood Pigeons (ringdue) start popping up followed by Skylarks (sanglerke) and Starlings (stær).

Little Grebe with a pair of Tufted Ducks. When spooked the ducks flew but the grebe preferred to run across the water

Three-toed Woodpecker

Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett) is widespread in Norway in its preferred habitat of mature spruce forest. It is however unobtrusive and occurs at low densities. This helps explain why it took me 10 years to see my first bird and that I have only seen one since (plus one heard drumming). On the flip side it is completely unshy and allows close approach such that when you do see one you normally see it well.
Another reason I have seen so few 3 toes is that I have rarely made a specific attempt to see one. Today though was different: birds has frequented a relatively small area of mixed woodland on Jeløy island in Østfold for the last few winters and therefore should be possible to find with some patience.

The best method for finding one is to stop and listen regularly for its tapping noise as it feeds. I did this and after an hour I had heard the tappings of (and subsequently seen) a single Great Spotted Woodpecker (flaggspett) and a Nuthatch (spettmeis). I was determined to find the bird though and therefore started retracing my steps. I heard a weak tapping that was coming from not too far away. I located the source and it was a small bird with a white belly high up in the branches of a dead spruce. I immediately thought Nuthatch but then I saw its back and it was clear I had scored. Straight away it flew off (with noisy wing flaps) but this time was much easier to find as it tapped loudly in trees about 20 metres away. It was also low down and allowed me to watch it really well. There is something prehistoric about the look of these birds and given their specific habitat preference and low densities I assume that in terms of evolution that they split off from the other woodpeckers a long time ago.

I was able to enjoy it for 5 minutes before with loud wing beats it flew off further into the wood.

The white as opposed to yellow crown mean this is a female although the white is more extensive that I would expect from the literature. Due to poor light it was quite challenging taking photos even though I was close to the bird and it was low down (all pictures were with ISO 6400). The video though turned out quite well despite my hand shake! You can see how it knocks off the bark searching for insects and does so on small branches as well as the tree trunk.

female Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett)

from behind the white line up the back is diagnostic

from this angle confusion is possible with a female Lesser-spotted Woodpecker

getting ready to attack

this picture shows off the characteristic and name giving three toes (other woodpeckers have four)

On the way home I went searching for new Hawk Owls without any luck although I did discover some fine wetland habitat at Bjørnerødvann which I will have to visit in the spring. My first drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker of the year and a calling Black Woodpecker were the best I could muster.

Feeling the need to get my weekend fix I drove past, and failed to see the Nordre Furu bird but the Frogn School bird was easy to find as usual. I spent some time with it but in typical fashion it did nothing but sit at the top of the tree and look around: no flying, no hunting, no calling. This bird obviously finds enough to eat but in contrast to the woodland at Åsermarka yesterday there were no rodent tracks to be seen in the snow.

Hawk Owl (haukugle) Frogn VGS

Grosbeaks and Hawkie still to be found

Today I was in Østfold with the pleasant company of Per Buertange and Lief Bjørn Lunde. We went searching for grouse and Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett) in Åsermarka, an area of relatively pristine forest near Askim. Cloudy conditions were not conducive to life in the forest and our two hours of walking through some great areas of forest with many dead trees was not interrupted too much by avian action. We were lucky to be able to walk, as opposed to ski, at this time of the year but there has been little snow in these parts. The thin layer of snow though was in places covered with rodent tracks which bodes well for breeding owls this year.

Highlight was a flushed male Black Grouse (orrfugl) seen only by yours truly and PB, otherwise our bird count was one seen and one heard Treecreeper (trekryper), two heard Goldcrests (fuglkonge), one heard Green Woodpecker (grønnspett), one heard Raven (ravn) and a single seen Bullfinch (dompap). No sightings for us of Capercaille (storfugl), Hazel Grouse (jerpe), Three-toed Woodpecker or Pine Grosbeak (konglebit) which have all been seen here recently.

Driving back towards Askim the days highlight came in the form of a flock of Pine Grosbeaks (konglebit). As usual I spotted them whilst driving and they were perched up in a couple of spruce trees and birches along a stream in some agricultural land. They showed well for a couple of minutes before flying off low to the north and were presumably a flock on the move that had just stopped off to devour the buds on a suitable looking tree. As is usual with this species we woefully underestimated the flock size when they were in the trees. We estimated 10 but when they flew off could see there were 35!! In the field and in the pictures I took I cannot see a single red male. The birds were not that close so the pictures are not too great but I managed a flight shot and also one picture has the highest numbers I have yet managed to get in a single shot.

in flight, Pine Grosbeaks are quite distinctive with their long tails, long rounded wings and large size

this shows the maximum number (10) visible before they took flight

here I have managed to document 20 birds!

After this excitement Lief and I then went looking for Hawk Owls (haukugle). We couldn’t locate the bird at Spydeberg but found another one a little to the north which was discovered yesterday. This bird sat high on a spruce in the middle of a copse and I wouldn’t have seen it unless I knew to search in the area. Always nice though to have both of this winters star birds on the same day.

the days shot of Hawkie

A quick stop at Ekergergdalen, Børterelva showed the four Whooper Swans (sangsvane) were stillpresent. I photographed one pair and noticed that one of the birds has a paler iris which I have never before noticed on a swan (usually the iris is black).

Whooper Swan - the pale iris gives it a almost evil look

I also had a single Great Grey Shrike (varsler) today so there was a 1-1 draw with the owls but the Grosbeaks were the real winners today.

3 -3 Draw

Despite putting in a lot of effort the Hawk Owls (haukugle) could only manage a draw against the Great Grey Shrikes (varsler) today and it required a late equaliser to secure the draw otherwise it could have been a very different result that would not in any way have reflected the respective efforts put in by each team.

Today, after a long birding free weekend I needed my fix so my chosen route took me past six different Hawkie dealers with three showing well including a new bird near Skiptvedt in Østfold. This now brings my total of Hawk Owl in the last 12 months to 19 different birds (Finnmark 2, Nordland 1, Rogaland 1, Vestfold 1, Oslo 2, Østfold 7, Akershus 5). Given that I had only 3 separate records before this (one being a family at the nest) then it is easy to see how exceptional this invasion has been.

The Hawk Owl near Skipvedt - this bird  looked at me inquisitively many times

One of three Great Grey Shrikes. As usual they are far harder to photograph than the Hawk Owls

The long staying Hawk Owl at Nordre Furu showed well today

it's tiring sitting at the top of a tree all day long

important to keep the feathers clean when its cold

what exactly are YOU looking at?

At Kurefjorden I had only two Rough-legged Buzzards (fjellvåk) as birds of note.

If it wasn’t for the Hawk Owls and Pine Grosbeaks (konglebit) this winter then the birding would be quite dire. It does seem though that every winter has its influx that keeps things exciting around here – last winter it was scarce gulls with Iceland, Glaucous and Mediterranean keeping things interesting.

Pine Grosbeaks are getting harder to find around Oslo although there has been a recent upsurge in records to the south in Østfold. Hawk Owls though are still going strong although a lack of recent records from some of the long-stayers suggests that a few birds have moved on. New birds are still being found though and some of the other long-stayers remain easy to find.

Quiet weekend

Birding at weekends is usually an incidental affair: a tag-on to another activity. Yesterday we were skiiing in Maridalen in, once again, fantastic winter weather. I chose a route through varied habitat both for the aesthetic appeal but also hoping for some birds. We skiied through farmland, across a frozen lake, through decidous woodland and through spruce woodland. Birds were generally scarce with no grosbeaks and just a few Bullfinches (dompap) and tits (meis) giving themselves away. Highlight was a distant, tree top Pygmy Owl (spurveugle). We saw no mammals although there were lots of tracks in the snow including moose (elg), hare and roe deer (rådyr).
At Hammeren , the resident Dipper (fossekall) had the company of a Mink which was just hanging around on the ice by the small amount of open water created where the river enters the lake. This is not the first time I have seen Mink here and fear that they can take quite a toll on breeding birds in the area.

No Med Gull

I went looking to see if there is a Med Gull (svartehavsmåke) overwintering in Oslo again this winter but drew a blank. At Marienlyst the Common Gulls were very quick to come to bread this time and I later saw the reason: they had yet to eat breakfast, as the lady who feeds them daily arrived whilst I was there and all the gulls flew towards her ignoring my offerings. There were ca. 100 Common Gulls (fiskemåke), 3 Black-headed Gulls (hettemåke) and a handful of Herring Gulls (gråmåke). I believe that pretty much the entire Oslo wintering population of the two smaller gulls is  based around the bread they eat in this park. No Med Gull though and the lack of any reports since the autumn does suggest that none of the young birds that turned up have stayed for the winter.

After this I realised I needed my fix.

On the way home I checked out the docks in Oslo for waterfowl. Some of the ice has melted so the birds were more spread out. Never-the-less I found the Little Grebe (dvergdykker) and also had a good concentration of at least 500 Goldeneyes (kvinand) at Vippetangen.

part of the 500 or so Goldeneyes (kvinand) plus the odd Tufted Duck (toppand) at Vippetangen