Twite at last

I finally located the Twite (bergirisk) at Fornebu today although I managed no good pictures as I had hoped. They suddenly arrived in flight whilst I was there, landed and ate for a couple of minutes and then were gone again leaving me with a few distant flight shots and one shot of a perched bird where it is looking away from me.

Twite

part of the flock - I counted 33 in total

At Furst Brygge there are now 27 Oystercatcher (tjeld) and on a small patch of snow free grass by offices on Fornebu 12 Greylag Geese (grågås) were trying to find some sustenance.

Earlier I had visited Kadettangen in Sandvika again hoping to have another encounter with the Smew but she was not there today. I had to amuse myself with some pictures of feeding Mallards and Mute Swans.

The Mallards were very hungry and old crusts were fought over

The Mute Swans were equally hungry but were a little more restained (classy). Note the orange bill of an adult bill and the paler, pinker bills of younger birds (3 cy)

close of the Pink-footed Goose (kortnebbgås)

Bitter please

Bitter is a word that conjures up different emotional images in my mind. There are the warm, pleasant images based on that special English type of bitter: a warm, yet refreshing London Pride or maybe a Ruddles County although I wouldn’t say that the mental images that Old Thumper conjures up for me are in any way pleasant...

There are also the unpleasant, cold feelings related to the word bitter and today was a BITTER day. The north easterly wind made -5C feel like -50C. I tried a couple of minutes of seawatching and the pained expression on my face was nearly frozen into place.

The wind and snow from the weekend meant that it was hard going today and I found none of the summer visitors that I had hoped to see. Skylarks (sanglerke), Starling (stær) and Lapwing (vipe) that had started to arrive in Vestfold were not to be seen today having had to presumably escape to the south.

Nine Rooks (kornkråke) back at their colony in Horten and a single Great Grey Shrike (varsler) at Borrevannet looked like being the highlights of my day until I arrived at Presterødkilen in Tønsberg. Although still completely frozen here I hoped that the reedbeds might give up the Water Rails (vannrikse) or Bearded Tits (skjeggmeis) that are wintering here. There is a stream flowing into the reedbed which never seems to freeze over (good ole pollution!) and I have previously heard Water Rails here. Today though I was lucky enough to SEE three! I reckon I have seen Water Rail probably only 10 times ever and only on two occasions can I remember that the views were close and prolonged. Today though one bird in particular showed exceptionally well feeding in the open and close – only around 10 metres from me. The cold weather has probably forced them into the open but this stream is also right by a path so the birds have likely become used to people. I am quite happy with the pictures I took which are the best of around 250 that were on the memory card.

Water Rail (vannrikse) - an unusually confiding bird

a super cropped version of the first picture - not too bad

This is the type of view you can normally expect of a Water Rail. Note how slim it is - perfectly adapted for squeezing through dense reed beds

And a very short video

After being very satisfied with this close encounter I went looking for the duck that has a good dose of Black Duck (rødfotand) genes in it. I eventually found it with a handful of Mallards at Husøy although it was a bit distant. A Little Grebe (dvergdykker) was close by.

Black Duck (rødfotand) at 200 metres. At this range it looks the real deal

Little Grebe (dvergdykker)

Driving back to Oslo I had another Great Grey Shrike and a stop at Sandvika was productive. The cold weather has resulted in bays in the fjord freezing over and the open water at Kadettangen has a congregation of 72 very hungry Mute Swans and 200 Mallard (stokkand). Amongst them was the overwintering Pink-footed Goose (kortnebbgås) that had relocated from Oslo, 4 newly returned Greylag Geese (grågås), five Goldeneyes (kvinand) and best of all the overwintering Smew (lappfiskand) which has normally been a distant sight off Fornebu but was now easy to see at close range. The brown lores show this to be a young female and most likely the same bird that first turned up in August last year.

1st winter (2cy) female Smew - in this picture the brown as opposed to black lores (between eye and bill) are easy to see which means it is not an adult bird

At this angle and with a wet head the lores look black

At one stage I though these two were paired but later he associated with a female of his own kind

this female to be precise.

The overwintering Pink-footed Goose (kortnebbgås) showing off where he gets his name from in both languages

These two adult Mute Swans flew in whilst I was there. The youngster behind looks a bit incredulous

male Goldeneye (kvinand) -  a very smart bird and one you get used to in Norway but was always a real treat back home in Sussex

Bird, what bird?

It felt like a bird free day today and there are definitely no new signs of spring. I couldn't locate the Hawk Owl at Hellesjøvannet and tried to find a Tengmalm's (perleugle) in daylight and also failed here. The Tengmalm's I tried was the one I took a picture of a couple of weeks ago. I read at the weekend that males sing by a nest hole they have found to try to attract a female and given that the bird I photographed was singing so strongly close to the road I thought there would be a good chance of finding the hole. However there were very few large trees in the area and I could seen none with woodpecker holes or nest boxes. Maybe the hole is elsewhere and this bird had just been marking out his territory?

Winds are turning to the north east for the rest of the week and temperatures will stay below zero. The only upside to this is that when spring does come it may do so with a bang with large numbers of birds concentrated where there is snow free ground and open water.

This Crested Tit peered at me when I had a quick stop in Maridalen

Snow

A good 15cm of fresh snow is now covering the icy footpaths creating a false sense of security but the snow is so dry and powdery that it just slides on top of the ice making for very dangerous conditions. There was a bit more action at the feeders in the garden with the three Blackbirds (svarttrost) and Fieldfare (gråtrost) back looking for food after having been absent recently. The Stock Dove (skogdue) is still in the area and is keeping very close company with a Wood Pigeon (ringdue). If these two have romantic intentions towards each other it will be interesting to see how they proceed given the Stock Doves nest in holes and Wood Pigeons build a flimsy nest in a tree.

A walk in town around Majorstua and Frognerpark revealed good numbers of gulls coming to bread but no sign of the Iceland Gull (grønlandsmåke). A very pale Herring Gull (gråmåke) was likely the same bird I had over a week ago but this time it came very close and allowed me to take pictures with my phone as I had no proper camera with me. This bird is definitely within the variation that some consider to be due to hybridisation with Glaucous Gull (polarmåke) although I am not entirekly sure. In addition to this pale bird there was also a dark bird which had almost solidy dark mantle and scapular feathers and could invite thoughts of having originated State side.

The underside of the wings were very pale and in flight it could have been mistaken for the Iceland Gull at a quick glance

The overall paleness of the bird is also visible on the upperside

Due to the poor quality of the photo the pale edges to the primaries is not as noticeable as they were in real life.

a very poor photo of the dark backed individual

Oslo Birder jr. getting close and personal with a male Mallard

Old habits die hard

Never trust the word of an addict. It was only 9 days ago I was confidently proclaiming that Hawkie was the old drug and it was a good dose of Tengmalm’s that was the new high. Well after an unexpected hit of good quality Hawkie on Monday I found myself drawn back to my old habits and set off this morning to take “the ultimate hunting picture” of Hawkie.

At 10am I arrived at Hellesjøvannet after an uneventful and bird free hour long drive from Oslo. Straight away I saw my dealer sitting on a half distant spruce tree but straight away a gang of crows flew in to the same tree tops and scared it off. It took 40 minutes before it popped up again. I was then able to admire it for the next 1 hour and 35 minutes. And what did it do? It sat on exactly the same tree top! It did fluff its feathers a few times and have a bit of a preen but the rest of the time it was staring intently at the area of rough grass 200metres away where I caught a vole on Monday. What a perfectly adapted and efficient life they lead: find a good look out, keep your senses peeled and pounce when lunch appears, eat lunch, have a nap and start thinking about dinner.

Hawkie - not quite delivering the high grade product today

favourite perch

Unfortunately though my hoped for shot did not materialise but it was great to, yet again, be so close to such a majestic bird. Whilst waiting and hoping for some hunting action I was able to take advantage of the panoramic view I had and scan for raptors and I was rewarded. First a distant dark speck revealed itself to be an immature Golden Eagle (kongeørn) - this bird seemed to be using the same flyway as the White-tailed Eagle (havørn) of Monday although was a number of km further south. Then 10 minutes later in another area I had a second large raptor which went behind some trees before I managed to sort it out although this was also probably a Golden Eagle.

Thinking there might be some action other places and not having enough patience for the owl to do something (I would most likely have wasted the photographic opportunity anyway) I set off back towards Oslo. Unfortunately there was no more action except for a single roadside Brambling (bjørkefink) and a group of six Roe Deer (rådyr).

Arriving back in Oslo it was snowing and a trip up into Maridalen revealed that the few areas where some bare ground had begun to appear had disappeared. With the snow forecast to continue for the next day or so then spring seems even further away.

As a result of the snow, the two feeding stations had a lot more birds on them than of late and I spent some time trying to find something interesting. At the feeding station at Berntsberg two young Roe deer were not bothered by my close presence and allowed me some good photos before ambling off. I sat, as usual, quietly in my car here watching the birds only 10 metres away. There were good numbers of tits, Nuthatch (spettmeis), Treecreeper (trekryper), Bullfinches (dompap) and three different Great Spotted Woodpeckers (flaggspett). I kept hearing a woodpecker tapping though which I was just not able to see from the car. I therefore decided to get out of the car to have a look. Something remarkable then happened. Instead of flying away a number of Tits flew directly at me and landed nearly at my feet. Clearly they have become used to someone feeding them and I would guess some will actually take food from the hand. Rather taken aback I got the camera from the car and stood by the feeders whilst the tits buzzed around me often too close to focus. I will have to return in better light and with some extra snacks to offer them as there must some great photo opportunities here.

These are the best shots I managed today. Also as can be seen in the photos many of the birds are ringed (at this site) but this experience of humankind does not seem to have made them any more wary.

Crested Tit (toppmeis)

Coal Tit (svartmeis)

Willow Tit (granmeis)

Willow Tit (granmeis) - this bird was particularly tame and obviously expected me to provide a snack

Treecreeper (trekryper)

male Great Spotted Woodpecker (flaggspett)

Roe Deer (rådyr)