Some more GG

I am starting to build up backlog of (nice) Great Grey Owl pictures again. Birds are still present and although I still find it a real joy observing them I must admit that sitting at the PC and going through all the pictures I take is not so exciting anymore… Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks and I will later publish a big post with loads of in-habitat shots.

when the wind catches the feathers you get to see how dense they are

same bird looking very different

alert posture when a corvid flew over

Breaking the Ice

On Wednesday a nice picture of a male King Eider reminded me that there are birds other than THE Trio. The King was seen by a couple of intrepid photographers out on a boat and is a returning bird that was first seen in the autumn of 2018 when it was a 2cy and is therefore a 4cy (3^rd winter) now. Although it’s plumage is that of adult male the size of the bill is still a long way short of proper old birds such as this one.

Halvard H was keen to give himself a birthday present and took today off work and was keen to get out in his boat. I was lucky enough to join him but we only just got out as overnight temperatures of around -5C had combined with a windless night to leave a layer of ice over the fjord. It was really quite magic to be out there in such conditions. On our way out we were in ice free water as a big cruise boat had just gone through but half an hour layer it was all iced over again. The small boat coped admirably well as an ice breaker but I must admit to wondering exactly how we would survive if we had a Titanic moment. Needless to say we aw no other small boats out on the water..

We realised early on that the ice would probably put paid to our attempts to see the King and indeed the area where it was seen on Wednesday was iced over. We checked all other likely places where there was open water but found little with a few newly arrived Greylag Geese and Common Eider being the most noteworthy although we did see Twite, Rock Pipit and Purple Sandpipers that have been around all winter. Genrerally there have been extremely low numbers of seaduck in the Oslo Fjord this winter which is a worrying development.

the cruise boat made it a bit choppy but did clear the ice 

which otherwise was surprisingly thick given that it was no colder than -5C overnight

seal and the Huldra ferry coming into Nesodden

Purple Sandpiper (fjæreplytt)

7 birds together (another 2 were out of shot)

Rock Pipit (skjærpiplerke)

Twite (bergirisk)

Still shining

Another sun filled day and the good times keep rolling. I was guiding Nick and Claire from Worthing and the Trio was safely bagged and a fun day had. I once again had to work hard for the GG but we did find it a whole hour earlier than yesterday... Yet again though once located the bird gives boot filling views.

I also succeeded in getting some respectable flight photos today. Good light helped but I also finally realised that I need to have the autofocus on AI SERVO and this worked wonders on keeping on the bird even as it flew amongst trees. Best of all though was that we witnessed a successful hunt. The owl was clearly onto something and moved to a perch where it was bending right over and then just fell down to the ground. It was down for so long that I assumed it had eaten the mouse/vole unseen but then flew up with it in her bill. She perched slightly obscured from us and transferred the rodent from bill to talons. Then a couple of Hooded Crows flew low over calling and in a flash she picked up and swallowed the prey just before the crows spotted her. She then flew very quickly away into dense forest with both the crows snapping at her tail. We had followed her for over 50 minutes in great light and it was satisfying to cap it off witnessing a successful hunt.

Great Grey Owl with exposure compensation at -2 

the look

with rodent

rodent in bill

and then transferred to talons

a smaller owl that insists on sitting far too high up

Make hay whilst the sun shines

The sun shone today and the Bird Gods looked down pleasingly on me but did test me a bit.

I picked up Jim and Mark from the airport soon after 0930 after their Ryan Air flight landed 20 minutes early. Our first stop for Pine Grosbeaks was not successful and we moved on to the Hawk Owl which showed really well including in a dog fight with a Magpie. After this we tried for the Grosbeaks again and had three birds at ridiculously close range in great light. These were the target species for today as they were both ticks for Jim but we did of course have one more to look for. Jim had previously seen a GG but as the view had only been of a head sticking over the rim of a nest in Finland he was keen to see a a body as well (Mark had seen all 3 species before and was only along for the ride 😉)

We had the whole afternoon to look for the GG and just as well as it took 3 hours to find one. Whilst looking we had a GG SHRIKE hunting and catching an unidentified bird but it wasn’t until 10 past 4 that Mark calmly announced he had a GG OWL. Only a month ago it would have been dark by this time but the days are much longer now so it was still nice and light and we watched her at close range for another hour.

The weather has become very spring like (normally we would have a metre of snow and temperatures of -10C) and I feel that I am now on borrowed time with having all three of these species so readily available on my door step but may the good times continue 😎

Piney

GG

Hawkie