I have previously mentioned the Water Rails that are
wintering at Østensjøvannet but haven’t gone into too much detail as I didn't want to give them too much attention. They have however now become very popular amongst photographers (in time honoured fashion as soon as one person posts a good picture on Facebook then many others want to take their own version) so I may as well publish this post. The
prolonged very cold conditions are undoubtedly hard for this species but the
very small stretch of a tiny stream that never freezes over seems to provide
enough food although extra food (oats and seeds) that are tossed out by birders and
photographers is probably a vital addition to their diet. Before it got too cold
and the birds could find food in the adjoining reedbed it seems that one bird was
quite territorial but when everywhere else froze over upto three birds have used
the stream and then there seems to be far fewer territorial squabbles. I assume this is because the
birds will rather use their limited energy to find food (I recently saw a
video of a territorial struggle between Water Rails that resulted
in one killing the other).
Of the three birds one is an adult whilst the two
others are first winter birds. The adult is dark grey on its cheek and throat
whereas the 1st winter birds have brown within the grey and a pale
chin. The eye colour of the adult also seems to be a darker red although I am
not sure whether this is due to different light when I took the photos of the
individual birds. This photo compares the three birds.
One of the 1st winter birds had a damaged
leg on the day I took these pictures and video (28 January) and was clearly in
a poor state of health. It spent most of its time standing still and was very
puffed up whereas as the other birds were actively feeding (a necessity at this
time of the year) and looked much sleeker. The cause of the injury is most
likely from an uncollared black cat that I saw in the area on most occasions I
have visited and twice it was clearly stalking the rails and lunged for them. (the injured bird was not as far as I know seen again after this day).
1st winter bird (middle bird in the comparison shot above) and most showy of the birds
here swallowing a seed
the injured 1st winter (left hand bird in the comparison shot)
it spent a long time standing here seemingly enjoying the sun
the adult bird
the adult photographed on 3 Feb
Water Rail tracks
and with cat tracks
and here is the rail hunter - a very unwanted and devastating addition to nature the world around
Finally, there is some nocturnal owl activity in
Maridalen (or at least I have heard it for the first time) and with it a new
species for me in the Dale!
Firstly, on Thursday evening two Tawny Owls sang
whilst we were on our evening dog walk. This was our fifth trip in the area so
to suddenly hear two singing was a surprise and a good one at that! One sang
very close to us and I managed to find it with my headtorch. I also filmed it
with my mobile but the one very good sequence that I thought I had filmed
proved not to have been filmed although I did manage to film the next two minutes
with the phone in my pocket…. Me not managing to press the record button when I
want to record and then pressing it when I think I am stopping the filming is a
recurring problem on both my camera and my phone. It is happening even more at
the moment though when I have to remove my gloves and lose all feeling in my fingertips
due to the cold. I think that both owls were males and they were singing at
least 500m apart without me hearing anything that sounded like a female joining
in the act. These may therefore be two males born last year (which seemed to be
a good year for the species in the Dale) who are now trying to establish
territories and find a mate.
Tawny Owl is of course a species that have seen many
times in Maridalen. My nemesis owl though is Tengmalm’s (perleugle) which I
have tried for countless times and put in a particular effort for last autumn.
I have heard it just outside the boundaries of Maridalen but have always wanted
to record it in the Dale. Yesterday, I had a bird call in an area I have long
thought suitable for the species and where there are old Black Woodpecker holes
so even though I heard no song last night I am quietly confident that there
will be more action as it warms up and spring progesses.
Tengmalm’s becomes my 197th species in Maridalen.
Ca.218 species have been recorded in the Dale (I know there are some species
missing from the list of 215 species shown in Artsobservasjoner - now dead
birders have told me of Ural Owl, Black Tern, Dotterel and Caspian Tern plus
some sensitive species such as Golden Eagle are not shown. On the flip side there
a couple of species recorded that I am very sceptical about). I should
therefore be able to reach the magical 200 species in the next couple of years
and the plan is that species 200 will be Norway’s first record of Black-shouldered
Kite 😊
I have been pottering around Maridalen in the cold
on most days and seeing most of the same birds and a Sunday trip to Fornebu surprisingly
revealed a Moorhen and a Teal on a tiny area of open water. The Moorhen is the
first winter record from Fornebu and hid under ice when disturbed!
Moorhen (sivhøne) tracks
In the Dale two Hawk Owls were perched up today only
100m from each other and I now think that the chance of singing and maybe even
breeding must be a possibility. I really do have high hopes for breeding owls
around Oslo this spring although my nocturnal trips in Maridalen have so far
not revealed any hooting.
I got very good views of one of (the only now?)
Buzzards yesterday but my photos from the car were horribly unsharp. I have had
this problem a lot and think that it is due to the warm air in the car (+25C)
meeting the cold outside air (-10C) and this causes a form of heat haze that
the camera magnifies.
Bullfinches (dompap) are the only finch species I encounter in the forest at the moment and they are not particularly numerous this year
Common Buzzard (musvåk) this intermediate plumaged bird is the only one I have with certainty encountered recently
one of today's two Hawk Owls (haukugle) which can both be seen in the video
This week’s blog posts have proved too tempting for
some (that is after all the point of me blogging so don’t be shy 😊
- ikke vær redd for å kontake meg hvis DU vil ha en guidet tur for å
se noen av disse eller andre arter) and I guided Benoit
today to try to relive the excitement of Monday & Tuesday. We were nearly
completely successful although the Grey-headed ‘pecker alluded us.
One Pygmy Owl, two Three-toed Woodpeckers, 2 Black
Woodpeckers and a singing Hazel Grouse were the highlights on a cold but very
enjoyable morning. We only heard the Hazel Grouse but yesterday I got to see it
rather well.
After Benoit headed home I stopped by one of the
Hawk Owls for the first time this week and it showed well in the sun so I am
definitely not complaining about how this Friday has panned out so far!
I had a trip to Østensjøvannet on Wednesday and here is the eBird report including pictures
Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)
Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett) - one of two males we saw. One was with a Black Woodpecker and the other with the Pygmy Owl
Today's dose of Hawkiw
male Hazel Grouse (jerpe) from yesterday. Today we only heard it
It is not often that I blog on consecutive days at
the moment and especially after having just posted under the title “A day to
remember” but today was equally good, if not better. I repeated yesterday’s
walk in the forest but without the company of either Beauty or Beast and that
paid dividends.
It was a touch warmer today – only -11C when I got
out of the car – and with no wind it was perfect conditions for discovering
what was hiding away in the forest. It is especially woodpeckers that give themselves
away in these conditions as you can here them tapping as they look for food. I
discovered two Three-toed Woodpeckers, a Black Woodpecker and the male
Grey-headed Woodpecker in this way although amazingly enough had no Great Spotted
Peckers today. All the birds showed well but the Three-toeds were their usual
unafraid selves and allowed very close approach.
A Pygmy Owl again sang although was quite a way from
yesterday’s bird and I am inclined to believe is a different bird. The owl
attracted the attention of the Grey-headed Woodpecker and at one point I had
them chasing each other around – I think it was the owl doing the chasing and
then had the woodpecker drumming with the owl singing nearby!
I had both male and female Three-toeds in different
locations and the female also drummed a bit.
The two male Hazel Grouse were still singing in the
same place and without the Beast I was able to see one of them and get a
picture that not too long ago I would have been very pleased with for this hard
to see species.
All the species I have mentioned so far are what I
would rate as good birds so what was the supporting cast of commoner, easier
species? Well not a lot really. Three Willow Tits and heard Goldcrests and a Bullfinch
was it!
A short video with drumming Grey-headed Woodpecker and singing Pygmy Owl - not many people can have heard these two together!
Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)
male Grey-headed Woodpecker (gråspett) pulling a grub out of the tree
the owl and the pecker in the same shot
male Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett)
and a female who can be heard drumming in the video
male Black Woodpecker (svartspett)
male Hazel Grouse (jerpe)
and finally Maridalen's Great Grey Shrike (varsler) is still going strong
