I have mentioned the roosting Treecreepers we have been seeing on our evening outings with the thermal imager and here is the promised post. When driving around Maridalen in the dark Jr has normally sat in the passenger seat and used the thermal imager to spot Moose, Roe Deer or Foxes and in the late autumn Woodcocks. Recently though Jr has done the driving and I have got to use the thermal. I haven’t spotted many large animals but I have spotted roosting birds. First out were Magpies which are of a similar size to Woodcock so perhaps no surprise that they would be visible but to find Treecreepers was not what I expected. Firstly, what are the chances they would be roosting close to, and visible from, the road and secondly, how can such a small creature shine so bright and be picked up when driving past?
The first bird found was 20 metres from the road and the second 10 metres but both really lit up in the sensor. They have proven to be site faithful and are seen every night we try for them. I assumed they were holding onto the tree trunk with there sharp claws but visiting the sites in the daytime when the birds are not there shows they are using small cavities so their bodies are supported in the cavity and it just their tails sticking out.
Bird 1:
the view in the thermal imager from the road at about 20m
The roosting Treecreeper - picture taken with the superzoom and flash
picture of the tree taken in the day with a curios Nuthatch (spettmeis). The roost site is a small hole in what is clearly a rotten birch. Note also the droppings immediately under the hole
Bird 2:
the view in the thermal imager from the road at about 10m
the roosting bird taken with the bazooka and flash
Friday’s glorious sunny weather continued into Saturday but
today saw a return to the fog and in addition to it being harder to see birds
there also seems to be far less avian activity.
Yesterday I was driven around by Jr and we ended up at
Fornebu where I got to see Elvis, aka The King, aka the King Eider MUCH better
than on Wednesday although it was still at a range of 1.2km so cannot really be
seen in binoculars, or a camera view finder for that matter.
It was also possible to grill the 300 or so Velvet Scoters but
I couldn’t find any with knobs although if this flock continues and attracts
more birds as spring approaches then the chance of White-winged Scoter of either
species must be more than miniscule. A Scaup was the best of the rest.
the King Eider (praktærfugl) is definitely identifiable in my pictures now and the black sails help you to find it even when the whole bird is not on show
two Little Grebes (dvergdykker) were also added to the year list
This week has been foggy! Every day the weather forecast has
said the sun will be shining in Maridalen and every day, until Friday, it has just
been thick fog. Friday though more or less made up for the whole week.
On Wednesday I visited Fornebu to try to be under the fog
which I was, just. I also had a target bird. I have been avidly reading about
the Dutch Spectacled Eider and thinking whether I should take a trip to
Amsterdam and thought I could try to recreate some of that rare eider twitching
feeling by seeing if I could see the returning/resident male King Eider (first
seen as a 2cy in August 2018) in the Oslofjord. Normally only seen with some
luck and from a boat it has this week been seen with a 100 strong flock of
Eider at telescope distance from Fornebu. When the distance is over 2km though
we are talking about bad views but I enjoyed the challenge of finding
it. It was joining in with the male Common Eiders in display and if it
continues to show an interest in female Common Eiders then there is a chance it
will be seen close to shore in the spring as it was in April 2022. There were
also at least 290 Velvet Scoter which is an enormous flock for these parts and
a sure sign there is a good supply of food. Goldeneyes are also around in good
numbers so the story that you often hear that the Inner Oslofjord is dying is
not quite that simple even if some species such has Cod have more or less
disappeared.
At Huk I also saw the flock of Purple Sandpipers numbering
at least 16 and here the rocks were covered with baby mussels so yet another
sign of a healthy fjord.
The Hawk Owl survives in Maridalen although the fog has made
finding it hard and I wonder whether a single Pine Grosbeak eating the last
rowan berries at Grefsenkollen and then three migrating NW over Hawkie will be
my last Oslo bird for a few years.
On Friday a Pygmy Owl also showed in Maridalen and a Tawny
Owl that evening made it a three owl day in the Dale! Whilst the Hawk Owl is
still clearly searching for rodents, and I believe really struggling in the
snow, the Pygmy Owl clearly had his eyes on tits at a feeding station and this
gives the species an advantage over other species that are rodent specialists.
A real surprise in Maridalen was a Merlin on Friday. My attention
was drawn to it by the Hawk Owl that had become alert and was staring at on a
tree top quite a distance away. I dismissed it as a Sparrowhawk but something
stirred in my grey matter and I looked at it again more closely and realised it
was probably a Merlin and when it then flew that ID was confirmed. This is Oslo’s
first January record (and there are none from December either).
The sunny and relatively warm weather (just over zero) on
Friday also caused a number of species to start singing and woodpeckers to drum.
I have had nightly trips into Maridalen with Jr where she
drives meaning I can use the thermal imager. With it being cold and the ground
and trees covered in snow the imager works exceptionally well at the moment.
Mammals have been very scarce though with just one Moose and three Roe Deer
seen but roosting birds have been unusually easy to find with two roosting Treecreepers
and also a few roosting Magpies found. I will have a separate post on the
Treeceepers as they are quite fascinating.
I will start with that undoubtedly is one of my very worst videos although it is at least not shaky
King Eider (praktærfugl), Common Eider (ærfugl) and Velvet Scoter (sjøorre) at more than 2km range. The two birders in the boat took a much better picture
Pygmy Owl (spurveugle) in the Dale
after so much time watching the Hawk Owl I had forgotten how small Pygmy Owl is
Hawk Owl at sunrise (picture taken at 09:06)
at one stage it got ready to pounce but in the end nothing happened. I assume it had heard a vole under the snow
not an easy hunting ground and I saw no rodent tracks on the snow
a couple of Yellowhammers (gulspurv) observed the owl from a respectful distance
the Merlin (dvergfalk) which I found due to the Hawk Owl
I had hoped to be able to get pictures of owls in front of the moon but it is now too late as it disappeared below the horixon at dawn
a 2y male Pintail (stjertand) that is overwintering in Oslo
and an overwintering Teal (krikkand)
a very strange Mallard (stokkand) presumably with a good dose of domestic duck in it. With that yellow bill I am also unsure if it is male or female
Purple Sandpiper (fjæreplytt) and cockles?
and here lots of baby mussels
a Robin (rødstrupe) in an unexpected place
Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett)
This Water Rail (vannrikse) at Fornebu would disappear in holes under the snow
one of those Herring Gulls (gråmåke) that remind you why you don't like gulls
not many rowan berries left for this Pine Grosbeak (konglebit) to extract the seeds from
this is probably my last picture of a Grozza in Oslo for 3-4 years (until the next invasion). You will be missed
The weather is in the process of changing with temperatures
forecast to increase from the -15C of the weekend to +5C this week. I don’t
know if that will mean particularly much in terms of birdlife but it will make
paths incredibly icy and getting around may become hazardous.
I was only thinking yesterday that I have seen no mammals
and few tracks since the heavy snow came but today the first thing I saw in
Maridalen was a group of 5 Moose on the ice covered lake which then headed
along the shore line towards the city. If they do end up in the city looking for
food in gardens then they face an uncertain future as they are considered
to be threat to both traffic and people and the Norwegian solution is a bullet…
However the council is also good at setting up feeding stations in Maridalen to
keep them there so hopefully they will start these very soon. I could also see
where Roe Deer have been digging through the snow to reach food and will have
to search with the thermal camera this evening.
Moose (elg) on the ice
The Hawk Owl has changed tactics and instead of perching
high in the forest looking for Bank Voles running over the snow which I suspect
(due to lack of rodent tracks) was not very successful he is now perched low in
birch trees in an area where he has previously taken both field voles and wood
mice. The deep snow is of course a major problem but it was on a bank where
there were quite a lot of shrubby branches sticking through the snow so this
may mean there were some open areas. Roe Deer had also been digging through the
snow in the area which may create areas where rodents appear. In nearly two
hours of watching though I did not see him try to take anything although he
frequently acted as though he had heard something.
An interesting observation was that whilst watching the owl
I had to relieve myself of my morning coffee. The sound of the ex-coffee
hitting the snow immediately got the attention of the owl who was moving his
(although I suspect he is a she) head in the way they do to locate where the
sound is coming from. Alternatively, he had seen something that looked appetizing
😉.
I suspect that the owl is really struggling to find food and
may well have not eaten for days and I hope that the milder weather that is
forecast will create more hunting opportunities. A fascinating picture of another
Hawk Owl with a Wren in its talons popped up on Facebook yesterday (hopefully
this link will take you to the picture). For me this raises two questions:
1.1. Is it so desperate for food that in the absence
of rodents (made harder to find by the deep snow) it has turned to birds? Or,
2.2. Did it catch the Wren thinking it was a mouse?
When there is a lot of snow, Wrens often feed under the snow by entering holes
around trees and then coming up somewhere else so it is very conceivable that
it appeared out of a hole in the snow and the owl pounced thinking it was a
mice.
I must admit that my thoughts right now are not very much on
the meagre offerings that Oslo currently has to offer but rather the male Spectacled
Eider that has just been found in Holland and the possibility that it may
migrate north in the spring and end up in the Oslo fjord – just think of
that!!!!
The Hawk Owl is now back in the exact same area where I found it nearly two months ago on 15 Nov
