Purple Sands

Anders and I gave the fjord a good look today and it has confirmed my fears that there must be a serious shortage of food for seaducks. Eiders and scoters were not even into double figures and it was Guillemots which were the commonest bird (other than gulls). I have been told that lots of rain this autumn has resulted in a deposit of sediment on the bottom of the fjord that is covering up marine life but this would surely only be an issue close to rivers and not over the entire fjord?

Five Purple Sandpipers at Huk were the highlight of the day although Piney was also noted.

Purple Sandpipers (fjæreplytt)

 

Still alive

In case you are wondering there are still Pine Grosbeaks in Oslo but I am trying to exercise self discipline and not show more pictures of them especially when I am not getting new images that are better than my previous attempts.

Since I last posted it has remained very icy underfoot and we now have a layer of new snow that deceptively covers up the dangers underneath. I have avoided falling on the ice but my very cautious walking style has, I think, resulted in a return of a slipped disk in my back which has previously bothered over the last few years me but which I had hoped was a thing of the past.

Today the Natural Born Birder was in town and since he was the only birder in the whole of Norway not to have seen Grosbeaks this year I had to help him out. We of course succeeded and there was even time for a selfie.

Central Oslo was covered in fog last Friday

male Pine Grosbeak (konglebit)

female or young

The Natural Bord Birder getting his obligatory Piney selfie 

Little Grebe (dvergykker) still going strong in Oslo harbour

Above the fog

It was back to sunny weather today although only if you were above the fog which covered most of Oslo. Luckily I did come over the fog and it was quite magical scenes that greeted me. I encountered large numbers of Waxwings and a few Grosbeaks and spent some time trying to get good back-lit photos of the Waxwings. This is clearly a skill I will have to work harder on but there were some promising attempts.

Waxwings (sidensvans)

Oslo is under the fog

no birds in the shot :-)

Changing weather

The contrast between yesterday’s and today’s weather could hardly have been greater. Yesterday it was -7C, blue skies, crisp, dry air and not a breath of wind. Today was equally windless but even so the weather was not to recognise. It was still cold (-3C) but was cloudy and amazingly enough was RAINING! I cannot remember experiencing this before and the result was roads that were also more icy than I can ever remember. Main roads were OK but less used country roads were just ice rinks. There was also no sign of gritting trucks and after having foolishly driven down one country road didn’t dare do so again.

Yesterday I filled my boots with Waxwings and Grosbeaks and today also involved a lot of Grosbeaks including some in a school playing ground (camera and bins remained in car…). We checked out the sea at Drøbak today and had a few auks including Little and a Red-throated Diver but worryingly there were hardly any ducks. No Velvet Scoters and just a few Eiders suggest there is no food for them.

We returned early to Oslo and checked out the harbour. There was a lot of ice that had concentrated the birds. Yet again no seaducks but 1000 Goldeneye was a pleasant site and 2 Little Grebes were the first for the winter.

Waxwings (sidensvans) in beautiful weather

care to count them? This is not the whole flock

an another attempt at a back lit photo

 

Blackbird (Svarttrost)

Blue Tit (blåmeis) that also eats the seeds from the berries

Dipper (fossekall)

Little Grebe (dvergdykker)

and then suddenly there were two - it wouldn't surprse e if these are the same two birds that were Østensjøvannet earlier in the autumn

they make a surprisingly large splash when they dive..

part of a flock of c.1000 Goldeneye (kvinand) offshore downtown Oslo

Yesterday, there were some fantastic clumps of snow covered rowan berries that I would have liked the Waxwings and Grosbeaks to eat....

but I did get to see Piney pretty damn well!

the red feathers coming through on the head should make this a 1st winter male