Red Kite

Yesterday was the first day with some passerine migrants flocking, if in small numbers, on the fields in Maridalen with 10 Mistle Thrushes, 6 Fieldfare, 10 Skylarks, 20 odd Chaffinch and the first Brambling all together. And this is just the start of things to come! The first Lapwings are also back with two reported on Saturday and then I had 5 birds yesterday and they were even displaying giving their evocative calls whilst Skylarks sang overhead – things cannot sound more springy than that!

Maridalen’s best bird of the year, and one which may be, although I hope won’t be, hard to beat, came on Friday when a Red Kite flew in front of the car. It was flying low and into a strong head wind but unfortunately never stopped and heard south over the lake and I was able to watch it for over 10 minutes. When it got to the southern end of the lake it then started soaring and was in sight for so long that I decided to drive down there but of course couldn’t find after the 5 minutes it took to get there. This is now my fourth sighting of the species in Maridalen and the second best views I have managed. I often proclaim that a day will be a great day for raptors and talk about Falsterbo Lite but very rarely do my predictions come true. On Friday I would definitely have proclaimed that the day was absolutely awful for raptors and we wouldn’t see any - bar maybe a local Goshawk – just shows how much I know!

Saturday had me guiding Paul and Ann from Connecticut and a very enjoyable day it was but for a bird guide it was a nightmare with, despite my utmost efforts, none of the three target species revealing themselves. I had communicated that it would not be easy to find them given the time of the year but that all three didn’t play ball was a major disappointment. We did see a lot of other birds though...

when I first spotted the Red Kite (rødglente) from the car it was close and flying at tree top height clearly looking for food but it kept flying south into the strong wind and never came closer

it looks as though it had recently eaten as the crop seems full

flying over the lake with appartment buildings under Grefsenkollen as the background

and here flying over Storøya

this years must count as an average date. Given how low cold it was in Jan and Feb then I had expected a late arrival this year but the thaw has come suddenly and without nighttime frosts the snow has melted quickly and most importantly for Lapwings the ground has thawed

once you find the eye then you also just about make out there is a Long-eared Owl (hornugle) in this picture

the video of the Long-eared Owl may be pants but I did manage to take a quite nice video of a Badger at the same place:

Mistle Thrush (duetrost)

there has been a steady passage of Whooper Swans (sangsvane) heading north

Weekend birding

We had a nice dump of snow on Friday night which has left Maridalen and the forests nice and white although in the city it has since melted so everything is grey, wet and frankly, not nice!

Even though the surroundings now look different the birds are pretty much the same and the exodus of thrushes is now more or less complete with the birds I see being, I believe, ones that will try to spend the winter and with there still being lots of berries in the urban areas then this may be possible for many of them. The Mistle Thrush remains but has stopped trying to defend his rowan trees and was today sharing them with Bullfinches, Blackbirds and Fieldfares in seeming harmony. It saves a lot of energy having to chase off all comers but means the berries will disappear much sooner so I doubt he will remain until January now.

Fieldfare (gråtrost)

the Mistle Thrush (duetrost)

a Blackbird (svarttrost)

and a late Redwing (rødvingetrost)

the Mistle again

a familiar silhouette

it is always a joy seeing Grozzas eating berries in the snow

Wintering Mistle Thrush

The supply of rowan berries which earlier had seemed infinite has now been seriously dented by the vast flocks of Fieldfares and most areas are now suddenly stripped clean. The Fieldfares have mostly moved on now with just tens rather than thousands. Every now and again you come across a lone Fieldfare that has taken ownership of a single small rowan bush and defends it from other birds.

Far more exciting though has been finding that one of the record late Mistle Thrushes that has been knocking around Maridalen has declared ownership of a cluster of three rowan trees that are still full of berries and is noisily chasing off anything else that tries to help themselves including Blackbirds, Fieldfares and Bullfinches although I have yet to see Grozzas try their luck. This behaviour suggests it has decided to stay here as long as it can which may be a few weeks at least. Already the latest record in Oslo it will be exciting to follow it in the coming weeks.

Mistle Thrush is a rare overwintering bird in Norway with many of the records being of birds surviving on mistletoe (hence the name). Mistletoe is itself rare in Norway with none that I am aware of in Oslo and most is to be found on the west side of the fjord south of Oslo.

Mistle Thrush (duetrost) and food

frosty breath which can also be seen in the next video

the call in the video is a new one for me but in the next two videos (one taken with superzoom and the other with my phone) you also hear the normal call which he was making whilst chasing all the other birds off

a frosty Grozza

a trip to Huk gave little except for 13 Purple Sands (fjæreplytt) and interestingly 5 Grozzas that headed south east calling quite high up. With the supply of berries dwindling birds are probably moving around more now

Hawkie

here he chose a very public place to hunt at sunset allowing me to try to get some arty shots