Pygmy Owl in sunlight

There are at least 3 Pygmy Owls in Maridalen at the moment and on Sunday I finally got to see the one that everyone else is seeing (not that I haven’t tried) and in sunshine. It was clearly hunting for rodents and made one unsuccessful attempt to catch something. This is in contrast to previous years when the owls have been seen to catch many rodents in quick succession. There have been quite a few news articles about this being a rodent winter but it is clearly still quite local.

Østensjøvannet proved to be half frozen today not that that really caused there to be much in the way of new birds although I did have a single Common Snipe and the Scaup was still present.

A nice surprise at home was a flock of 29 Waxwings that briefly visited an apple tree that still has fruit on it. There are very few Waxwings around this winter but I had been counting on them visiting at least once.

Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)

a classic pose when it has heard something

the female Pintail (stjertand) at Østensjøvannet was along with the Mallards clearly hoping I had food

these two Goldeneyes (kvinand) with bills that are turning yellow must be young females

good numbers of Herons (gråhegre) show there must also be a lot of fish

the ice had concentrated all the remaining (9) Moorhens (sivhøne) and I assume now that all but one or two will move off over night

this really is not a finch winter with seemingly no wintering birds other than resident birds. This (Lesser) Redpoll is a rare sight at the momemnt

the Scaup (bergand) with a Tufted Duck (toppand) and 4 Wigeon (brunnakke)

Waxwing (sidensvans) in the garden

the Maridalen Marsh Tit (løvmeis)

just look how much the appearance of a pale wing panel changes depending on angle

and a Willow Tit (granmeis) where the pale wing panel is always obvious

Still too nice

Cloudless nights mean that there are fewer and fewer birds every day, or at least that is how it seems.

Encounters with Jack Snipe, Bearded Tit and Siberian tristis Chiffchaffs have been the highlights of the last few days as a wing bar or two continues to elude me.

Singe pairs of Bearded Tits are in two reedbeds at Fornebu but are for the most past very low down and are I believe still feeding on insects. They call loudly only very occasionally and it seems to be when they have lost contact with each other. Today I had a pair feeding in reeds just 3-4 metres from me for a good 15 minutes and it was possible to hear very, very quiet calls which I assume were to make sure they stayed together but they were incredibly difficult to see until they perched on a reed just over the ground for a couple of minutes and preened. They were only two metres away but were almost impossible to see let alone photograph.

I have had upto two Jack Snipe but lack of observations from day to day suggests to me that these are new birds that are moving through and just stopping for a day before continuing.

My best views of Beardies were on Wednesday when there was thick fog

a Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) in the open

droppings and bill marks in mud are a good sign that snipe are around

this Jack was much better hidden. Can you see him?

should be easier in this picture

there are a lot of Long-tailed Tits (stjertmeis) around this autumn and flocks move through very quickly

a ringed Siberian tristis Chiffchaff at Fornebu yesterday. A quite classic individual that was also heard calling

it was together with this unblinged bird

the lone 1cy Whooper Swan (sangsvane) is still at Fornebu. It loosely associates with Mute Swans but is often alone

And a trip to Østensjøvannet gave some photographic birds

male Mallard (stokkand)

young Moorhen (sivhøne)

female Pintail (stjertand)

Shoveler (skjeand)

side by side with a Mallard

and a late Adder (hoggorm). This was very small and I believe hatched this year