Dicing with death

The weather has changed a lot last this week. There have been days with strong northerly winds, temperatures have been going up and down and we have even had some rain. The net result of this is that all paths and roads where the snow has been pressed down have now turned into ice rinks and you risk your life or at least the odd bone or two if you venture off gritted paths.

Last Saturday I avoided these perils by being lucky enough to accompany Halvard out on his boat although there was ice on the fjord in places which we had to sail through. It was a lovely windless but cold day and we enjoyed a magnificent sunrise. I had hopes of seeing King Eider or at a minimum getting my first Shag of the year but had to be content with various good wintering birds such as Purple Sandpiper, Red-throated Diver, Long-tailed Duck, Twite and Rock Pipit.

Other than this I can jut report how few birds there are this winter and I have even contemplated going to the dump to look for gulls but have so far remained strong. My smelly stream seems to have lost its appeal for snipe with just a single Jack noted this week. Whether this is due to milder weather or the birds having moved on will perhaps only be clear when we have the next snow fall and other sites become unavailable.

I visited the Water Rails at Østensjøvannet today and saw three birds. Interestingly two fed closely together but the third bird (an adult) was not tolerated at all by one of the other two (a 1st winter) which repeatedly chased it away and eventually caused it to fly off to another area.

A nice way to start the day. 08:48 on Saturday as we headed out onto the fjord

male Long-tailed Duck (havelle) - we usually only see young birds so this was a treat

Purple Sandpipers (fjæreplytt)

Maridalen has been very disappointing and this Great Grey Shrike (varsler) was the clear stand out bird

a new sign has been put up encouraging photographers to show restraint in their attempts to get an even better picture of the Water Rail than they have from before. It features one of my pictures 😀

the two friendly Water Rails (vannrikse)

and the lone and bullied bird. Grey chin should make this an adult

the aggresive bird of the pair

same bird - white chin should make it a 1st winter

Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin)

Finally

Since my last post on Wednesday I had two days with very uneventful dog walks in Maridalen, a slightly disappointing boat trip with Halvard and finally a good day in the Dale.

The only bird of note on Thursday and Friday was a Peregrine.

Yesterday morning I was lucky enough to join Halvard on his boat for a trip around the inner Oslo Fjord. I had very high hopes and was especially looking forward to seeing the King Eider which had been seen again earlier in the week. Unfortunately though Elvis didn’t show (although was seen today..) and there was generally VERY little to see with hardly any sign of migration which was exactly as it had been in Maridalen on Thursday and Friday. Nighttime frosts and mostly northerly winds are probably the blocking factor at the moment.

The only newly arrived migrants we saw from the boat were a single Lapwing and a couple of Curlews resting on rocky islets although Greylag Geese, Oystercatchers and many gulls were already back on their nesting islands.

The day was saved though with a close encounter with a young White-tailed Eagle. Pink-footed Geese also moved through in even larger numbers than on Tuesday but the flocks went through so high that we couldn’t even hear them.

Today was good though. It started with a rare guiding of a Norwegian with someone deciding that in these Corona times it was important to support their (not so) local bird guide - thank you Egil☺️. The goal was to spend a couple of hours searching for Three-toed Woodpecker and Hazel Grouse. The peckers were no problem with pairs found at three sites which is more than I have ever found before. Hazel Grouse would not play ball though. Or at least not when guiding because in the afternoon whilst walking Mrs OB and The Beast we heard a bird singing at one of the sites Egil and I had tried...

Whilst walking in the forest we heard first Greylags and then flocks of Pink-footed Geese which were trying to migrate north but were hitting low cloud and then flying around in confusion. Eventually all the flocks seemed to head south towards the lake and when we passed on the way home there were loads of geese! Probably 500 Pink-feet with 25 (wild) Barnacle Geese amongst them, 60 odd (non local) Greylags and amongst them a dark-bellid Brent Goose. This is only the second record on the lake so a local twitch ensued later in the day. The first Black-throated Diver of the year was also on the lake along with the Red-throat which had been around for a week or so now.

White-tailed Eagle (havørn). This bird which is I believe a 4cy has been seen a few times around Oslo this week

unringed which at least means it is not from the closest breeding pair

being chased by Hooded Crows

these 3 Long-tailed Ducks (havelle) have been around the Oslo islands all winter but this is my first sighting of them

my first Curlews (storspove) of the year

a Lapwing (vipe) on a rocky offshore island was unexpected

in the absence of its royal cousin I took some pictures of a Common Eider (ærfugl) which is also pretty smart

only the second ever Brent Goose (ringgås) on Maridalsvannet. This of the Dark-bellied subspecies

a Brimstone (sitronsommerfugl) my first proper butterfly of 2020 

a new female Three-toed Woodpecker (with 3 toes)

and her mate who found good acoustics on this telegraph pole

White-billed Diver

Normally at this time of the year I am writing my end of year summary but there has just been too much happening for that to happen yet.

Pine Grosbeaks, Great Grey Owls and December guiding have kept me too busy to reminisce but today it looked like things were calming down and xmas cheer was going to take over.

Mrs OB, The Beast and I had been for a morning walk in Maridalen where we saw many people looking for the GGO. My phone died (are you paying attention Santa?) and didn’t come back to life until we were in the car and heading home. It pinged with a message from Halvard H who was out on his boat (he and his boat are hardy soals) and there was a rather mouth-watering picture of a White-billed Diver which is a species I have not seen in Oslo or Akershus. Halvard offered to pick me up from Bygdøy and half an hour later I boarded the boat full of expectations. The fjord was dead flat, and we made good time to where the bird had been, but was now not be, seen... We cruised around and thankfully it didn’t take too long to find it behind a small island. And did it show well - hell yeh! The bird was not a 1st winter but was probably in its 2nd winter rather than being an adult. It looked healthy and dived long and far but it did keep closing its right eye whilst keeping its left eye open which made me wonder whether it was ill in some way.

I put out a message that the bird was present and got a reply from Andreas G that he was on the island of Nakholmen and he wondered whether the bird would be visible to him. It apparantly was but as an unidentifiable dot (which I imagine it would unfortunately have been the case for anyone trying to see it from land although if one could get to the southern tip of Malmøya then that would offer reasonable views) and he jumped at the chance of a closer look when Halvard offered to pick him up aswell.

Halvard was a real star today and this was a well-deserved reward for him. Andreas used to have a monoply of finding good birds from his boat but Halvard is challenging him now. Last Sunday Halvard raced from the fjord to Maridalen for the GGO and today it was my turn to do the opposite for a WBD 😊

White-billed Diver (gulnebblom) 

notice how the right eye was often closed

pictures taken right after each other with right eye closed and left eye open. Bird may be ill or injured

here with Oslo city centre in the background including the Radisson Plaza hotel which also featured as the backdrop for one of my Piney photos. We saw the bird in both Oslo and Akershus counties although it only just crossed the county line into Oslo

and here Holmenkollen in the background

the sea really was calm

the way it holds its head and bill pointing up is very distinctive

not quite a selfie but here I am with the bird

and Captain Hauer at your service!

Twitching by boat

If I was happy with yesterday’s birding then I am ecstatic about today’s even if there was an element of twitching in today’s outing. I was lucky enough to be invited out by Bent Hammel on his 15ft boat to search the inner Oslo Fjord for the goodies that Andreas Gullberg has found this week on his boat trips, although I would just like to say that Norway’s reigning national champion in birding should have done a better job at identifying the birds 😉

Bent picked me up from Fornebu at 9am and we headed first for Bygdøy. On the way there wasn’t too much to see although there were a surprising number of Common Terns still around with many young begging for food. At Bygdøy we were searching for the 2cy male King Eider that Andreas found on Tuesday and in our search we nearly ran aground a couple of times. We diverted to Galteskjær to look for the Shag Andreas found yesterday. We spent quite a bit of time photographing a small Cormorant before accepting that was what it was but hit gold with a juvenile Red-necked Grebe. This species is very scarce in these parts but this was a classic record and the bird was also in classic plumage. Three Dunlin here were also a good Oslo species. After many photos we headed back to Bygdøy and bingo Elvis was in the building! The King Eider was sitting preening on a rock and allowed very close approach. We realised how close we could get when a canoeist passed at just a couple of metres range without the bird reacting. This plumage is relatively little known (at least for most of us) and Andreas originally thought the bird to be a hybrid with Common Eider which I understood because the head and bill shape are definitely different to an adult male King Eider. However, this would appear to be how they look at this age. With luck it will hang around and acquire a more regal plumage.

With our boots and memory cards filled we headed further out and found the Shag on Søndre Skjælholm!! So complete success on the twitching front plus a very good find AND the day was just fantastic with calm seas, sun and temperatures nudging 20C. This is definitely how birding (and twitching) is supposed to be 😊

Taking photos today was a challenge. Despite the sea being very calm there was still enough movement that the superzoom was very difficult to use and the old 70-300mm lens was just too small at times. Even so I can’t really complain with the results.

Seflie with an Oslo tick

it has chosen to hang out in the most upmarket area possible

and doesn't mind close contact with the locals

2cy King Eider (praktærfugl)

it spent ages preening

here it has a removed feather in its bill

identifiable even with this view - a juvenile Red-necked Grebe (gråstrupedykker)

the juvenile Shag (toppskarv) didn't show as well though

its small size is apparant here

the view from Søndre Skjælholm islan

and a video that might make you seasick