Snow and ice

Winter looks like it is now here to stay and Maridalsvannet froze over suddenly last night. I cannot remember such a sudden freeze event here with it normally happening gradually over a few days

The conditions today were perfect for searching ice free streams for goodies and I turned up a Jack Snipe which I managed to film by setting up the camera and operating it rom my phone whilst out of view of the bird. It took over 8 minutes for the bird to unfreeze and after some bobbing it then ran off out of view all of which I managed to capture.

In mid Norway, the first Azure Tit for the country was found a couple of days ago and on looking at the pictures of what is undoubtedly a Cosmic Mind-f*cker of a bird (to borrow one of the phrases from the brilliant Bill Oddie’s Little Black Bird Book which is now 45 years old!!)

I started feeling quite twitchy and might I say it, slightly aroused. I started making plans to go and see it – either an 8 hour drive or a flight to Trondheim and then a 2-3 hour trip either in a hire car or by a combination of bus and ferry. If someone else I knew had been going the next morning then I think I would most likely have gone but as a couple of days have passed I have become a bit more sensible and in time honoured fashion think I will wait until I find one in Maridalen…… 

a completely frozen Maridalsvannet with just the usual small area of open water where the river enters at Hammeren and where there was a Cormorant and Grey Heron. The whole lake froze overnight whereas it usually happens more gradually

a high key (over exposed) Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin)

and properly exposed

these droppings in the stream made me sure I had a snipe to find and the bird was not far away

a spectacular sunrise at Huk, Bygdøy this morning. There were good numbers of gulls, although nothing rare, and whilst some were eating starfish many were picking food from the surface of the sea (not sure what)

Yesterday, I walked into town along Akerselva. As I was meeting Mrs OB for dinner and a date at the Opera I took no optics with me. I didn’t miss them with me being able to identify everything I saw either on call or because they were close enough for the naked eye and even managed to film two of the most exciting species on my phone.

 

female Siskin (grønnsisik) at under 50cm range

2 Goosanders (laksand) also taken with the phone

Guiding White-back

Yesterday was a marvellous day! It was so sunny that it felt warm, birds sang, I was taken out for (a birding) lunch and guided in the afternoon.

The lunch gave me views of a hunting Peregrine in town, on the way to guiding I enjoyed a few minutes in the sun at Huk where a flock of newly arrived Oystercatcher were calling and one pair even mating, a fine Purple Sandpiper fed amongst them and my first Stock Dove of the year flew over.

I was guiding Ben from Kent via Brussels and our initial target was the Glaucous Gull near Drammen. Unfortunately, this was not to be found despite there being gulls attracted to the ice fishermen but whilst searching I heard a “kik kik” call that sounded a bit off for a Great Spot Pecker and after a bit of searching I was able to confirm my suspicion that it was the White-backed Pecker. We were able to watch it really well as it was extremely focused on finding a grub in the bottom of a small trunk. It would frequently stop and put the side of its head against the tree as though to listen before hacking away, changing position a bit, listening again and then hacking away again. It kept this going for 10 minutes whilst we were there and was still going when we left. The rest of the short guiding session unfortunately did not reveal many more species which is a bit of the problem just now with all the snow and migration not having started – but that will soon change..

male White-backed Woodpecker (hvitryggspett) feeding just over the snow

look at those claws! 

pausing to have a listen - "where is that bug?"

Oystercatcher (tjeld) - a true sight and sound of spring 

and a Purple Sand (fjæreplytt) was amongst them

2cy Peregrine (vandrefalk) downtown Oslo

one of the two male Wigeon (brunnakke) that has wintered in Oslo and this one has paired up with a female Mallard which could have some interesting consequences

the Wigeon in habitat along Akerselva

on Wednesday, Jules Bell and I checked out the conditions at Årnestangen. Snow, snow, more snow and ice just about sums it up

lookin over Snekkervika

Salmon and Beans

Yesterday I squeezed in another (this one surely the final) trip to the Scottish Taiga Bean Geese hoping to get a definite count and also read some collars. I had 82 birds split into a group of 64 that kept itself very well hidden in a depression in the field and a group of 18 that flew in from the north whilst I was there and landed but didn’t mix with the others. The 18 contained no ringed birds but the group of 64 contained the 6 different ringed birds that I have noted early in the autumn plus one new bird (but a bird that I have noted on the site in previous years). The first birds have already turned up in Scotland so the birds are undoubtedly already moving on and I find it worrying that I have noted so few ringed birds. Obviously more could have been present when I had the max count of 136 on 15 Sept but when the birds were too distant to read collar and other tagged birds have taken an alternate route but time will tell and I look forward to seeing what collars are read in Scotland this winter.

In the afternoon I had a great nature experience with the family. Akerselva which is the small river that runs out of Maridalsvannet and through the city of Oslo has after years of releases of young fish a breeding population of Salmon. It is now possible to fish for them and watch them going up the salmon steps. The activity peaked about 10 days ago but we were lucky enough to see at least 10 large fish resting in the waters under a bridge and seeing some fish trying to leap up waterfall. With better planning next year I would imagine that some great views could be obtained of the salmon.

large Salmon

a leaping Salmon

the Beans were in a depression close to the forest where the arrow is whilst Canada and Greylag geese were feeding close to the road in the right of the picture

from another angle the Beans can be seen in the depression with Canada at the top of the field

slight closer shot of the Beans. A few of the collared birds are amongst those at the bottom of the group

Oslo Kingfisher

Today dawned with thick fog again as a result, I believe, of no wind, warm sunny afternoons and cold nights with a lot of moisture in the soil.

From tomorrow though there is quite a bit of wind forecast so hopefully fog will no longer be a problem.

I had little time for birding today but squeezed in a trip to Maridalen after breakfast where the fog made viewing conditions nearly impossible. Redwings and Chaffinches were singing everywhere though and I had my first singing Dunnock of the year plus second singing Chiffchaff.

Things got a bit more exciting in the afternoon though when I checked my emails whilst making dinner. I had received an email from a stranger who had just seen a Kingfisher along Akerselva (the stream running through Oslo) and only a five-minute cycle from my house. I alerted Per Christian who lives even closer and we met after dinner at the river. Quite amazingly we found the bird in the same area as it had been seen earlier although saw it only briefly before it took off upstream. The river here could conceivably house a breeding pair as there are slow moving sections and small fish but I could not see any suitable mud/sand banks for a safe nest hole. The bird I saw was a female and there was nothing in its behaviour to suggest it was in breeding modus but it was best to be cautious with such a popular species (nearly as popular as a Great Grey Owl).

I searched again for the bird on 5.4 without finding it although was lucky enough to have a male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

Kingfisher (isfugl) in urban Oslo on Akerselva. The extensive red on the bill shows it to be a female

Grey Wagtail (vintererle) pair

a male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (dvergspett) was a nice compensation for not refinding the Kingfisher 

More snaps

My pre breakfast birding this morning turned up knobby again and a 1^st summer Great Northern Diver but nothing else too interesting.

Here is installment two of pictures from the road trip.

 

A male Red-necked Phalarope who probably had young somewhere as he was quite agitated

not difficult to see what Red-necked Phals eat

 

Sibe Jay – this species is surprisingly scare (or under reported) in Nordland County and these were the fourth observation reported in 2016

 

Waxwing which seem to breeding in higher than normal numbers in Southern Central Norway this year

 

Willow Tit – as usual my attempts to find Siberian Tit resulted in only Willow Tits

Golden eyes

I have come to expect an annual visit to the garden by Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and today I had one drumming intermittently nearby but I was unable to see it although it was probably no more than 100m from the garden. Hopefully it will hang around a few days and come and drum from the willow tree in the garden.

A family walk along Akerselva under blue skies did not reveal any migrating Buzzards or Cranes as I had hoped and I had to be satisfied with a ridiculously tame pair of Goldeneyes that were hanging around with Mallards waiting for bread.

male Goldeneye (kvinand)

female Goldeneye