Hazel Grouse

 Winter has regained its grip on the land and nighttime temperatures in Maridalen are falling to -13C and it remains negative in the day despite blue skies and sunshine. Many of the resident birds are very active singing and displaying but any hope of early migrants has been put on hold.

In the forest I spent some quality time with the male Hazel Grouse that we viewed last Tuesday when guiding but now I have been able to watch him in sunlight. He appears to be unpaired but has a good territory that has held Hazel Grouse in at least the two decades I have visited the area.

Hawfinches have returned to breeding areas in Maridalen and are banging out their squeaky “song” and I was able to see some quite well at a feeding station.

male Hazel Grouse (jerpe)

it doesn't seem right to see such a large bird clambering around on such thin branches

female Hawfinch (kjernebiter)

and a more colourful male

the male with a Greenfinch (grønnfink) that seems tiny in comparison

Crested Tit (toppmeis)

female Greenfinch

and male

female Siskin (grønnsisik)

and male

male Brambling (bjørkefink) - unusually many have wintered in and around Oslo

Bullfinch (dompap) and Bramblings

female Blackbird (svarttrost) - I don't remember so many wintering in Maridalen before

Jays (nøtteskrike) are starting to "sing" and can sound like Goshawk, Buzzard and Tawny Owl

Nuthatch (spettmeis)

Starling (stær)

Hawkie

and some arty shots

an ice butterfly

February guiding

I was guiding yesterday and despite fog we had a good day. I took Tony who was visiting Oslo from Manchester to Maridalen and we trudged through snow and peered through the fog and were rewarded with Hawk Owl, Three-toed Woodpecker, Hazel Grouse, Dipper, Crossbill and Crested Tit amongst others.

I had been very anxious that the forecast fog was going to be so thick that we wouldn’t see beyond the tips of our noses but although it wasn’t that bad it did mean that for example scanning distant tree tops for anything interesting was out of the question. The Hawk Owl was located by walking around its recently favoured areas (we walked 9km in total during the day) and it was Tony’s very keen eyes that spotted it perched lowish down in a tree. We watched it for a good while and it changed perch twice and whilst clearly looking and listening for rodents it once again did not make an attempt to catch anything. It was in an area where Moose have been feeding and there was some bare ground exposed and I believe this may make hunting easier for the owl.

The ‘pecker that misses a toe and the Hazel Grouse were found in expected sites but we had precious little else in the forest with for example not a single tit of any species except at feeders.

Hawkie

after preening there appeared a hole which shows just how thick its feathers are but also hints at a real lack of body fat as a result of little food

male Hazel Grouse (jerpe) in a foggy forest

he moved to a birch and was eating catkins high up above our heads as can be seen in the video

male Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett). He can be heard drumming in the video

male Brambling (bjørkefink)

Crested Tit (toppmeis)

Dipper (fossekall)

Birdy

The weather is now far more autumnal than wintery with temperatures up to 8C in the day and no overnight frosts. On Sunday snow gave way to rain and it’s all quite gloomy and grey.

Fieldfares are around in enormous numbers with up to 2000 stripping rowan trees and also feeding again on the fields. Amongst them have been at least 20 Redwing, 2 Starling and an exceptionally late Mistle Thrush. The Mistle Thrush is actually the latest ever recorded in Oslo as was a Meadow Pipit today which really show how mild it is at the moment. There are also very good numbers of Goldfinch (>250), Brambling (>110) and Yellowhammer (>120) so it is all very birdy.

A trip to Huk in fresh southerly winds yesterday revealed no sea birds but three Long-tailed Ducks were without doubt in Oslo waters 😊

Pine Grosbeaks continue to entertain and I have had up to 47 in a day in. Hawkie continues to entertain the masses although in the poor weather we are having now it is in fact to possible to have him all to myself. I witnessed him fly into an overhead cable yesterday as he powered down from a tree top towards something on the ground about 30m away. He seemed unharmed but it goes to show how focused he was on a possible prey item that the unnatural obstacle that the wire is did not register with him.

Oslo's latest ever Meadow Pipit (heipiplerke)

and Oslo's latest ever Mistle Thrush (duetrost)

Goldfinches (stillits) are still around in exceptional numbers

and there are still lots of Redwing (rødvingetrost)

and Brambling (bjørkefink)

and thousands of Fieldfare (gråtrost) which strip rowan trees of their berries in just minutes

photographic evidence that I have seen Long-tailed Duck (havelle) in Oslo waters

there is very little to see on Maridalsvannet at the moment except for a handfull of Goldeneye (kvinand) and this Common Scoter (Svartand)

a shaky video of a Cormorant (storskarv) swallowing a Perch (abbor) on Maridalsvannet

filming Hawkie

here reacting to a Sparrowhawk (spurvehauk) that landed closeby

and this is how he reacts to a Goshawk (hønsehauk) flying by

on Saturday morning when it was still crisp and wintery

Magpies (skjære) giving him a hard time

a video of Pine Grosbeaks taken on my phone at a couple of metres range today

this male was a noticeably more scarlet rather than claret colour red

same bird