Catching up

The last few days have seen ill kids, celebrating Norway’s national day of 17 May in very special Corona restrictions circumstances and some trips to Maridalen and Nordre Øyeren.

Birds have been good with Wryneck and Three-toed Woodpecker in Maridalen, male Redstart in the garden, Collared Dove in Maridalen (MEGA), the first Tawny Owl chicks leaving the nest, singing Thrush Nightingale, displaying Great Snipe and Long-eared Owl. The only disappointment was that Nordre Øyeren is still not attracting any numbers of waders (or birds generally) despite the water levels still being very optimal. There was also been quite a clear out of resting migrant passerines in Maridalen although the first female Yellow Wagtails are now turning up (just males before). Southerly winds forecast from Thursday with possible rain at the weekend do however off up the chance of something good turning up in the coming days.

the Tawny Owl (kattugle) parents are of the two colour morphs. The grey bird is; I believe, the male 

youngster #1

youngster #2

youngster #3. In addition there was still at least one in the nest box. They have only been out 1-2 days but have already moved 50m

male Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett)

Tree Pipit (trepiplerke)

Venus at 22:14

Wood Sandpiper (grønnstilk)

Redstart (rødstjert) in the garden. The house is from the 1930's and the windows are probably original which becomes obvious when trying to take photos through them with a 600mm

Collared Dover (tyrkerdue) in Maridalen. This species is less than annual in Maridalen but the species seems to be doing very well this spring in the Oslo area

Redpolls

Today was a good day to visit the Botanical Garden in Oslo. My reasoning (which differs to that of the majority of people) being that it was cloudy and sleeting and there would therefore be nobody else there and I could enjoy the birds on my own…

There was a nice flock of Redpolls at one of the feeders and amongst them was a nice 1^st winter / 2cy male of the northern clinal form, aka Arctic Redpoll. This bird stood out as a much colder, whiter bird and the large white rump and undertail coverts confirm the ID but in my pictures it looks a lot greyer although I put this down to the light and the poor quality of the photos. As usual there was a wide variety of plumages and sizes amongst the redpolls and there was at least one other bird that was probably of the arctic type but I only ever saw this bird above me in a tree and never noticed it on the ground so it might well be that it gave a different and less convincing impression when seen on the ground (all the birds were frequently coming down to feed on sunflower seeds). None of the birds conformed to the southern clinal form aka Lesser Redpoll.

There was the usual variety of other finches (9 species in total) but a single Blackbird was the only thrush I saw suggesting that all berries have now been eaten

On the Plaza hotel there are now two Peregrines: an adult and a 1^st winter/2cy. It is normally only an adult that winters in town with young birds migrating south to Europe and I think it is unusual for two birds to hang out together unless they are a pair. I would imagine therefore that these birds are a parent and young and for some reason the parent still has a bond to its offspring.

here the bird on the left is the same one in the other pictures. The bird on the right also looks to have a very large unmarked white rump but I never noticed this individual on the ground and believe that the rump has been make to look much larger and whiter due to the feathers being fluffed up. But it could well also be an arctic

the Arctic from different angles and looking decidedly different in each one

 

here the pointed outer tail feathers show it to be a 1st winter / 2cy bird

A redpoll that is difficult to place and may well be an arctic - note the small bill, fairly large white rump but the streaking on the undertail coverts may be too much and the ground colour on the back may not be light enough

despite a lot of white on the rump this is a Common Redpoll - large bill and streaking on the rump and too dark on the back

this bird was very striking. The bill was small and it was generally grey rather than brown but was very straked on the rump and flanks and undertail coverts. A Common Redpoll but from where?

a well marked male Common Redpoll

Despite the white rump this must be a Common Redpoll due to it being a male (red on breast) and a male arctic would have less flank streaking and greyer back

This bird was in the garden a couple of days ago on its own. Agian it has a small bill and a white rump (athough only a narrow area unstreaked). It could well be an arctic (and the first garden record) but not for sure

a small 2cy male Sparrowhawk was unpopular

Four species of finch (Chaffinch, Brambling, Greenfinch and Redpoll) are in this picture plus a possible arctic Redpoll. I also had Hawfinch, Bullfinch, Goldfinch and Siskin so quite a good finch day

Collared Dove

the two Peregrines on the top of the Plaza Hotel plus the reflection of one of the birds which has fooled more than one birder into thinking there were even more birds. The closer bird is a 2cy and and the further bird an adult. The noticeably larger size of the youngster suggests it is a female and the adult a male (daughter and father?)

Kick starting 2018

New Years day is usually spent in Blighty but this year I was at home. Birding was not a priority though and I could only note 13 species with a Nutcracker seen whilst downhill skiing the most notable.

Today I hoped to add the Firecrest to my 2018 list. It was last seen on 27 December and many have searched since without finding it and I added my own name to that list. Most of the other birds that were to be found at Fornebu in December were still present though with Bearded Tits, Water Rail, Long-tailed Tit and the two Goldcrests still surviving so we can hope that the Firecrest will turn up again.

In Maridalen I finally got to see the Yellowhammer flock well (70 birds) but couldn’t find any rarer buntings amongst them. A couple of Waxwings were the highlight in the dale.

The two Collared Doves were in the garden today and at this rate I am expecting them to stay in the area and breed – perhaps in one of the conifers in the garden.

Waxwing (sidensvans) in Maridalen

Yellowhammers (gulspurv) in the snow in Maridalen

the two Collared Doves (tyrkerdue) that have visited the garden on and off since mid October

13 degrees temperature change

Yesterday we had a lot of snow and -6C and everything turned white and very wintery. Today we had rain and +7C which made everything very icy and slippery. There was also a lot of wind today which I had not noticed on the weather forecast. It was only when I walked outside that I realised how strong it was and it was coming right from the south – ie good for sea gazing.

I chose not to go down to Krokstrand but instead went to Fornebu where I was able to find a viewing spot out of the wind. Initially there was not really anything to see but after 45 minutes a flock of 8 Long-tailed Ducks including 5 adult males flew past. Then a few auks went past and Common and Velvet Scoters. There were very few gulls, but I grilled everyone and a nice adult Little Gull went past and then a Puffin! Not bad at all J

At noon after an hour and 45 minutes my teeth were chattering so much that I had to retreat to the car and turn the heating on max. I drove to another site where I could view from the car and had two Kittiwakes going past. The wind was if anything blowing stronger now so there was a chance that new birds would turn up but I was so cold to the core that I had to throw in the towel. This time of the year is good for a Leaches Petrel to turn up and that was my hope for the day once I realised how strong the wind was but I’ll have to keep waiting to see that species in Norway.

Yesterday in the snow I visited the Botanical Gardens in Norway. Despite there still being a lot of berries on some of the trees there were few birds (no Waxwings for example and only 1 Hawfinch) but there were 4 Nutcrackers feeding on cones from the same Weymouth Pine which also hosted three Common Crossbills. It was very interesting to see how one single tree could be so important but remined me of how the single larch right next to this pine has in previous winters held numbers of Two-barred Crossbill, Goldfinch, Siskin and various tits which seemed to spend their whole day just feeding on the cones of this one single tree.

In Maridalen I noted some interesting behaviour from two Great Spotted Woodpeckers in response to playing the song of Pygmy Owl which can be seen in one of the videos.

Nutcracker (nøttekråke) extracting the seeds from a Weymouth Pine cone

8 Long-tailed Ducks (havelle) an unsual sight off Fornebu

and even more unusual that there were 5 adult males - normally it is young birds we see

Maridalen Great Grey Shrike

Yesterday was blessed with an overnight frost that left frozen puddles and a fantastic warm sunlight in the morning. Birds though were not to be found and despite the perfect viewing conditions I found nothing of interest at Fornebu – no Beardies, no rare phylloscs, not even a Muckiminger.

Today was cloudy and windy and to be honest didn’t really have many more birds but a Great Grey Shrike showed very well in Maridalen and there were lots of birds on feeders both in the garden and in Maridalen.

I have never before noticed these"teeth" on the upper mandible of a Great Grey Shrike.

the black lores and bill seem very adult like but the barring on the underparts is a definite sign of this bird being a juvenile. Looking at pictures I see nothing to suggest that it has not been the same bird that has been seen on and off in MAridalen since 18 Sept even though when I saw it on 3 Oct I was sure it was an adult

the barring is very obvious here. Extreme  cases of barring can give the bird a pink look which might cause confusion

this bird has very little white in the secondaries (nearly none) which matches my pictures from 18 Sept 

the two Collared Doves (tyrkerdue) that are in the garden daily now

a curious female Teal (krikkand) at Fornebu yesterday. A Water Rail was calling right behind it but wouldn't show itself

and some grainy photos from the feeding station in Maridalen today

Crested Tit (toppmeis)

Nuthatch (spettmeis)

Willow Tit (granmeis) - compare ot the Marsh Tit from a few days ago

Willow Tit

a different Willow Tit (this one is carry bling) but note that it look to have a pale spot on the upper mandible which is supposed to be only a feature of Marsh Tit. I assume this is just a light effect but shows that this "foolproof" feature needs to be used carefully

MUGIMAKI u I did not see

Last week I got a message from Kjell that he and Geir were going to go back to Værøy for another week as the weather forecast was promising and would I also like to go? Well, Mrs OB is a VERY understanding wife but I myself could not justify extravagance of another trip.

The weather forecast subsequently changed negatively and after two very quiet days I think Kjell was ruing his impulsiveness. That was until this morning. I was waiting at the barbers for a short back and sides when Kjell sent me this picture:

A MUGIMAKI Flycatcher on Værøy although I must admit to not being able to recognise it myself when sent the picture... (PHOTO: KJELL MJØLSNES)

While obviously rare I couldn't put a name to it and had to ask a friend and was pleased to find out its given name is one that oozes cosmic mind f*ckness – MUGIMAKI flycatcher!!!! This far eastern bird has to my knowledge only been seen three times before in Europe/WP but the British Rarities Committee considered their only record so implausible that they refused to accept it as a wild spontaneous bird meaning only two previous records are considered “good”. So Geir (he found it), Kjell and Værøy have a Norwegian first and a third for the WP on their hands and I, as usual, have to control my jealousy (reminds me of my brief appearance on a Norwegian TVprogram looking at jealousy and rightly thinking birders would be a good example).

My Oslo birding today rather pales into insignificance but Grey-headed Woodpecker (unfortunately heard only but I now feel confident to ID based on call after more experience with this species) and a Rough-legged Buzzard in Maridalen were good birds.

Rough-legged Buzzard (fjellvåk) heading purposefully east in Maridalen

one and a half Sparrowhawks also in Maridalen

I started feeding up in the garden a few days ago and already have a good flock of House and Tree Sparrows. These have attracted a smart male Brambling and more excitingly a Collared Dove. This is, I think, my first record actually on the deck in the garden of a species which has become rare in Oslo (I wouldn't be surprised if there are less than 50 birds left in the city).

Collared Dove (tyrkerdue) 

male Brambling (bjørkefink)