Mid-week update

Time for a mid-week update, not because I have seen anything particularly special but because I have time to sit in front of the PC.

We are enjoying very summery weather at the moment with temperatures in the twenties but as soon as the calendar shows it is September then there is a real autumnal feeling to the birding - on this morning’s dog walk close to the house I heard Brambling and Dunnock and Fieldfares were flocking and feeding on apples.

My birding has been quite urban recently with trips to Østensjøvannet and Frognerparken where a Shoveler was a very unusual guest.

In September I would normally be checking out the Taiga Bean Geese and looking forward to my trip to Værøy. I fear that for the second year running that I will not be able to travel to Værøy and I have yet to find the time to visit the geese (and try to read collars) although the first GPS bird arrived there on 18 August which is a very early date.

Shoveler (skjeand) in Frognerparken

this Sedge Warbler (sivsanger) at Østensjøvannet

another acro warbler then turned up in exactly the same place. My gut feeling was Marsh Warbler (myrsanger) but the pictuers give me more of a Reed Warbler (rørsanger) feeling

Ruff (brushane) and Teal (krikkand) on the floating mats of water weed

a Migrant Hawker (septemberlibelle)

and a Vagrant Darter (sørhøstlibelle) with lunch

Barnacle Geese (hvitkinngås)

Østensjøvannets leucistic Coot (sothøne)

Great Crested Grebe (toppdykker)

Wind chill

Today was only -9C but with a north easterly wind gusting at over 10m/s it felt a lit colder than yesterday. This weather is a real killer for birds with food hard to find and extra energy needed to keep warm. I toured Oslo’s hotspots today and found far fewer birds than I would have expected to see a couple of weeks ago. Some birds could of course have successfully moved away to warmer climes (wherever that might be at the moment) but the two young Moorhens that have been in Frognerparken were absent today and have I fear met their maker. It is interesting that if the winter had been mild and these birds had successfully over wintered then they would presumably do so again next year and their offspring the same thus evolving a mini population with a new migration strategy, but their demise just goes to show that moving south to warmer climes is, and has always been, the best strategy. The Teal population at Frognerparken was also diminished to three birds but I have also noticed in previous winters that the birds disappear when it is really cold and icy but soon return so they presumably have an alternative location somewhere nearby although I can’t think where that would be.

Despite the weather I saw Oslo’s first migrant Oystercatcher of the year. Two birds have wintered at Bygdøy (this is very unusual) but today there were three birds although none of them looked particularly happy. A Little Grebe was also here, and a light coloured young Peregrine flew through. The bird was ringed although my photos are too poor to make out even the colour of the ring.

At Østensjøvannet 350 or so Mallards are keeping a tiny area of water ice free and thankfully the City Council seem to have accepted their error in trying to outlaw feeding and have instead changed the signs to outlawing the dumping of food waste. When someone came with some bread the birds went pretty wild showing how necessary continued feeding is (once it has started). Amongst the Mallards the usual suspects of the adult female Pintail, a young male Wigeon and single Barnacle and Canada Goose were still present and accounted for although the Coot population has fallen by one bird to seven. Quite a few birds had clumps of ice on their beaks and feathers which didn’t look to healthy.

Maridalen appeared birdless and the wind was blowing the snow across the roads creating polar conditions.

This male Mallard (stokkand) had a serious amount of ice on its bill

as did the young male Wigeon (brunnakke)

the only open water at Østensjøvannt

the icy conditions at Huk, Bygdøy and the three Oystercatchers (tjeld)

Little Grebe (dvergdykker)

this Magpie in Maridalen had been sitting on top of one of the famous statues in Frognerparken and was being photographed by a tourist with her iphone but by the time I got my camera out it had dropped down and the moment has passed..

young Peregrine (vandrefalk)

the bird is ringed but none of my photos allow any detail to be seen

arctic conditions in Maridalen

Frognerpark birds

With seemingly little new to find I decided on Friday to make use of the nice light and try to get some better photos of the quite varied birdlife in Frognerpark. The birds that seem to have settled in for the winter seem to be split into two groups: the bread eaters and non-bread eaters. In first category are the Mallards, Mute Swans and three species of gull. The non-bread eaters are the Moorhen (eating grass whilst I was there), 13 Teal which seem to find plenty of natural food, 3 male Goldeneye and 5 Herons. There are some species though which have a foot in both camps. The male Wigeon was grazing grass but also fighting for bread and the 14 Tufted Duck at times were diving under the mass of bread eating Mallards although what they were eating was difficult to say.

one-legged, headless Grey Heron (gråhegre)

Moorhen (sivhøne)

Mute Swan (knoppsvane) pair

female Teal (krikkand)

adult male Teal. There were also two young males who were in a much less smart plumage

Tufted Ducks (toppand)

adult male Wigeon (brunnakke)

note the green on the head. This is sometimes thought to be a sign of American Wigeon genes but occures so often that in cases like this is just a natural variation within European Wigen

Winter blows in

It’s all quite wintery at the moment with snow and a cold north easterly wind. Birds are wisely keeping their heads down but trips around Oslo yesterday and today revealed some of the usual suspects. In Maridalen yesterday I relocated one of the Pygmy Owls and even recorded a bit of song. A couple of Goshawks were also calling and in territorial display flights which was surprisingly early.

At Fornebu Water Rails were vocal but the Bearded Tits are well and truly settled in and a couple of pings was the only evidence I had of their continued presence.

Today it was so windy that a trip around Maridalen revealed nothing except a Cormorant on the lake. At Frognerpark the Moorhen is still going strong and has clearly decided to try to spend the winter here. Only 5 Grey Herons were present but 11 Teal, 11 Tufted and the male Wigeon were all still present.

Huk, Bygdøy held Common and Velvet Scoter and a single Guillemot but nothing rarer and Østensjøvannet had nothing exciting – I had a hope that the Iceland Gull from last winter may have reappeared this winter.

Pygmy Owl (spurveugle) 

Moorhen (sivhøne) in the snow

male Wigeon (brunnakke)

Desperation

I was so desperate for something new and exciting that I visited just about every birding locality in Oslo except for Bygdøy yesterday. I even paid a very fleeting visit to the rubbish dump for gulls (always a sign of desperation for me). What I should have done though was stay loyal to Maridalen where a keen pair of eyes spotted an overflying Long-eared Owl which then fought with a Sparrowhawk. This is a late record of a species that isn't even on my Oslo list and just goes to prove that birding can always produce surprises.

My two visits into Maridalen produced nothing more exciting than a Nutcracker. The dump held only Herring Gulls and Østensjøvannet had just the regular female Pintail alongside a couple of hundred Mallards and 8Coot.

Fornebu did give very good views of 6 Bearded Tits and a couple of calling Water Rails but that is to be expected at the moment.

Perhaps the best birding of the day was at Frognerpark. Here an amazing 9 Herons were roosting in a tree at head height very close to a path. This species only started being seen regularly in the park a couple of winters ago so to see 9 birds that have clearly got used to humans was quite a sight. 12 Teal is also a good count for a species that has also only recently started to spend the winter here and the (ringed) male Wigeon that arrived as a young bird last winter has also returned in full adult plumage. A Moorhen was unexpected as were a pair of Mute Swans (again a species that you wouldn't see here two years ago but which now breeds).

It is snowing today but tomorrow it will all turn to rain...

one of 9 Grey Herons in Frognerpark. With a bit of time one cold get amazing pictures here although there were rather a lot of branches in the way

a late Moorhen (sivhøne) which may well try to spend the winter

6 of the 12 Teal including the only 2 males

adult male Wigeon (brunnakke)

and the obligatory Bearded Tit shots

the male pictured above was one of a pair in Holtekilen that showed well whereas this female was one of two pairs in Storøykilen that spent most of their time silently feeding on the floor of the reedbed