Pygmy Owl in sunlight

There are at least 3 Pygmy Owls in Maridalen at the moment and on Sunday I finally got to see the one that everyone else is seeing (not that I haven’t tried) and in sunshine. It was clearly hunting for rodents and made one unsuccessful attempt to catch something. This is in contrast to previous years when the owls have been seen to catch many rodents in quick succession. There have been quite a few news articles about this being a rodent winter but it is clearly still quite local.

Østensjøvannet proved to be half frozen today not that that really caused there to be much in the way of new birds although I did have a single Common Snipe and the Scaup was still present.

A nice surprise at home was a flock of 29 Waxwings that briefly visited an apple tree that still has fruit on it. There are very few Waxwings around this winter but I had been counting on them visiting at least once.

Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)

a classic pose when it has heard something

the female Pintail (stjertand) at Østensjøvannet was along with the Mallards clearly hoping I had food

these two Goldeneyes (kvinand) with bills that are turning yellow must be young females

good numbers of Herons (gråhegre) show there must also be a lot of fish

the ice had concentrated all the remaining (9) Moorhens (sivhøne) and I assume now that all but one or two will move off over night

this really is not a finch winter with seemingly no wintering birds other than resident birds. This (Lesser) Redpoll is a rare sight at the momemnt

the Scaup (bergand) with a Tufted Duck (toppand) and 4 Wigeon (brunnakke)

Waxwing (sidensvans) in the garden

the Maridalen Marsh Tit (løvmeis)

just look how much the appearance of a pale wing panel changes depending on angle

and a Willow Tit (granmeis) where the pale wing panel is always obvious

The Return of the Taigas

We are now having the last days with sunshine and overnight frosts for what looks to be at least the next ten days and temperatures are forecast to rise over +10C next week so it looks like we may have a very early spring.

The Taiga Bean Geese have already arrived and their arrival date of 26 February is the second earliest arrival date after 22 Feb in 2023. Jack and I caught up with them on the 27^th and counted only 54 which included the GPS tagged bird 05 and her mate V8 along with Y7 who has lost its neck collar but retains a colour leg ring. Hopefully there are more to come as 54 will be by far and away the lowest number we have recorded. There were very few other birds to be found yet on already snow free fields but down in Aurskog-Høland we found a large gathering of over 300 Whooper Swans and with them were another 2 Taiga Beans but I am certain these are not “our” birds but from a different population.

The White-fronted Geese remain on Bygdøy and I caught up with the wintering 1^st winter male Pintail who has gone through a complete transformation from juvenile (female like) plumage so now almost full adult male breeding plumage. He was displaying to a female Mallard so we may have a brood of Pintards to look forward too next autumn and winter. There is a female Pintail at Østenjøvannet so there is also a chance these two may meet up.

The every melting snow in Maridalen allowed the Hawk Owl to spend all of yesterday hunting from roadside telegraph wires and was ridiculously easy to see – if only it was like that on Tuesday when guiding…

The course the Taigas took from Denmark. It is amazing how they set off in exactly the right direction before veering a bit off course when they hit the coast of Norway before correcting again presumably when they had some landmarks to use

here it can be seen that they actually flew over Oslo

The Taigas were along the back of the feed with a few Whoopers which are just about visible in this picture. This field was first used last spring so the birds clearly have fond memories

some of the flock

GPS tag "05" with her mate V8

the two other birds we found which to my mind have a slightly different look

this was the gander

where the 2 extra Taigas were together with Whooper Swans (sangsvane)

The swans were making loads of noise:

Jack getting his roadside does of Hawkie

1st winter male Pintail (stjertand)

he had his eyes set on this female Mallard and followed her around and displayed to her

a male Goldeneye (kvinand)

my first Kestrel (tårnfalk) of the year was this notably pale male

Three Teal (krikkand) at Hengsenga, Bygdøy. These may be early migrants or perhaps some of the small flock that winters at Frognerparken spreading their wings

they went in to land but pulled up when they realised it was ice

Coming to an end

It’s so hot and sunny now that I have almost given up on birds for the year and started on butterflies.

If I am to break my Oslo year record of 191 species, let alone smash the 200 barrier, then some rain and falls of migrants are necessary.

My Oslo list is ticking along with yesterday giving Garden Warbler #165 and Scaup #166 whilst today gave Whitethroat #167, Red-backed Shrike #168, Cuckoo#169 and Kingfisher #170. I have never reached this total so early so things should be looking good. Problem though is that I reckon I have only another 4 species that I can consider certain: Reed Warbler, Marsh Warbler, Common Rosefinch and Honey Buzzard whilst all others will bonuses and this includes species like Redstart, Sand Martin and Bluethroat which I would have expected to see by now and fear I may have missed my chance with. So, I will need to find a lot of Oslo rares😊

Yesterday’s Scaup was a bonus bird and was a pair on Maridalsvannet which is only the third spring record here. Today’s Kingfisher was even more unexpected but could well indicate breeding which I need to follow up on.

pair of Scaup (bergand) on Maridalsvannet - a rare species on spring migration

Wood Warblers (bøksanger) are now back. Although it is never to be found in large numbers I had 5 birds today

Wryneck (vendehals)

male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (dvergspett). I had both these species in the same tree "singing" but did not mange to record it

female Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)

Black throated Diver

Blackcap (munk) have been back a while

but Garden Warblers (hagesanger) are only just arriving. As usual I need to see them to tell them apart as I usually don't hear a difference in their song

an unexpected sighting was this silent flyby Cuckoo (gjøk). I was alerted to its presence by alarm calling White Wagtails

a singing Pied Flycatcher (svarthvit fluesnapper) in the garden is probably last years bird

a couple of Slavonian Grebes (horndykker) I bumped into at a breeding site

whenever I see an old Black Woodpecker hole I scratch the tree trunk hoping a Tengmalm's Owl will stick its head out. That never happens unfortunately but today this Goldeneye (kvinand) did

she had a bit of down stuck to her head

interestingly she has a hole in her beak. I can't imagine what caused it

a Grizzly Skipper (bakkesmyger) was my earliest ever and first unusual butterfly of the year. I have now seen 12 species so far in 2024

a Holly Blue (vårblåvinge)

and a Green Hairstreak (grønnstjertvinge)