A week gone by

As I write this it is just +1C and snowing outside the window. This is in stark contrast to England where Jr and I spent a loooong weekend looking at flowering daffodils, bluebells, wood anemones, Firecrests and Red Kites. Firecrests have now become ten a penny in my childhood birding haunts where I definitely did not see a single one (40 years ago….) when I was a young birder and Red Kites now cruise over urban areas looking for a snack. In contrast to these species that have become much commoner I also heard a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker which would appear to be the first eBird record for West Sussex this year. It was a rare species when I was a lad but has clearly become even rarer in the (may) intervening years.

Before we went to England Maridalsvannet was still frozen and Østensjøvannet still half so. Now Maridalsvannet and, I presume, ØV are ice free but surprisingly Sognsvann proved to still be covered in ice on a walk with The Beast today. We are still waiting for the big arrival of thrushes but lots of Chaffinches have arrived although we are still waiting for the big arrival of Bramblings. Yesterday was a good day for Pink-footed Geese with 3000 or so passing over Maridalen in just an hour of observation but there did not seem to be anything else moving. Maybe I will still get big raptor da

Mute Swan (knoppsvane) pair on Maridalsvannet. I have not seen them getting any grief from the Whooper Swans so may be there will be far less swan drama this year although I still think the lake is a very suboptimal locality for them. Both birds had colour rings although I was unable to read them

Pink-footed Geese (kortnebbgås) heading north over Jr in Maridalen yesterday

a lone Pink-foot with Greylags by a frozen Sognsvann today

a large flock of Pink-feet over Nes in Maridalen

a pair of Smew (lappfiskand) at Østensjøvannet before we went to England. It has now become an expected event that the species will turn up as soon as the ice starts melting there

another species that has appeared in Sussex since I left is Egyptian Goose (niland) which still breeds during the southern summer, i.e our winter

Goshawk (hønsehauk) nest at Sognsvann today. This pair must surely be the most accepting of humans in the whole of Norway

me scoping an ice free Maridalsvannet yesterday

Fog more fog and finally the golden globe

 My new favourite Maridalen fields were jinxed by my last post and have been almost empty since! Fog also covered the valley on Wednesday and until early afternoon on Thursday but today we had sun from the get go and I had sky high expectations. With a light southerly wind I was expecting Falsterbo heavy but had to wait a looooong time for my first raptor. In the meantime a number of small flocks of Pink-footed Geese headed north but I really thought there should be raptors. We have not had a raptor migration day yet this spring and by my reckoning there should be thermals full of Common Buzzards and Sparrowhawks waiting to head north. Well, my reckoning doesn’t seem to count for much.

There were NO Sparrowhawks, and none of the four Common Buzzards that eventually passed in front of my field glasses looked to be actively migrating. One of them, a very pale bird, looked to be the same as I have seen in previous years. There was one raptor highlight though that then brought a little rush. I picked up a young Golden Eagle heading very slowly west over the north of the valley whilst I was stood at Nes. I drove up to the north and did not find it but did pick up a Kestrel and a White-tailed Eagle heading north so there was some quality if no quantity. Along with Goshawk I had five species of raptor today and am already up to to nine for the year in Oslo.

 

The first Adders are also out showing themselves and my first butterfly, a Small Tortoiseshell was on the wing today so spring is springing!

a young Golden Eagle (kongeørn) at far too long range but you can see what it is

One of 4 Common Buzzards (musvåk) none of which was actively migrating. This very pale bird looks to be the same that has been in the valley in previous years

Goshawk (hønsehauk)

Goldcrests (fuglekonge) look to have really suffered due to the cold spell so it was nice to find this bird which was also singing

Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers (dvergspett) are making themselves known singing and drumming and I have seen a pair together. Here the male

and here the female who was reacting to the male in the next door tree

Pink-footed Geese (kortnebbgås) - one of a number of small flocks heading north today

pair of Teal (krikkand)

male Adder (hoggorm)

and a different individual

February no different

The first week of February is done and dusted and I cannot say that things have got better yet. A Wood Pigeon flying north may count as my first spring migrant of the year although could have just been an overwintering  bird moving between feeding sites and I did have a Greylag a couple of weeks ago that may also qualify for that distinction. Although why either of these birds would be heading north when temperatures are still constantly way below zero is anyone's guess.

A Black Woodpecker gave a nice performance on Thursday as both it and a Great Spotted were seemingly finding lots of food in some dead spruce trees. Otherwise it has really just been same old, same old. A trip to Tromsø this weekend to see Jr fills me with the promise of finding white-winged gulls and rare eiders but will probably be a failure judging by the lack of records of anything exciting on either eBird or Artsobservasjoner.

this Grey Heron (hegre) had found some open water but I don't think there were any fish for it

whereas this Water Rail (vannrikse) was happy to eat porridge oats that had been put out for it

adult male Goshawk (hønsehauk) back in a favoured tree in Maridalen suggests his mind is turning to the breeding season and we may soon see some display

And these are still easy to find and for the first time in sunshine:

Hazel Grouse - it's been a while

For many, many years Hazel Grouse was a very frustrating species for me. I knew of areas where they had territories and would occasionally flush one or hear one singing but struggled to see them well let alone get a photo. As I got to understand the species better I was able to get slightly better and better photos but it was always a lot of work and the better areas I knew of were quite a walk in often difficult terrain. Then in spring 2021 I discovered a new territory that was less than 15 minutes walk, in easy terrain and best of all had a pair, and especially male, that were remarkably confiding. This territory became my go to site for the species and although never guaranteed I could find them on something like 4 out of 5 visits. The fun lasted for 3 years with my last sighting in spring 2024. I’ve no idea what happened but assume the male died presumably taken by a predator. I had assumed that the territory would be taken over by a new male but that hasn’t happened and I have struggled to find Hazel Grouse since then with many previous territories seemingly unoccupied.

Today though I finally had a good encounter with the species in a territory where I have previously seen them and although nothing like the encounters I had with “my boy” there may be something to work with here.

 

Pygmy Owl also showed so it was approaching one of those good autumn days in the forest. Just need some rarer owls and finches to turn up now.

I initially found the male on the ground and played a game of cat and mouse with this being the best image I managed

he then flew up into an alder tree where he remained and fed allowing much better if often obscured views. I did see his mate briefly but she didn't feed in the open

Pygmy Owl (spurveugle) - quite likely the same bird as in my previous post

the Whooper Swan (sangsvane) family in Maridalen

a close and in focus encounter with a young male (based on small size) Goshawk (hønsehauk)

I saw him first on the ground

before he then took off and flew right towards me (I was in he car). My camera problems (the shutter doesn't shut properly) are clear to see but my manual focusing worked far better than the autofocus ever did of a bird in flight

Bopping geese

Tomorrow I am off to Lista for their annual Bird Race. This will be only my second ever visit to what can probably be fairly described as Norway’s premier birding locality and definitely the home of Norway’s most famous bird observatory. If I am lucky I will also win the evening quiz and be crowned Norwegian Birding Champion 2025 (after being runner up on my previous visit in 2017 although most likely I will be knocked out in the early rounds... The birding should be good though and with a bit of luck a rarity or two will turn up when we are there.

Local birding has been pretty good though this week although a hoped for rush of seabirds this morning after a night of strong southerly winds revealed not one single non-local seabird and the only real unexpected sighting was a juvenile Honey Buzzard battling into the headwind to cross from Bygdøy to Nesodden.

I have been to check on the Taiga’s a couple of times and found them to be on the same stubble field that they used for the first time last autumn and then also used this spring. This is quite typical that they will change preferred field in one season and then also use it the following 1-2 seasons and I would not be surprised if next spring they choose somewhere else. When they are on a stubble field they can be surprisingly difficult to count accurately and they have also had both Canada and Greylag Geese, and a hybrid between the two, in amongst them but in the end I concluded that the flock size was still 129 meaning no additions or depletions.

Visits to Hellesjøvannet with raptors in mind turned up trumps with a Red Kite and lots of sightings of Hobbies, Marsh Harriers and especially Common Buzzards with one “kettle” containing 18 birds.

I have only had fleeting visits to Maridalen but had a real head scratching surprise today when I discovered a family of four Whooper Swans on a field and then river (they were very shy) 4km away from where I had last seen the intact family on the lake. The young were large but not fully grown and I am sure could not fly meaning they must be the Maridalen family but I don’t know how to explain the sighting of 18 August and my subsequent sightings of just an adult pair or no birds at all.

Red Kite (rødglente) at Hellesjøvannet. Only my second in Akershus (I have had more in Oslo) and the first one I have managed to photo. Clearly not a juvenile but other than that my knowledge of moult and plumage in this species doesn't allow me to say any more

I was very lucky to come across this juv Goshawk (hønsehauk) eating what looks to be a Jackdaw (kaie) right by the road at the Taiga Bean place. 

Lots more pictures lower down

male Marsh Harrier (sivhauk) at Hellesjøvannet who was regularly bringing small rodents to two juvenile that would fly to meet him and would catch the mouse mid flight

an adult Hobby (lerkefalk) catching a dragonfly whilst brave Swallows (låvesvale) try to chase it off

the wings have been removed

a bit of nictating membrane

Taiga Bean watching

V8 and kids are in the video but when they are distant and in stubble I cannot unfortunately see any legs rings

part of the Taiga Bean Goose (taigasædgås) flock

here with Canada Geese, a Greylag and a hybrid between the two

a family of Cranes (trane)

just a single Pochard (taffeland) at Hellesjøvannet and very few other birds including only 2 Great Crested Grebes suggests to me a lack of oxygen, and life, in the water. There were 3 visits from at least 2 Ospreys and they left with a fish each time on their first attempt which I reckon means there were fish at the surface gulping air

the highlight of today's seas gazing at Fornebu was these juvenile Knot (polarsnipe) that flew in from Huk and landed on the rocks in front of me

I was not expecting to see these today in Maridalen. I will try to see if the beak patterns allow me confirm that these are the regular pair

the flight feathers of the juveniles are not yet fully developed so I am quite sure they have not flown in from somewhere else

spot the shy swans