The annual early spring outing to Gressholmen

Yesterday saw me watching some big owls very well in Hedmark and I will come back to them in a day or so but first an update from a good days birding in Oslo.

Every spring the car needs its service and I use this carless day to go out to the islands and today was that day. I only visited Gressholmen but it was a good trip even though it is still way too early for anything that exciting. However 3 Slavonian Grebes at close range were, as always, a treat and they even displayed a bit. These, a Green Sandpiper and a Great Grey Shrike which even sang a bit were all Oslo’s first records of the year..

After this a trip to Middelalderparken failed to reveal anything rare among the few hundred gulls bathing there (although turnover is clearly high so things can always turn up). A very pale mantled Lesser Black-back and a yellow-legged and slightly dark mantled Herring Gull got some attention. I also managed to fit in a trip to Østensjøvannet before the car was ready to be picked up and thankfully didn’t need any additional work doing to it.

Slavonian Grebe (horndykker) pair

This video has lots of display and interaction between the birds

And this short extract shows some interesting display with what seems to be the unpaired bird trying its luck before being chased off. Note how it dives under water and then starts penguin displaying which gets a positive response from the other bird before its mate turns up

look at the reflection of the black head feathers

all 3 birds which were a pair and I believe a male

the pair of Smew (lappfiskand) still at Østensjøvannet

the yellow-legged Herring Gull that isn't a Yellow-legged Gull...

this pale backed Lesser-black Backed Gull (sildemåke) is ringed and its life history and other pictures suggest is an intermedius with some pigment problems (note that the primaries are not black) rather than a graellsii

Great Grey Shrike (varlser). It was intently staring at the ground in an area with lots of Water Vole holes but I did not see it catch one which would also have been a large prey item

I only discovered this Greylag Goose nest when it hissed at me as I almost stood on it

this young Herring Gull looks to have got some paint on it

there were 6 Ringed Plovers (sandlo) on Gressholmen which probably represent the entire Oslo breeding population

And a video of a drumming female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker from earlier in the week

A weekend in the mountains with memories for life

adult Golden Eagle (kongeørn)

Siberian Jay (lavskrike)

This weekend I was so lucky to spend with Per Christian at his cabin in Ringebu. This is my third visit after trips in 2022 and last year. This year’s trip was about 10 days earlier than the previous two and an absence of many of the early passerine migrants that we had seen on previous visits was explained by this but otherwise conditions felt similar. There has been little snow in these mountains this winter and at the sides of the road the depth was no more than 50cm and areas of rock and lichen were already exposed. Down in the valleys the snow was completely gone but there was still a lot of ice and apart from Whooper Swans, geese and some Cranes there were few migrants.

Muen mountain at 1424 m was still covered in snow but even here rocks can be seen sticking out

here we are at around 760m and looking eastwards over Gubrandsdalen. The eastern slopes are fertile farmland and as can be seen spring comes early

Owls of the both the day and night active varieties were completely absent and raptors were also thin on the ground except for eagles. We started Saturday off with a young Golden Eagle and an adult White-tailed Eagle flying over it and then in the afternoon came across a couple of Goldens that appeared to have been a pair and which flew very close to us for many minutes and called lots. We were on a road and close to cabins so if we had come across a nest it would be rather amazing that they had chosen to be so close to human activity. From what I can make out they also do not normally make themselves so obvious if disturbed by a nest but I cannot think of another reason for their behaviour. 

One of the birds was in its 6th calendar year and only just old enough to breed. Perhaps this pair is newly formed ot even still forming which may expain all the noise?

I have never previously seen Golden Eagle so well and it was an experience I will never forget. Unforuntely though it was quite challenging documenting them as the sun was behind but I managed some video and photos I am pleased enough with.

In this video you can hear them calling very well. Apparantly as a species they call infrequently but this was not the case for us

a video grab of the pair

the other bird was clearly fully adult

I did not manage to get as good photos of the younger bird 

I have asked Facebook how old this bird is and have got an answer that it is in its 5th plumage meaning it is a 6cy. It is (just) old enough to breed even if its plumage is not fully adult. 

the Golden Eagle seen earlier in the day which is I believe still in juvenile plumage and therefore a 2cy

the upper tail of the same bird as it goes into land

the adult White-tailed Eagle (havørn) that was above it

At the cabin the Siberian Jays did not show at all on Saturday and even though I was worried PC was still guaranteeing we would see them and whilst enjoying coffee on Sunday morning up to six birds provided a yet again unforgettable experience as they fed within spitting distance of us.

Siberian Jay (lavskrike)

Another, for me, new experience came on the drive home when we discovered around 30 Black Grouse in a roadside stubble field. I have never come across them like this before and cannot recall seeing a picture in Norway of similar behaviour. They were equally split male and females and although one male was displaying I do not think it was a lekking congregation but rather feeding birds. When we first saw them at speed from the car I had no idea what they were and even if they were living creatures so after stopping the car and walking back to them it was a real shock to discover their identity.

two male Black Grouse (orrfugl)

and here a number of females

Otherwise, it was geese and swans that were the entertainment on the drives up and down. On the way up a stop at Starene revealed Tundra Beans and White-fronts amongst 2500 Pink feet and on the way back we came across many flocks of swans and geese along a very long stretch of the Glomma in both stubble and flooded muddy fields. We twitched a Bewick’s Swan and found more Tundra Beans and White-fronts.

Tundra Bean Goose (tundrasædgås) with Pink-feet (kortnebbgås)

and three White-fronts (tundragås) with Pink-feet

A visit to the shooting ranges at the fabled BT Banen was a strangely bird less affair apart from a showy Great Grey Shrike.

Great Grey Shrike (varsler)

All in all a weekend that will last long in my memories.

a normal Willow Tit (granmeis)

and a very distinctive bird with a white tail

these four Cormorants (storskarv) heading north over the mountains were a surprise