Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Yesterday saw my third and final day of guiding Angus and Denise and a very good day was had. No Bean Geese hunting this time and we were blessed with blue skies and a warm sun although a cold northerly wind had to be contended with at times.

We started the day with fantastic views of a pair of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. They were initially displaying high in the trees but we later had cracking views of the male drumming low down.

At Fornebu we refound the Stonechat which hadn’t been seen since Sunday afternoon despite people looking and the Black Redstart was also present alongside many Twite, Linnets, Skylarks and a couple of Wheatear. A sit down for lunch was very well timed with migrating Rough-legged Buzzard, Buzzard, Kestrel, Merlin, Sparrowhawk and Goshawk on the raptor side, three large flocks of Pink-footed Geese and a very unexpected flyby Woodcock.

Maridalen still has far too much snow but we saw Snow Bunting appropriately enough and Willow Tit. A Lizard sunning itself was the first for the year and when I took Mrs OB there in the evening to show her the Lizard we failed but the first two Adders of the year were good compensation.

male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (dvergspett)

young Goshawk (hønsehauk) with Crow

a unique picture from Norway? Black Redstart (svartrødstjert) left and Stonechat (svartstrupe) in the same frame

Lizard taken with the bazooka

and with my mobile

Adder

and a black Adder

also taken with my mobile. Both the lizard and the adders were freshly emerged from their winter hibernation and were very lethargic

Guiding White-back

Yesterday was a marvellous day! It was so sunny that it felt warm, birds sang, I was taken out for (a birding) lunch and guided in the afternoon.

The lunch gave me views of a hunting Peregrine in town, on the way to guiding I enjoyed a few minutes in the sun at Huk where a flock of newly arrived Oystercatcher were calling and one pair even mating, a fine Purple Sandpiper fed amongst them and my first Stock Dove of the year flew over.

I was guiding Ben from Kent via Brussels and our initial target was the Glaucous Gull near Drammen. Unfortunately, this was not to be found despite there being gulls attracted to the ice fishermen but whilst searching I heard a “kik kik” call that sounded a bit off for a Great Spot Pecker and after a bit of searching I was able to confirm my suspicion that it was the White-backed Pecker. We were able to watch it really well as it was extremely focused on finding a grub in the bottom of a small trunk. It would frequently stop and put the side of its head against the tree as though to listen before hacking away, changing position a bit, listening again and then hacking away again. It kept this going for 10 minutes whilst we were there and was still going when we left. The rest of the short guiding session unfortunately did not reveal many more species which is a bit of the problem just now with all the snow and migration not having started – but that will soon change..

male White-backed Woodpecker (hvitryggspett) feeding just over the snow

look at those claws! 

pausing to have a listen - "where is that bug?"

Oystercatcher (tjeld) - a true sight and sound of spring 

and a Purple Sand (fjæreplytt) was amongst them

2cy Peregrine (vandrefalk) downtown Oslo

one of the two male Wigeon (brunnakke) that has wintered in Oslo and this one has paired up with a female Mallard which could have some interesting consequences

the Wigeon in habitat along Akerselva

on Wednesday, Jules Bell and I checked out the conditions at Årnestangen. Snow, snow, more snow and ice just about sums it up

lookin over Snekkervika

Glaucous Gull and sun!

I saw the sun today! The optimist in me suggested that that was all the White-backed Pecker had been waiting for and that it would be drumming away. Of course, that was not to be although yet more chippings on fresh snow (it snowed last night) showed that it is still there. I really worked hard for it though and slogged through the snow and over frozen rivers but despite chalking up 6km I failed. I did get excited though when I heard woodpecker tapping. I got the camera ready and quietly walked towards the noise and found a Black Woodpecker… normally I would be quite happy with that but today it felt like an anti-climax.

All the walking was not in vain though as a sweep over the fjord ice revealed the Glaucous Gull in flight. A 1km walk over the snow covered ice and I got to within photo range of the bird. There were several people ice fishing here and last weekend the gull was attracted to fish remains from the fishermen. It and a few Herring Gulls were obviously hoping for some tit bits today but received none whilst I was there although if I’d had some food to throw at them then I’m sure I would have had the bird at point blank range. As it was I got only half decent photos.

The continued wintery conditions are pretty annoying when it comes to birding as I can’t wait for spring migration to start. The upside though is that when it finally does start thawing in a few weeks (?) then we could get quite a rush of birds and some very concentrated and exciting birding – ever the optimist J

2cy Glaucous Gull (polarmåke) with Herring Gulls (gråmåke)

a female Black Woodpecker (svartspett)

fresh evidence of the White-back

Linnesstranda is a very reliable place for Marsh Tit (løvmeis)

Too cold now

Another day of very cold temperatures (-14C at breakfast) and with a biting wind making it feel even colder. The cold got the better of me a couple of times and I had to retreat to the car to warm up. I started the day hoping to see the White-backed Woodpecker again but despite some good old hard work I failed to see it although a Great Spotted Woodpecker first picked up tapping away got me going briefly.

I took the rather scary Oslo Fjord Tunnel (although a major road it is frequently closed due to accidents and a favourite type is the brakes of HGVs over heating due to the 3km long, steep ascent and catching fire….) and then checked out the Drøbak area. A Little Grebe showed really well and caught and devoured a fish that I would imagine would count as breakfast, lunch and dinner. A small flock of Velvet Scoters fed unusually close to shore (usually this species is always a long way out) and had clearly found some sea urchins or crabs as they kept diving in unison over the same spot. I grilled them but had to accept that all of them were “just”. 11 were adult males (or at least 3cy+) and 3 were in female like plumage. Closer inspection showed that at least one of these was a young (2cy) male and the other 2 may also have been. I have noticed many times before how winter flocks of Velvet Scoter contain a real overweight of adult males which contrasts with the smaller numbers of overwintering Common Scoters which seem to always be young birds (sex undetermined). A group of around 50 Common Eiders were cooing away in the sunshine but also failed to reveal any rarer cousins in their midst.

I had a drive by Great Grey Shrike on the way home and a drive through Maridalen did not reveal a single bird (or at least that I can remember) …

Little Grebe (dvergdykker) - the sunshine now makes photography easier

although it was in the shade when it took the (relatively) large fish

clockwise from top left in the act of positioning and then swallowing the fish

can't ever remember seeing the foot of a Little Grebe before

always nice with a Waxwing (sidensvans)

I only had a Great Spotted Woodpecker (today) and with Sunday's White-backed for comparison

14 Velvet Scoters (sjøorre) and 4 Eiders (ærfugl)

The Velvets. Note there are 11 adult (or 3cy+) males and 3 in female/immature plumage (one with head down)

here the bill colouration of the immatuure/female bird shows its to be a 2cy male

Eiders

Finally in the (Norwegian) bag - White-backed Pecker

 Before today White-backed Woodpecker was one of three species of regular breeder on the Norwegian mainland that I had not seen in Norway with the other 2 being Stonechat and Leaches Petrel.

Norway has a very important population of White-backed Pecker but these birds are all in the west of Norway and have eluded me the couple of times I have searched for them in prime habitat. I have however seen the species before in the Pyrenees where it is supposed to be very hard to find.

Until the 1970s there was a small population in south east Norway, but these died our possibly as a result of being out-competed by Great Spotted Wood. In Sweden there are handful of birds left which being augmented by captive bred birds but I don't think this population has much chance.

Every now and again irruptions of birds from much further east cross the Baltic and I wonder whether this is the origin of the bird I saw today as Norwegian birds do not seem prone to wandering.

The bird I saw was just 40km from Oslo and was first seen on 6 Nov, there were then a sighting on 3 Dec but nothing again until a week ago after which it seems to have settled down into a small area. Despite my dislike for, and incompetence at, twitching I decided on an early morning visit today and was so successful that I might have to try it more often. Less than 5 minutes after parking the car and wandering into the wood I heard tapping and quickly got onto the bird.

I was then able to watch it for 20 minutes as it hacked noisily at trees at varying heights. Compared to GS Wood its hacking was louder and it also seemed to attack the trees more violently with splinters flying. 

male White-backed Woodpecker (hvitryggspett) - the snow shows how close to the ground the bird was