Farewell winter, good (tomorrow) morning spring

A final post before the first migrants arrive and all hell breaks lose (in my dreams).

 

If the weather forecast plays out then today marks the end of this winter’s big freeze and from tomorrow positive temperatures, some rain and southerly winds will hopefully kick start the first wave of spring migration 2026.

 Winter had a final gift in the form of a big dump of snow on Sunday night and this extra snow will, I hope, ensure we get some good spring flooding that hopefully will last many weeks. I really hope that Hengsenga on Bygdøy will have flood water until at least the beginning of April as I believe there is the potential for something very good here.

I have seen some signs of spring despite the weather not yet having changed. A Wood Pigeon heading north on the early morning dog walk on Tuesday will be the first of very many and a Greylag Goose looked a bit forlorn on the ice at Østensjøvannet but today provided another two and better species. In my last post I listed three early migrants that I hoped to find soon and all had names beginning with S. After writing it I realised I could have added another S species to the list, namely Stock Dove. When visiting Bygdøy today hoping to find the first Oystercatcher of the year I stopped off to see if any Stock Doves had returned to their usual spot and sure enough one was sat atop a usual tree which is Oslo’s first in 2026. Huk didn’t have an Oystercatcher yet but a flock of 8 Twite flying over were also Oslo’s first of the year but rather than being migrants may be birds that have wintered on islands close by taking a bit of a fly about. 17 Guillemot on a flat sea was a notably high count for the time of the year but I couldn’t find any divers or grebes which should soon appear.

 

I am really looking forward to the coming week and have high hopes for both Bygdøy and Østensjøvannet but think Maridalen may have to wait a bit longer as there is still so much snow.

a total of 4 Little Grebes (dvergdykker) at Kongshavn on Saturday. This is a joint highest count for Oslo and I would love to know where these birds breed

they acted as though they were two pairs and called a bit but are not yet in summer plumage

Østensjøvannets female Pintail (stjertand) now with bling

Pygmy Owl (spurveugle) in Maridalen on Sunday

Greylag Goose (grågås) at Østensjøvannet on Monday

my first Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (dvergspett) of the year. It was not drumming or "singing" but gave itself away through its weak tapping

Maridalen at its wintery finest

distant Pygmy Owl on Tuesday

and much closer

here, it had just visited the old woodpecker hole which I photographed it in in my last post and flew out with this mouse! I have assumed that this particular bird is living off its larder at the moment as when I see it in tree tops it is just looking as though it is enjoying the view rather than hunting

The first Greylags at Bygdøy Kongsgården but I bet that in a weeks time there will be triple figures here and hopefully with some smaller, scarcer cousins in their midst

Oslo's first Stock Dove (skogdue) of the year

Water Rail (vannrikse) still going strong at Østensjøvannet

and Jacky Boy is also still going strong. The upcoming thaw will be good news for them but will also, I fear, make them more difficult to find

An attempt at a seawatch

It has been commented that I moan about the weather nearly as much as I write about birds and that is no doubt correct and to prove it – the weather is just wrong at the moment! +12C night and day, southerly winds, overcast and drizzle and not a good, out of season bird to show for it…I’m hoping for Pallid Swift, Hoopoe, Desert Wheatear or at the absolute minimum a Firecrest…

I’m not sure if out of desperation or a real expectation that there would be something good but I found myself sea gazing at Krokstrand yesterday. The site of many a good seawatch a decade or more ago it now serves as a reminder of how autumn weather patterns and arrivals of seabirds have changed. For the nostalgia value it was good to be there and remember previous visits with skuas of all 4 species, Brunnich’s Guillemot, Sabines Gull, Grey Phalarope and all the more expected but still for these parts unusual stuff. Yesterday wasn’t a disaster and there were birds and not just sea to gaze at but it was not a day that will be remembered in a week’s time let alone a decade’s time. Three Kittiwakes were the best of the bunch and there were double digit numbers of Guillemots along with three each of Razorbill and Little Auk but I could just as easily have seen the auks in Oslo.

A nocturnal visit into Maridalen with the thermal imager revealed unsurprisingly that Woodcock are still around with 4 seen along a short stretch. Slightly more unusual was a single Common Snipe and two Fieldfares that were seemingly roosting on the ground in a stubble field. Nearby at least 20 Magpies were roosting together in some isolated bushes. A Tawny Owl called but I picked up no other owls hunting over the stubble fields despite there seeming to be increasing numbers of mice.

Krokstrand looking south towards more open sea

and looking north towards Oslo and the end of the fjord

Woodcock (rugde) taken just with the aid of my head torch

and here using the camera's inbuilt flash. Note how far up the mud goes on the birds long beak showing quite how deep it has been probing for worms

a Fieldfare (gråtrost) one of two which I believe were roosting on the ground rather than nocturnal feeding

and a Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin)

an unusually easy to observe Little Grebe (dvergdykker) on the park lake at Valle Hovin. In Norway it is unusual to see one so well

The ice melts

Whilst I was away at the weekend the ice melted on Maridalsvannet. This is early but despite it having been so dry the water levels are currently high so the lake doesn’t yet look that appealing. That being said though there have already been some good birds and maybe when the ice doesn’t melt until the end of the month as is often the case that means that a lot of birds are missed out on as they cannot splash down even if they wanted. Both species of diver are already back and their display calls ring around the valley. More impressively though has been the three , yes 3, species of grebes that have graced the lake. Following last years first ever record of Little Grebe in the Dale a bird in exactly the same place it was probably the same bird. Great Crested Grebe is more expected but a Slavonian Grebe hanging out with Teal is record early as this species normally passes through, and not annually, at the end of the month.

Raptors are still very thin on the ground but the first Osprey of the year turned up on Tuesday and a Peregrine was hunting in the valley today. Today also finally saw the first day with really good numbers of passerines on the (very dry) fields: Bramblings, Redwings and Meadow Pipits were the most numerous.

A real treat today was being able to listen to the calls of migrating Curlews and a flock of 6 really wanted to land but in the end gave up and flew north.

an ice free Maridalsvannet looking towards the south

my first Osprey (fiskeørn) of the year - a particularly well marked female

migrating Curlews (storspove)

Little Grebe (dvergdykker)

Slavonian Grebe (horndykker)

and the best picture of all, a Great Crested Grebe (toppdykker)...

there have been up to 10 Lapwing (vipe) on their favoured two fields and there are already two nests. Nest 1

Nest 2

Green Sandpiper (skogsnipe)

a Kestrel (tårnfalk) today and a Brambling (bjørkefink)

a young Peregrine (vandrefalk) that I saw three times today

Yesterday I thought I would see if Sørkedalen had anything more to offer and caught up with the plastic hybrid goose that has been around for a couple of weeks and a real piece of plastic had me for quite a few seconds thinking I had seen my first Ring Ouzel of the year…

what looks to be a hybrid Emporer x Barnacle Goose together with Pink-feet

showing leg colour

and I thought this was a Ring Ouzel...

Weekend Birding

Friday’s glorious sunny weather continued into Saturday but today saw a return to the fog and in addition to it being harder to see birds there also seems to be far less avian activity.

Yesterday I was driven around by Jr and we ended up at Fornebu where I got to see Elvis, aka The King, aka the King Eider MUCH better than on Wednesday although it was still at a range of 1.2km so cannot really be seen in binoculars, or a camera view finder for that matter.

It was also possible to grill the 300 or so Velvet Scoters but I couldn’t find any with knobs although if this flock continues and attracts more birds as spring approaches then the chance of White-winged Scoter of either species must be more than miniscule. A Scaup was the best of the rest.

the King Eider (praktærfugl) is definitely identifiable in my pictures now and the black sails help you to find it even when the whole bird is not on show

two Little Grebes (dvergdykker) were also added to the year list

and a Scaup (bergand)...

a few of the many Velvet Scoters (sjøorre)

2bC invasion brewing

It looks like an invasion of Two-barred Crosbills is brewing. After my sighting on Monday of a bird with Common Crossbills in a spruce forest I was rather surprised to find a lone bird today in birch trees by Nordre Øyeren wetland. It was calling a lot and I managed to record it both the trumpet call and more generic crossbill call. This bird was also a juvenile but hopefully some adult males will arrive soon.

 I left Oslo to go to Øyeren as I hoped for some raptors specifically harriers but a single Marsh was the only one. Common Buzzards were numerous though and the local White-tailed Eagle family showed well. A single Great White Egret was a now to be expected bird but less than 10 years ago would have been quite the mega.

a streaky juvenile Two-barred Crossbill (båndkorsnebb)

I got fairly close but unfortunately it was high above me

this Little Grebe (dvergdykker) is my first ever at Nordre Øyeren and seems to be a surprisingly rare species there

Great White Egret (egretthegre) AND White-tailed Eagle (havørn)

with such a large bill this must be the adult female eagle

dwarfing a Hooded Crow 

hunting like a harrier

the juvenile

and the adults trying to get cosy

a Goosander (laksand) flock in Maridalen

wing drying Cormorant (storskarv)

female Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett)