Long-eared Owl fail

I’ve had a few local evening outings already this spring hoping to find singing Long-eared Owls. This isn’t an easy task as their song does not carry far but I have seen there are signs of good numbers of voles in areas where I have previously found nests later in the spring. My first two attempts drew blanks but last night I was successful with a singing male that showed well in the head torch although with temperatures close to +10C he was surprisingly difficult see in the thermal. His song, in typical fashion, was very difficult to hear and even at only 20 metres range was strangely quiet.

this is the video I managed, it should've been SO much better...

I thought I had recorded some good video with both my phone and camera but I did not at all. I had gone out of the car without my glasses and clearly had my usual problem that I was not actually filming when I thought I was and was unable to see that the red light was not on. This is no longer a joke!!

Other than this good but annoying encounter I have recorded the first Twite and Linnet in Maridalen where Lapwings are now up to three bird but surprisingly no Chaffinch or Mistle Thrush yet.

A male Smew on the river near Lillestrøm was a nice little semi twitch.

male Smew (lappfiskand)

the first Twite (bergirisk) of the year in Maridalen

and the first Linnet (tornirisk)

the White-fronted Geese (tundragås) are still at Bygdøy

the gander to the left has a darket bead

the gander has a very well marked belly

6 White-fronts at Årnestangen togther with Canadas

newly arrived Øystercatchers (tjeld) at Huk, Bygdøy

this colour ringed bird was ringed as a breeding bird in May 2014 on an island 6km away and has only been reported a few times since and always around Oslo

a photogenic male Yellowhammer (gulspurv)

A foggy week

This week has been foggy! Every day the weather forecast has said the sun will be shining in Maridalen and every day, until Friday, it has just been thick fog. Friday though more or less made up for the whole week.

On Wednesday I visited Fornebu to try to be under the fog which I was, just. I also had a target bird. I have been avidly reading about the Dutch Spectacled Eider and thinking whether I should take a trip to Amsterdam and thought I could try to recreate some of that rare eider twitching feeling by seeing if I could see the returning/resident male King Eider (first seen as a 2cy in August 2018) in the Oslofjord. Normally only seen with some luck and from a boat it has this week been seen with a 100 strong flock of Eider at telescope distance from Fornebu. When the distance is over 2km though we are talking about bad views but I enjoyed the challenge of finding it. It was joining in with the male Common Eiders in display and if it continues to show an interest in female Common Eiders then there is a chance it will be seen close to shore in the spring as it was in April 2022. There were also at least 290 Velvet Scoter which is an enormous flock for these parts and a sure sign there is a good supply of food. Goldeneyes are also around in good numbers so the story that you often hear that the Inner Oslofjord is dying is not quite that simple even if some species such has Cod have more or less disappeared.

At Huk I also saw the flock of Purple Sandpipers numbering at least 16 and here the rocks were covered with baby mussels so yet another sign of a healthy fjord.

The Hawk Owl survives in Maridalen although the fog has made finding it hard and I wonder whether a single Pine Grosbeak eating the last rowan berries at Grefsenkollen and then three migrating NW over Hawkie will be my last Oslo bird for a few years.

On Friday a Pygmy Owl also showed in Maridalen and a Tawny Owl that evening made it a three owl day in the Dale! Whilst the Hawk Owl is still clearly searching for rodents, and I believe really struggling in the snow, the Pygmy Owl clearly had his eyes on tits at a feeding station and this gives the species an advantage over other species that are rodent specialists.

A real surprise in Maridalen was a Merlin on Friday. My attention was drawn to it by the Hawk Owl that had become alert and was staring at on a tree top quite a distance away. I dismissed it as a Sparrowhawk but something stirred in my grey matter and I looked at it again more closely and realised it was probably a Merlin and when it then flew that ID was confirmed. This is Oslo’s first January record (and there are none from December either).

The sunny and relatively warm weather (just over zero) on Friday also caused a number of species to start singing and woodpeckers to drum.

I have had nightly trips into Maridalen with Jr where she drives meaning I can use the thermal imager. With it being cold and the ground and trees covered in snow the imager works exceptionally well at the moment. Mammals have been very scarce though with just one Moose and three Roe Deer seen but roosting birds have been unusually easy to find with two roosting Treecreepers and also a few roosting Magpies found. I will have a separate post on the Treeceepers as they are quite fascinating.

I will start with that undoubtedly is one of my very worst videos although it is at least not shaky

King Eider (praktærfugl), Common Eider (ærfugl) and Velvet Scoter (sjøorre) at more than 2km range. The two birders in the boat took a much better picture

Pygmy Owl (spurveugle) in the Dale

after so much time watching the Hawk Owl I had forgotten how small Pygmy Owl is

Hawk Owl at sunrise (picture taken at 09:06)

at one stage it got ready to pounce but in the end nothing happened. I assume it had heard a vole under the snow

not an easy hunting ground and I saw no rodent tracks on the snow

a couple of Yellowhammers (gulspurv) observed the owl from a respectful distance

the Merlin (dvergfalk) which I found due to the Hawk Owl

I had hoped to be able to get pictures of owls in front of the moon but it is now too late as it disappeared below the horixon at dawn

a 2y male Pintail (stjertand) that is overwintering in Oslo

and an overwintering Teal (krikkand)

a very strange Mallard (stokkand) presumably with a good dose of domestic duck in it. With that yellow bill I am also unsure if it is male or female

Purple Sandpiper (fjæreplytt) and cockles?

and here lots of baby mussels

a Robin (rødstrupe) in an unexpected place

Three-toed Woodpecker (tretåspett)

This Water Rail (vannrikse) at Fornebu would disappear in holes under the snow

one of those Herring Gulls (gråmåke) that remind you why you don't like gulls

not many rowan berries left for this Pine Grosbeak (konglebit) to extract the seeds from

this is probably my last picture of a Grozza in Oslo for 3-4 years (until the next invasion). You will be missed

More Stonechats and geese

There is suddenly lots to see, to photograph and to write about. I have not been to see the Smew again but it has apparently been standing room only with up to 40 photographers filling their memory cards. Having been through the (many) images I took I am rather happy with the ones I got on Saturday so have no need for more.

 On Sunday Jack discovered Oslo’s second Stonechat of the year on Bygdøy and I chose to visit there on Monday and then found the third (a female) and then Anders found the fourth later in the day! Prior to 2021 there had only been 5 records in Oslo but it has been annual since then but 4 in a year is a new record and it isn’t even spring yet!

Bygdøy also gave me very up close and personal views of 16 Purple Sandpipers which appears to be an Oslo high count. I have also added Skylark and Chaffinch to my Oslo year list which now stands at 85 species.

Today Jack and I headed to Østfold and it was a visit that reminded me I should go more often as the 1 hour drive is well worth it. The fields around Kurefjorden were already free of snow and packed with geese and Skylarks. A lot of different geese have been seen here in the last few days including both Beans and both subspecies of White-fronted. Greenland White-front is a species that has eluded me before so I was really hoping to see it but we only found Russian birds but a count of 48 was very good. Taiga Beans also eluded us but we did see 2 Tundras.

Other new birds for the year included Lapwing, Ringed Plover and Shelduck as well as Slavonian Grebe and Scaup.

On the way home we witnessed a new experience with a Great Grey Shrike. I have seen this species hover occasionally before but only for a few seconds at a time but this bird was hovering in Kestrel style and was changing height and position for many tens of seconds at a time. It was hovering over an area if rough grass that was full of vole holes so there was clearly food there for it.

male Smew (lappfiskand)

the pattern at the back of the head changes a lot depending on the mood of the bird

Little and Large

with a male Goldeneye (kvinand)

a female Stonechat (svartstrupe) at Bygdøy

Purple Sandpipers (fjæreplytt)

from today's Østfold trip - a White-fronted Goose (tundragås) on the left with a Tundra Bean Goose (tundrasædgås)

the two Tundra Beans

Russian White-fronted Geese (tundragås) and Greylag Geese (grågås). Three of the adults had such extensive black barring on their bellies that it became solid

hovering Great Grey Shrike (varsler)

when it hovers the wings barely go above the horizontal

hovering head on

And some commoner birds

Stock Dove (skogdue)

Willow Tit (granmeis)

Yellowhammer (gulspurv)

Jay (nøtteskrike)

Mute Swan (knoppsvane)

landing on the ice

finally coming to a stop

This spring seems to be terrible for singing owls in southern Norway but there is at least some activity from Tawny Owl (kattugle) in Maridalen