Glauc - finally!

Since Wednesday I have made three more attempts for the Glauc. I visited the dump, despite my best intentions, on Thursday and of course did not find it and then yesterday I decided to look for it in the late afternoon by the Opera where lots of gulls congregate to bathe. That attempt nearly killed me. I underestimated how cold it was (-11C and with a wind off the sea the windchill must have been quite a few degrees lower) and although I managed to hold out until after 3pm when gulls were heading out into the fjord to roost I again did not find it. It took me over an hour to warm up properly after this and highlighted again how much I dislike gulls and twitching.

Today we were dogging (in the purest sense of the word!) at Fornebu where birding highlight was a Chiffchaff still surviving in the reedbed. Stig Johan sent me a message that the Glauc was at the dump (does he ever not see it?) and it was three hours later when I was able to visit but don’t they say that 9 is a lucky number?? Well for me it seems to be the case as on the 9^th attempt I saw it! You would think that after all the failed attempts that I would spend a lot of time with it but to be honest this had become more about the tick (an Oslo year tick) than anything else. The bird was knee deep in rubbish, was mucky, it was cold and it smelt so I think 10 minutes of “admiration” of this high arctic species was more than enough.

Glaucous Gull (polarmåke) - a difficult bird to find for some. This is a 2nd winter. Although the plumage and bill looks very much like a 1st winter it had a pale eye which is a sign of an older bird

she (?) was trying to be dominant

and was giving this Herring Gull grief

but the Herring turned on the Glauc and the Glauc proved to be a but of a sissy

here you can see muck on its wing presumably as a result of wading around in sh*t all day

here you can see the variety of rubbish in what I had always thought was a recycling plant for cardboard

here is the rubbish pile it was on and it is visible in the picture.

and Leif the leucistic Herring Gull was also present (and can be seen in the habitat shot)

this flock of Waxwings (sidensvans) graced the garden last week

December Chaffchiffs

This weekend included a dog socializing trip to Fornebu where the alfa male got to check out the bird life in Storøykilen. With all the snow and ice in the salt water bay it was very surprising to find that two Chiffchaffs were still there and judging by their movements they seemed to be strong and healthy. Both were mostly in the reedbed and were feeding separately although did come together at one stage. They were not calling often at all but the only calls I did hear were “normal” and their olive plumage also suggested that they were NOT tristis.

They clearly have found enough food up until now and a flock of Long-tailed Tits and a couple of Goldcrests were also proof that insect eaters can find food through the cold Oslo winter but there has to be a reason that Chiffchaffs rarely if ever manage to survive a whole winter in Norway. Maybe the insects that are to be found are the wrong type for a Chiffchaff or perhaps more likely their bodies have just not evolved to deal with the food and short days?

A 2^nd winter Glaucous Gull was found at the dump in Oslo yesterday but by the time I got there it had moved on and I also failed to find it today although momentarily thought I had struck lucky when I found the leucistic Herring Gull that has been around in Oslo many years.

the Chiffchaffs (gransanger) were mostly feeding low down in the reedbed

this Long-tailed Tit (stjertmeis) proved their is insect food to be found

a frozen Storøykilen

this Red-throated Diver is a late bird

the beast

Leucistic Herring Gull (gråmåke) J000A. He was ringed 07.01.16 but had been seen around Oslo for a number of years and been nicknamed Leif. Since he was ringed he has been found to be a local breeding bird and has also spent his winters in Oslo except for last winter when he was in Denmark from December until 9 March. Pictures here from 07.01.16 show that he had some black primaries which he no longer has and is an interesting development

Lull

Today and tomorrow are the lull before the storm with settled cold weather and little wind before a front comes in on Saturday with strong southerly winds and a dump of snow/rain.

There was no special bird activity today although there seem to be a few more Wood Pigeons around. I tried twice for some interesting gulls at the dump. When I first arrived all the gulls were flying high up having most likely just been spooked by a raptor and they did not return during the course of a half hour that I waited. I decamped to Østensjøvannet where I thought some of them may have gone but there were no gulls there either. When I returned to dump later though all the gulls had retuned (3-400) and were feeding within the buildings much more actively than I have previously noted. I had about half an hour to grill them before once again something spooked them and they all flew up high and just circled. I did not manage to find a Caspo or a white-winged gull but amongst the Herring Gulls there were as usual a few strange birds.

The Great Grey Shrike was again showing well in Maridalen but did not catch anything whilst I was watching which was my hope. When I saw the bird on 15^th and when Rune C saw it yesterday it had a notciceable black line headin back from the bill on its left hand side. This was not visible on the 9^th and today there was only a faint sign of it. What caused this black line? Is is possible there are two different birds?

 

slightly better picture of Bullfinch (dompap) today

loads of Common Crossbill (grankorsnebb) but no youngsters yet

the Great Grey Shrike (varsler) hunting low down by a house

and high up over a field

and low down again

the sometimes present black line on the shrikes face

Leif the partially leucistic Herring Gull who received his ring on 7 Jan. This is the first report of him since then showing that even a very noticeable bird can avoid detection for long periods

a pale Herring Gull that may indicate influence of Glaucous Gull or maybe not....

X4DT ringed on 30 Nov 2013 at Rainham in London

a footless Herring Gull that seemed to be in otherwise fine fickle

Red Squirrel

No carbon footprint

With temperatures down to -13C and a breeze making it feel colder today was perhaps not the best day to do Oslo the green way but I had a body crying out for some exercise after the excess of xmas. I trod a well-used route from Majorstua to Frognerpark – Bygdøy - Aker Brygge - Vippetangen – The Opera – Vaterland and finishing in the Botanical Gardens.

There was not a lot of birdlife to note unfortunately. I came across no flocks of Redpolls to grill (I still need Arctic in Oslo) and small gulls were very scarce (only a couple of years ago I could find a couple of hundred Common Gulls but today managed just 13). A large flock (ca.500) of Goldeneyes feeding on spilt grain at Vippetangen contained at least 5 Tufteds but the sun was low and behind the flock so I was unable to grill it for anything else. The lighting though allowed some atmospheric pictures.

Herring Gulls were common with over 600 birds noted and amongst them I had Leif the leucistic bird and for once managed good pictures including flights shots. He really is a messed up bird with non-symmetric colouring. He also has some dark feathers in the wing so is possibly not an adult bird as I had previously assumed.

The Botanical gardens held at least 20 Hawfinches and unseasonal 4 Bramblings and 3 Chaffinches.

Despite nothing of particular note the sunny weather resulted in a lot of pictures so I’ll stop writing and let the pictures talk.

sunrise today was very dramatic with high levels of air pollution no doubt adding to the firieness. Picture taken at 0921.



the sun was still dramatic at 10:06

the cold caused a mist to form over the water presumably as a result of the warmth being sucked out

lots of life in the Botanical Gardens. Here 4 Bramblings (bjørkefink) alongside Siskins (grønnsisik), Greenfinch (grønnfink), Repoll (gråsisik), Blackbird (svarttrost), House Sparrow (gråspurv), Great Tit (kjøttmeis) and Blue Tit (blåmeis)

male Brambling. A 1st winter I believe as the greater covert bar has two different colours

a mal Brambling looking very smart in flight

another male Brambling this one an adult I think. It had some sort of disease and had lost all the feathers on its cheek. Also a Tree Sparrow (pilfink)

female Brambling with male Chaffinch (bokfink) - also this one probably a 1st einter

all three Chaffinches. Left the 1st winter male, middle a female and right an adult male (notice much white wing bars). The adult mle had a damaged wing and I would imagine that many of the scarce overwintering birds have some health issue that has prevented them from migrating

not many Fieldfares left (and no Waxwings) but these three were searching for fallen berries. Can you see the two Bramblings?

some of the Goldeneye (kvinand) flock amongst the icy mist

here with a male Tufted Duck (toppand)



very atmospheric. Looks more like the picture is taken by a thermal spring in Iceland

this Guillemot (lomvi) looked like it was trying to play hide-and-seek

smart male Hawfinch (kjernebiter)

a drabber female Hawfinch towers over the other finches

The leucistic Herring Gull (gråmåke)

here it looks to me to be an adult and has a red eye ring

note though there are black feathers in the wing. This long with the remnant dark markings on the bill are a sign of immaturity and make the bird probably a 4th winter. The bird only used one leg and I never saw the other leg. When I saw him on 27 November he had and was using both legs. After initial posting this I have seen that this same gull was ringed today on the right foot see here so it clearly has two legs!

the leucism is not symmetrical. the righ hand wing has normal black outer primaries but these are white on the left wing

here one can see that the right leg is seemingly missing

in Frognerparken there were only two female Teal left. This is the tame ringed individual. Note the green speculum versus the blue of the female Mallard (stokkand)

female Siskin (grønnsisik)

 

There were a handful of Redpolls in the Botanical Gardens and all looked different. I believe all are Common/Mealy Redpolls (gråsisik) but a couple may be Lesser (brunsisk) although not classic individuals and one was approaching Arctic. But given that it is all clinal then lets just call them Redpolls

looks like a Common

small billed and buffy wing bars make this look like a Lesser but I ain't so sure

an adult male Common - white wing bars an lack of buffy tones around face

another adult male. Maybe a Lesser? Buffy(ish) wingbar and warmer tones around head

Common Redpoll - white wingbars and a lot of white in the rump

a very pale and small billed Common Redpoll that is approaching Arctic Redpoll and indeed may be one - the streaking on the undertail coverts probably not too extreme for Arctic but the rump could be larger and whiter ba