Kingfisher and Pygmy Owl

Today was the first day since 1 Jan that I got some proper birding in and it was quite a good day with the sun shining and birds showing.

I paid the Kingfisher a return visit and the light was much better than on Saturday and the bird showed very well. It sat patiently on a branch looking for fish in the murky water beneath it and I was able to sit in the car and stay warm whilst watching it. I thought that it would be good to take some video but just as I changed cameras it plunged into the water and caught a fish! I was able to record it eating the fish but would have loved to see it diving into the water. After swallowing the fish on a rock by the water it immediately flew up onto a branch again and went into fishing modus so it clearly is in need of as much food as it can get.

A drive around Maridalen in the afternoon revealed tree top sitting Great Grey Shrike and Pygmy Owl. It is a while since I have seen either of these species and there is clearly not much food for them to find as they moved around quite quickly. The Common Buzzard had also moved on before xmas which is a sure sign that there are not many rodents.

Kingfisher (isfugl) in front of shipping containers in Oslo harbour

with a nice sized fish

with a blue moustache and white goatie

Pygmy Owl (spurveugle)

a Cormorant of the subspecies sinensis which is now the commonest type around Oslo

2cy Goshawk (hønsehauk)

Great Grey Shrike (varsler)

I think this is a Grey Seal (havert) rather than a Common Seal (steinkobbe) which I usually see around Oslo. Anyone who can confirm from this picture?

Breaking the Ice

On Wednesday a nice picture of a male King Eider reminded me that there are birds other than THE Trio. The King was seen by a couple of intrepid photographers out on a boat and is a returning bird that was first seen in the autumn of 2018 when it was a 2cy and is therefore a 4cy (3^rd winter) now. Although it’s plumage is that of adult male the size of the bill is still a long way short of proper old birds such as this one.

Halvard H was keen to give himself a birthday present and took today off work and was keen to get out in his boat. I was lucky enough to join him but we only just got out as overnight temperatures of around -5C had combined with a windless night to leave a layer of ice over the fjord. It was really quite magic to be out there in such conditions. On our way out we were in ice free water as a big cruise boat had just gone through but half an hour layer it was all iced over again. The small boat coped admirably well as an ice breaker but I must admit to wondering exactly how we would survive if we had a Titanic moment. Needless to say we aw no other small boats out on the water..

We realised early on that the ice would probably put paid to our attempts to see the King and indeed the area where it was seen on Wednesday was iced over. We checked all other likely places where there was open water but found little with a few newly arrived Greylag Geese and Common Eider being the most noteworthy although we did see Twite, Rock Pipit and Purple Sandpipers that have been around all winter. Genrerally there have been extremely low numbers of seaduck in the Oslo Fjord this winter which is a worrying development.

the cruise boat made it a bit choppy but did clear the ice 

which otherwise was surprisingly thick given that it was no colder than -5C overnight

seal and the Huldra ferry coming into Nesodden

Purple Sandpiper (fjæreplytt)

7 birds together (another 2 were out of shot)

Rock Pipit (skjærpiplerke)

Twite (bergirisk)

Fickle bird gods

Winter has really returned to Southern Norway and previously bare fields are now covered in snow and rivers and lakes are still well and truly frozen. This has had a real effect on birdlife with no migration going on except for birds fleeing Norway (the GPS tagged Bean Goose has fled back to Denmark!).

On Sunday evening and Monday morning I was guiding Richard from Singapore and just wonder whether one of us has severely p*ssed off the bird gods. An owling session just confirmed what I had feared that this is not an owl year and we heard no owls (although did probably see a flyover Tengmalms in the torchlight after using playback but it was too brief to be sure). Reports from Hedmark at the weekend were equally dire with zero singing owls despite vast areas being covered. Monday morning saw us at a snow covered Årnestangen with newly formed ice on the river. There were some waterfowl including a Smew and displaying Teal but passerines were nearly completely absent and the hoped for Great Grey Shrike couldn’t be found.

Today I travelled further afield to Kurefjorden with Anders and had a bit more luck. A flock of 400 or so Greylags on a snow covered field was looking very sorry for itself but contained 21 White-fronted Geese which are always a joy to see, a Pink-foot, 3 Barnacles, 22 Canadas and 2 Canada x Greylag hybrids. The mudlflats were frozen over but we found 20 sad looking Ringed Plovers, 15 Lapwing and a few Oystercatchers. Highlight was finally seeing the Bearded Tits which I had only heard when guiding a few weeks previously. We saw 3 males and a female feeding high up in the reeds and then the sound of a very distant military jet scared the birds and 16 flew up and over the reedbed! We also had a Great Grey Shrike to confirm how fickle the birds gods are.

A search of the Drøbak area failed to produce a previously reported Great Grey Owl but 25 Common Seals resting on an island was a HUGE count.

Lots of variation in the extent of the black belly marking on the White-fronted Geese (tundragjess). The barring comes with age

the bird on thel eft is particularly well marked

in flight

spot the Beardie

3 male Bearded Tits (skjeggmeis)

male and female

2 male Velvet Scoter (sjøorre)

2 females on the right. I am unsure as to what explains the different head pattern but it is probably an age issue

my first Ringed Plovers (sandlo) of the year

lots of Common Seals (steinkobbe)

Something to watch over the sea - at last!

Finally, we had some strong southerly winds forecast in the Oslo Fjord and the Oslo Birder started "pining for the fjords" and headed to Krokstrand. On the way whilst stuck in a queue as a result of never ending tunnel repairs I got a message that I would not be alone - it's always more fun and productive with more than one observer.

I missed an adult Great Northern Diver which went past before I got there but did have 50 Kittiwakes including three double digit flocks which all were blown to the north, a close Fulmar, a distant Gannet and three species of auk including close views of Little Auk. We didn't find anything rarer although further south there were reports of Sooty Shearwater and Sabines Gull. Kittiwake and Fulmar were both new for my Akershus year list which now stands at 214 species and is a new all time record provided my fellow LRSK colleagues don't rubbish any of my records ;-)

not often I get to see Fulmar (havhest) this close

.

I think this individual has a particularly striking upperwing pattern

Little Auk (alkekonge)

this was the last we saw of it as it dived

and not long after this seal stuck its head up in the same area (swallowing something?)

Oslo islands

With just 2 DAYS TO GO UNTIL VÆRØY 2017 begins I thought I would get some practice for island birding in today with a trip to Oslo’s own rarity (un)filled islands. I took the public boat and had an hour each on Gressholmen, Lindøya and Nakholmen.

Passerine wise I guess I have vague hopes of one finding something along the lines of a Yellow-browed Warbler, Richard’s Pipit or Little Bunting out here one autumn but more realistically I can hope to see some waders. My Oslo list still lacks the likes of Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Turnstone and Grey Plover and it these islands that offer the best chance of encountering these species (which are far less than annual).

Today’s trip did not deliver any of the sought after rare passerines but a Wheatear and a few Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps were enough to keep me looking for more. Waders were not exactly numerous either but a juvenile Knot showed well (it was only last year I added this species to my Oslo list) and three flyover Ruff were only my fourth Oslo record. But surprisingly there were no other waders what so ever.

A couple of seals were hauled up and one showed well. These were Common/Harbour Seals and both this species and Grey Seal seems to be becoming far commoner in the Oslo Fjord.

Knot (polarsnipe) a rare species in Oslo 

overflying Ruff (brushane)

a resting Seal (steinkobbe)

and another Seal. This one looks to be a young animal

over 130 Cormorants (storskarv) were resting on Galteskjær but I didnæt have a shag today - not so far anyway...;-)

my first auk of any kind in Oslo this year - a Guillemot (lomvi)