If yesterday felt quiet in Maridalen then today was silent. It was a lovely day to be out with sun and little wind although after an overnight frost it never got that warm (8C). During the course of yesterday afternoon the ice broke up and melted and today I was greeted by an ice free but also pretty much bird free lake. It wasn’t just the lake that was bird free, the fields were too and there was no viz mig that I noticed. It is on days like this that I go on the less trodden paths and search out some of the Dales harder to find birds plus take photos of the more photogenic ones. So today saw ..read more

In my last post I wondered what my next Oslo species would be and I didn’t have to wait long as the first Red-throated Diver turned up in Maridalen. In hindsight this was a no brainer but I am still unsure as to what the next one will be. Blackcap? The ice is breaking up on Maridalsvannet now as we have not had frost for a while but water levels are very high as the rivers and streams feeding it are full of melt water. Unless they drop off quite soon then there will be wader season this year. As is usual in mid-April we are going through a bit of a lull with the fields very quiet and few new b ..read more

The last two days have started with low cloud and then ended up being gloriously sunny and the birdlife really changes with the weather. I have visited Østensjøvannet both days following the ducky bonanza on Tuesday but the variety of ducks has declined inversely with the amount of ice cover. On Tuesday there was 75% ice, yesterday 50% and today none. Yesterday I found a new, female, Pochard who was choosing to keep the company of displaying Tufted Ducks instead of the male who was only 100m away. Today I had really high expectations as last night had seen clear skies and southerly winds until ..read more

 Yesterday was one of those April days you hope for but only rarely happen. It was an extremely birdy day adn one that kept on giving although once again my hope for migrating raptors was not fulfilled but this must just mean they are building up somewhere to the south and will soon rush through (ever hopeful). The day started with low cloud although there was a wall of fog north of Maridalen that proved to be very fortuitous for me at least. The cloud started breaking up from 11am and in the afternoon it was sunny and all this time there was a southerly wind blowing. Geese were going thr ..read more

Yesterday started very foggy and I was loathe to go out but eventually got off the sofa (I had fallen asleep watching the Japanese F1 GP) and headed out for what was only going to be a short trip. Maridalen was covered in fog and the fields still covered in snow although temperatures were +5C so it was melting quite quickly. I heard my first Green Sandpiper of the year, Oslo #118 and just about made out a Ring Ouzel plus some Woodcock tracks in the snow but quickly decided to head for Fornebu where I hoped I would be below the fog. I was but only just and there would be no chance of seeing viz ..read more

Snow and freezing temperatures have left Oslo quite birdless. In Maridalen there has hardly been a migrant passerine to see and surprisingly the same was also the case at Bygdøy. Thrushes, Starlings, Skylarks, Wood Pigeons and Chaffinches which had all arrived in good numbers have just disappeared and have presumably headed south to areas without snow which may have meant a very long journey. From tomorrow we are forecast to have southerly winds and much warmer temperatures so we might see the birds return quickly and hopefully with a spectacular fall. With so few birds to see it was a huge su ..read more

There is more to birding than owls and at the moment we have migration to enjoy. Passerine migration is still going slowly and snow and -4C today is the reason for that - April can still offer up proper winter weather and millions of years of evolution has engrained that knowledge in species of birds that eat insects or need bare ground to feed on. My only new Oslo species, #116, since my last post was a passerine though with a Ring Ouzel on April 1st. This was an early record on a warm day and since then I have seen few thrushes of any ilk. Wildfowl are well on the move though and a traditio ..read more

I had a little teaser of a Great Grey Owl a couple of tweets ago and it is now time to give him the attention he deserves. I have previously mentioned hearing a distant singing bird a few weeks ago and had been planning on how I could search the area better later in the spring to ascertain whether there was breeding. There is still far too much snow currently though for any serious forest exploration but that doesn’t stop you listening from roads. On Thursday night I had to pick up Jr from the airport just after midnight so this was all the excuse I needed to do some owling on the way and with ..read more

Fog has been a bit of a problem the last few days but even if you can’t see the birds then you can still hear them. Redwings have arrived en masse now as have the first Song Thrushes (Oslo # 114) and today I heard my first singing Chiffchaff (Oslo # 115). Both yesterday and today I had a White-tailed Eagle in Maridalen. Yesterday it flew up in the fog from a Roe Deer carcass and today it flew low across the lake scaring up a large flock of 700 Pink-footed Geese that had roosted at Hammeren. Aging it has proven problematic for me but it is definitely not an adult as I first though although the ..read more

The birding definitely warrants daily bog updates but yours truly struggles to sit in front of the computer and go through the pictures although as yesterday was a day, or rather evening, that will go down in the OB annals then I almost have to. I will post first about the daytime though and just end with a teaser about the evening which was the result of a fortuned detour whilst on the way to the airport to pick up Jr. The day started as to be expected in Maridalen. As soon I came to the first field it was obvious that birds had arrived as there were Redwings on the ground for the first time ..read more