Engerdal 14.02-20.02.2025 - Back to winter

With temperatures down to less than -23C it wasn't exactly warm, but the sun shone a lost of the time.

We arrived in the afternoon of  14.02 and in the evening heard a singing Tengmalm's Owl perleugle from the garden.

On 15.02 I did my usual round, some drumming woodpeckers but only Great-spotted Woodpecker flaggspett was the only species positively identified. Good numbers of Mallard stokkand on some open water on Engersjøen, a few flocks of Redpoll gråsisik, several Dipper fossekall and most of the usual suspects without anything special.

Dippers fossekall at Heggeriset

Redpoll gråsisik at the feeder in the garden

Whoopers sangsvane at Heggeriset

A long walk higher up on 16.02 produced none of the target species with just a Golden Eagle kongeørn of any interest. Some gamebird tracks but not as many as I usually see and no birds actually seen.

This Redpoll gråsisik looked rather pale and "snowball" like but was just a Common rather than the hoped-for Arctic

There was no meaningful time outside for the next couple of days but a Goshawk hønsehauk hunted over the garden on 17th February and I encountered a lovely flock of Long-tailed Tits stjertmeis during a trip to the shops.

Part of the Mallard stokkand flock hanging around on open water near the power station.

On 19th February I was out bright and early for my first skiing of the year - just brilliant with nobody else seen for kilometre after kilometre. Unfortunately it was almost the same birdwise although tracks in the snow showed that something could turn up at any time. A few Common Crossbill grankorsnebb, a single Willow Grouse lirype and the usual woodland suspects were seen.

A Sparrowhawk spurvehauk caught a Redpoll gråsisik in the garden in the afternoon.

Just wonderful to be out skiing in Engerdal:)

In the evening a singing Tengmalm's Owl perleugle was a highlight.

Tengmalm's Owl perleugle singing from the neighbour's garden:)

Oslo 12.01-18.01.2025 - A week in the east

My first birding in Oslo was predictably to Gressholmen. Highlight here were a few Waxwing sidensvans feeding on rowan berries. To take some pictures I had to take off my gloves and rucksack which were immediately inspected closely by a Great Tit kjøttmeis before it joined the Waxwings.

Otherwise good numbers of Goldeneye kvinand and Herring Gulls gråmåke feeding in the area and a flock of 50 Velvet Scoter sjøorre off Nakkholmen.

Great Tit kjøttmeis

Waxwing sidensvans

A quick stroll in the Botanic Gardens on the way home produced the usual suspects including a Hawfinch kjernebiter and a flyover Goshawk hønsehauk.

I was working and/or ill the rest of the week without getting out of the house at all. A Sparrowhawk spurvehauk almost caught the Blackbird svarttrost that lives in the back yard and would probably have caught it had it not been for a Magpie skjære that intervened.

Here showing the "fake eyes" on the back of the head

Sparrowhawk spurvehauk

Feeling rather better on 18.01 we took a walk in downtown Oslo finding a singing Dipper fossekall, a Wigeon brunnakke and a Cormorant storskarv. Walking home through the Botanic Gardens produced a Brambling bjørkefink among the usual species there. 

Cormorant storskarv

Dipper fossekall

Wigeon brunnakke

Herdlevær and Skogsøy 15-16 January 2022 - New species for Skogsøy

On 15 January the wind was in the south but still felt pretty cool with a hint of sleet as I started off the morning at Herdlevær. 

I picked up several new patch species for the year but nothing remarkable. At least two White-tailed Eagle havørn, a Snipe enkeltbekkasin and the usual suspects were seen. The sea was very quiet indeed during the short period I looked.

A flock of 20 Goldfinch stillits at Tjeldstø on the way home was the best sighting of the day. 

Strong northerly winds on 16 January meant that I headed out to Skogsøy for a short seawatch. This resulted in a new species for Skogsøy!! A total of 195 species have now been recorded at this location. Amazingly a Dipper fossekall fed in rocky pools at this totally unexpected location. Just shows anything can turn up at any time.

A Woodcock rugde, a Peregrine vandrefalk and a Great Northern Diver islom on the sea were the best of the rest. A couple of Kittiwake krykkje and small numbers of Razorbill alke headed north.

At Tjeldstø on the way home a colour ringed Herring gull gråmåke had moved all the way from Fedje since it was ringed there last year. A massive 22km so not quite as interesting as the previous ring I read.

Hjelme Vest 05 January 2021 - Winter bonanza

 The amazing calm and sunny weather continues unabated - makes it nice to be out but some of the birds are starting to feel the affect of below freezing night time temperatures. Blackbirds svarttrost came into my garden today for the first time in ages and Robin rødstrupe numbers increased to three.

Snipe enkeltbekkasin and Woodcock rugde have a reduced number of feeding opportunities and were seen here and there today.

After some work duties I made a dash for Hjelme Vest where conditions were pretty much ideal - just the strong sun from the south made viewing difficult in that direction. Not often I see three species of diver in one place during the winter but there was a White-billed Diver gulnebblom, a Great Northern Diver islom and a Red-throated Diver smålom present today.

The supporting cast included around 40 Purple Sandpiper fjæreplytt, two Turnstone steinvender, two Curlew storspove, a Peregrine vandrefalk, 80 Long-tailed Duck havelle, a Velvet Scoter sjøorre, a Little Auk alkekonge and at least seven Black Guillemot teist. 

Animals here were Porpoise nise and a Common seal steinkobbe.

A quick trip to the shops involved another short birding opportunity - I picked up a flock of nine Greylag grågås and three Velvet Sctoer sjøorre at Tjeldstø.

The first Greyags grågås of the year - no doubt being forced out west due to colder weather elsewhere

On my way home I met mrs NBB who had found a Dipper fossekall in the woods at Sture - not always an easy bird to see out here at the coast (to put things in perspective I only had one sighting last year - also in January). Further sightings here included three Woodcock rugde.

A Dipper fossekall pretending to be a forager of the forest floor.

The sikta spruce platation here was so dense that it was almost dark so I had to use ISO values I didn't even know existed to obtain this shot:)

Øygarden 11-18 January 2020 - Back to work

Much less time out and about this week as work required some attention.

The first Dipper fossekall of the year turned up at Husvatnet on 14 January.

Other than that there was not much of note before 17 January when I birded an area I rarely cover. I had a couple of species in mind, neither of which showed and neither would have required a telescope.

Record shot of four Turnstone steinvender together with a Purple Sandpiper fjæreplytt

However, a feeding flock of gulls definitely required a scope and will need to be checked at the first opportunity. Among the Herring Gull gråmåke dominated flock a single Black-headed Gull hettemåke and a few Common Gulls fiskemåke were both new for me in Øygarden this year. The best sighting was a flock of four Turnstone steinvender resting on a nearby rock along with around 15 Purple Sandpipers fjæreplytt.

On my way back to the car the first local Woodpigeon ringdue of the year flew over.

Mistle Thrush duetrost

White-tailed Eagle havørn over the house - I actually took this picture only because I was carrying my camera from the car into the house when it flew over.

On 18 January I quickly refound the Mistle Thrush duetrost that was reported there yesterday - the first ever January record for the area despite there being a couple of historical December sightings.

Another Mute Swan knoppsvane turned up on 18 January to join the two long staying birds on Husvatnet.

Still plenty of finch flocks about - Brambling bjørkefink have been the most numerous to date but on 18 January a flock of 30 Chaffinch bokfink showed up - a very good midwinter flock around here.

Øygarden 30.11 - 07.12 - Back to reality

After a few weeks in Indonesia (more of that later) it was back home and back to reality. As per normal there has been a backlog of stuff to deal with.

The amount of s**t to deal with this time was even more than usual with two exceptionally crap things to deal with:

1) Planning application for an industrial fish farm RIGHT outside my house now on the cards and threatening to destroy the very reason for living out here in the middle of nowhere. Thanks a f***ing bunch for that one Øygarden Seafoods. You total t**ts.

2) Loss of job.
Thankfully somewhat easier to deal with than the destruction of the local habitat is the fact the company I work for is closing down. Plenty of jobs about it seems and the only real difficulty is deciding on where to go next😃

Needless to say little time in the field but obviously plenty about including some unseasonally large flocks of Brambling bjørkefink with 150 at Tjeldstø and 200+ at Sture. Also small numbers of Waxwing sidensvans about.

One of two Dipper fossekall at Husvatnet, Tjeldstø on 05.12

Birding Hjelme Vest on 01.12

Two Dipper fossekall on Husvatnet, Tjeldstø on 06.12 were astonishingly the first I have seen in Øygarden this year.

Otters have been a daily sight this week as usual

The seawatching hide at Skogsøy produced a Great Northern Diver islom on 05.12

Turnstone steinvender at Tjeldstø (seen on a couple of occasions this week)

Otherwise business more or less as usual with a few White-tailed Eagle havørn daily from the terrace (and plenty of other places too!),  Purple Sandpipers fjærplytt at Hjelme Vest and Tjeldstø, Red-throated Diver smålom, Great Northern Diver islom, a late Oystercatcher tjeld, Turnstone steinvender (uncommon winter visitor out here), Curlews storspove, Peregrine vandrefalk, Goshawks hønsehauk and plenty more besides. Otters various places too.

A (the?) usual wintering Slav grebe (or Horned Grebe as they are supposed to be called these days) horndykker was present at Dåvøy along with a massive count of 65 roosting Grey Herons gråhegre.

One of four Spurdog pigghår caught (and released!) during an "evening" fishing trip.

This is the first time I have caught this species in December!

A fishing trip (hoping for Cod or better) proved exceptionally interesting with four spurdog pigghår caught along with some of the more usual species...

Øygarden 15-19 December 2017 -

Barely out of the house for the time being. Life is really getting in the way of birding, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

I've largely been limited to drive-bys in conjunction with errands, though I did get out for a little under two hours on Saturday 16th and again on 17th.

One of a number of Great Northern Diver islom seen recently - it seems like this is a good winter for them

Landscape photography with a telephoto lens - from Herdlevær

There are plenty of Snipe enkeltbekkasin about - they were forced into unfrozen areas a few days ago but have spread out again now....

White-tailed Eagles havørn are as obvious as ever....

Parrot Crossbill furuskorsnebb seem to be the dominant crossbill species at the moment with flocks of up to 20 all over the place. Snipe enkeltbekkasin have been showing well at a number of localities and a Dipper fossekall or two seem to have settled in for the winter. Great Northern Diver islom is another species that is showing well with individuals seen at several places over the last few days.

Seaduck on the other hand are virtually non-existent.

Waders other than Snipe enkeltbekkasin also seem thin on the ground, though I have seen the occasional Curlew storspove and some Woodcock rugde tracks in the snow that has melted during the last couple of days.

Øygarden 07 March 2017 - So-called smart phone game changer

Light easterly winds, sunny but cold during the night.

My intention was to go to Skogsøy early on for a couple of hours seawatching. This did not happen as my so-called smart phone updated itself during the night and forgot the alarm clock I had set....

I spent a massive three hours out today door-to-door and it proved quite productive - especially from a photographic point of view, The alarm clock screw-up meant that I had to change my plans and just did a quick walk and an hour of seawatching at Herdlevær.

Dipper fossekall

Common Snipe enkeltbekkasin looking like they have made it through the winter

A short video of the Snipe feeding - they were not concerned about me sitting in the car and watching from a safe distance.

En route to Herdlevær I picked up a couple of Snipe enkeltbekkasin that gave cracking views from the car, a Dipper fossekall and a Water Rail vannrikse among other things including Redwing rødvingetrost (probably an overwintering bird rather than a migrant) and more newly arrived Woodpigeon ringdue. It looks like the massive gamble the Snipe have taken on overwintering here has paid off - with every passing day life should get easier for these birds. No thanks to the local planners/developers though - several suitable areas for overwintering birds like Snipe have been destroyed during 2016/2017 drastically reducing their chances of survival considerably....give it a few more years and there will be nothing left for them to survive periods of cold weather.

White-tailed Eagle havørn with focus on an Otter - perhaps it did not see me....

This bird is probably in its third year...

Too close to fit in the viewfinder...

This illustrates typical WT Eagle behaviour -. stealing from Otters. I didn't have time to stick around to see what happened but in this picure it is possible to see the eagle waiting for its chance (left in image) to rob the Otter (right of image with red fish). Click for larger image.

Herdlevær produced a reasonable passage of Oystercatcher tjeld heading north, the first Guillemots lomvi of the year (!!), a Great Northern Diver islom on the sea and at least two White-tailed Eagles havørn.

Lapwing vipe with a very cold-looking sheep - they must be missing their wool despite the sun

Skylark sanglerke - not a bird that presents photo opportunities every day....

I did a drive-by at Tjeldstø on the way home - a few Lapwing vipe, my first local Skylark sanglerke of the year, an increase in the number of Greylags grågås and at least two more White-tailed Eagles havørn.