The temperature reached a barmy +6C today (although is still below zero at night) and at Bygdøy on south facing slopes there was actually snow free ground at the base of trees – so there is hope! No new birds have discovered this though as the cold northerly winds will put off any thoughts of […]
Author: Simon Rix
Simon Rix is an English Birder who has lived in Oslo, Norway since 2001. Birding has been his passion since primary school and after an education as an economist and career within oil and gas and then drinks industry he turned his attention full time to birds as middle age approached. He is particularly interested in patch birding and migration and is an active guide, blogger and photographer. He is a member of the Norwegian Rarities Committee (NSKF).
Finally in the (Norwegian) bag – White-backed Pecker
Before today White-backed Woodpecker was one of three species of regular breeder on the Norwegian mainland that I had not seen in Norway with the other 2 being Stonechat and Leaches Petrel. Norway has a very important population of White-backed Pecker but these birds are all in the west of Norway and have eluded me […]
Sleeping Pygmy Owl
It really is quiet at the moment on the bird front. Summer migrants have all left but there are very few exciting winter birds around. The Pygmy Owls in Maridalen don’t seem to be around anymore with a bird I saw early on Saturday morning the last sighting. There have been some reports of large […]
Pygmy Owls in Maridalen
You wait a year and then two arrive. On Thursday I discovered there are two Pygmy Owls in Maridalen and they have adjoining winter territories which bodes well for further sightings and perhaps a chance of breeding next year? Saying that though I am unsure of the sex of the birds. One has called but […]
Bearded Reedlings (Panurus biarmicus)
Nice and sunny with no fog today so I thought I’d try for the hairy titties again. I found them and at times had them close, sometimes also with sun light on them and also close enough to use the flash but am I happy with any of the pics? Don’t think so. Behavior wise […]
Bar-tailed Godwits
We had fantastic weather on Værøy, or at least weather that the 99.9% of the population who are not birders would describe as fantastic. For us it was far too sunny though and we would have preferred a bit more cloud cover and early morning rain. On my last day on the island though I […]
Breeding Black Redstarts
My posts all refer to the previous day at the moment – a good sign as I am obviously being kept busy. I am really knackered by long trips and survey work so had no big ambitions for yesterday (and left early for Hedmark this morning). I ended up cycling into town to see if […]
Corncrake – crex crex
When I awoke to rain and low cloud this morning the only thing I thought about was how silly I had been to hang washing out to dry overnight. I have clearly moved on from migration modus and into breeding bird modus. If I had still my migration antenna up I may have chosen to […]