norway

I got dozens of good shots of this guy that day, but I'll try not to bore you by posting them all. Just a final three today, and making sure they're all quite different poses. Here he's chasing off a Mallard who was crowding him near the seeds I'd been tossing out onto the water. When this guy...

Back in October, our visiting Mandarin Duck was back in full plumage. His mate had already migrated southwards, and soon he would follow. I wonder where he went for the Winter. Some thought they saw him on the far side of the river by the lower falls, where the outflow from the power plant...

My local jays are very skittish, so I had to take this photo through a closed window. The moment they hear the click of the opening window, they scurry away from the food

This Great Tit seems alarmed, perhaps at the sight of all the Starlings that had just landed at the other end of my Sargent apple shrub (Malus sargentii). Not often I've caught one with his "crest" up.

This whitebeam was full of feasting Starlings that day, and perfectly lit by the sun. I got dozens of shots I'm really happy with, but rather than bore you with endless variations on the theme I've chosen this one, which I think was possibly the best of a good bunch.

Back when strangers could meet at the communal baths without worrying about households and "bubbles". Well, at least back when birds still could meet, before we learned there was a new bird flu spreading around Europe.

Starlings can imitate other birds' songs ... and behaviors. Not sure whether this one is imitating a woodpecker or a treecreeper.

After that stormy morning (the one with all those rain shots), the weather cleared up and I went out for a walk. Along the way I was "mooned" by this Blue Tit. Looks round enough that I guess this was a full moon.

This Blue Tit seems downright upset with me about the weather, as if I'd insisted s/he get out there and pose in it. And you can kind of see how dark it was under the thick clouds. Still, having grown up in California, I was actually glad for all the wet. Sorry I'm not quite caught up browsing...

Even rainier here, and the sparrow does not look all that happy about the weather. But family in California would have been dancing out in the rain with joy.

Back in September, while wildfires still raged in California keeping family members packed ready to evacuate at a moment's notice, my brother asked me to post some rain photos on Facebook. This was one of the ones I took through my feeder view window.

An almost equally grumpy (or at least unimpressed) House Sparrow. Have a great and safe weekend, everybody!

Grumpy Greenfinch, not amused by whatever the Siskin was saying.

Sorry I haven't browsed today. Big grocery round, then baking for the weekend (we don't get the Thursday off here, so I do Thanksgiving on the weekend). Probably won't be able to browse tomorrow either, but should be able to do on Sunday, even though for COVID reasons we're splitting our dinner...

I was charmed by this pose. Hope you are too.

First time I've definitively seen that white spot at the base of the upper mandible. Usually, even with my best shots, it's hard to be sure whether it's a white spot or just a trick of the light.

Bird photographed in the archipelago of Svalbard, Norway

So the final day ended, with yet another beautiful sunset across the fjord. The morning would see me flying home to Scotland, after a really wonderful holiday with Ann and Jan in their beautiful country. Thank you both.

..... you thought I was making it up. There really IS a place called Hell in Norway (and apparently one further south called Paradis!) On our way home from the cabin, Ann brought me to the station for the village (which is actually not very far from the airport which serves Trondheim). So I had...

This picture was taken after Ann and I had scrambled our way out of the forest. One of the cabins had this boat moored up. I was really taken with this scene.

We finally got back to Ann's cabin, without another sighting of the Divers sadly, I found the Willow Tit still feeding. As I don't see these at home, thought I'd put another into my Gallery for you to see. Nice birds, aren't they. I've just a couple more pictures from this, my final day in...

There were some feeders hanging in the trees, but the only bird we saw there was a female Bullfinch, a trip tick, so a very welcome sight. I'm off out mid morning and won't really be back home until early evening, so I'll try and do what I can before I go and catch up later on. Have a good day all.