Back in Oslo

tony
January 11, 2026
Arctic / Bird Photography / birds / travel
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Returning to Oslo from Svalbard was a bit of a climatic and culture shock, exchanging a cold arctic wilderness for a hot summer city. Edin had anticipated this and planned a short train trip for us to explore a river running through bush to temper my sudden change in environment. An efficient train ride to Kjelsås soon had us wandering along the Akerselva after a coffee at the Teknisk Museum

It was wonderful choice with a beautiful river alive with birds foraging to feed their spring youngsters. Our first good encounter was with the Goldeneye shown at the head of this post. It was resting in an area of slack water with a single large duckling. I chose to shoot a 2 image stack focussed on each bird to combine into a single image with both sharp.

Goldeneye with duckling - 2 image focus stack assembled in Heliconfocus — Goldeneye with duckling – 2 image focus stack assembled in Heliconfocus

Heading upstream our next encounter was with a Grey wagtail frenetically foraging a faceful of midges.

Photo of a Grey wagtail collecting midges — Grey wagtail collecting midges

In the low light of the shaded riverine forest it was a challenge with extremely high ISO still requiring slow shutter speeds.

Photo of a Grey wagtail pausing briefly collecting — Grey wagtail pausing briefly collecting midges

Watching for a while we were able to follow as it flew up to it’s nest concealed on the far bank of the river.

Photo of a Grey wagtail flying up to it's nest — Grey wagtail flying up to it’s nest.

The nest was at eye level for us and the river narrow enough that we could shoot from the far side without approaching the nest and nestlings.

Photo of a Grey warbler feeding nestlings — Grey warbler feeding nestlings

Changing direction after reaching the source of the river from a lake, we headed downstream to explore further and encountered many more birds. First was a Fieldfare foraging to feed a chick in a nest.

photo of a Fieldfare foraging — Fieldfare foraging

photo of a Fieldfare with a worm — Fieldfare with a worm

Watching the Fieldfare we saw it fly back to the constantly calling chick in a nest.

Photo of a Fieldfare chick calling from the nest — Fieldfare chick calling from the nest

Photos of a Fieldfare feeding a chick — Fieldfare feeding a chick

Next we encountered a number of Great tits foraging to feed begging fledglings. Trees were covered with a sheath of silk concealing bird cherry ermine moth caterpillars/pupae that were a productive foraging target.

Photo of. Great tit foraging on a web cloaked branch — Great tit foraging on a web cloaked branch

The silk covered trees were intriguing and with the help of Seek by iNaturalist we identified Bird-cherry Ermine moths as those likely responsible.

Bird-cherry ermine moth emerging from the pupa

Photo of a begging Great tit fledgling — Begging Great tit fledgling

Photo of a Great tit with one of the small invertebrates pulled from under the silk sheathing on the trees — Great tit with one of the small invertebrates pulled from under the silk sheathing on the trees

This last Great tit image is my favourite.

Great tit fledgling watches as an adult forages

There were numerous other birds to watch and photograph and a passing local told us that there were beavers in the area which came out in the evening. A remarkable habitat easily accessible from the centre of Oslo.