WINTERING DUCKS ETC AT 70*N
Tromsø in N.Norway is still snow-land, although we have enjoyed two weeks
of crisp cold winter weather before it now again is snowing heavily.
Snow-depth hovers around 180 cm, considerable more than average, but
substantially less than in the record winter of three years ago.
I have basically little news to report, although a few Crossbills Loxia
curvirostra have been seen in town, and I watched myself two in
Folkeparken, my daily path home (now a path again rather than a trench).
And some people have seen the first Snow Buntings, and that is a sign of
spring to come (eventually). Some of the younger birders have been out and
counted water birds on the surrounding fjords, and I thought I'd ' plow
with their calves' and let you know the numbers; they give an impression of
what is around here in winter. One group counted in the sounds around the
island of Tromsøya, the other in the Balsfjord, the broad and deep fjord
south of here, of which Tromsøya and the shallow sounds around make out the
sill. The two counts have a certain zone of overlap, and the Balsfjord
count (which only counted one side of the fjord anyway) was also hampered
by wind and too high waves, so the numbers are only an indication of what
we have around here in winter.
Inthe following list, T is Tromsøya, B is the Balsfjord.
Yellow-billed Loon Gavia adamsii B 8
Red-necked Grebe Podiceps grisegena B 23 (!)
Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo T 52, B nn (not noted in their mail)
Gray Heron Ardea cinerea T 6
Shelduck Tadorna tadorna B1
Mallard Anas platyrhynchos T 243, B 311
Pintail A. acuta T1, B1
Wigeon A. penelope B 3
Common Eider Somateria mollisima T 1313, B 1006
King Eider S. spectabilis T 248, B 700
Black Scoter Melanitta nigra T 1, B 19
Velvet Scoter M. fusca T 37, B 358 (+ 300 Melanitta
sp.)
Long-tailed Duck Clangula hyemalis T 266, B 1174
Red-breasted Merganser Mergus serrator T 45, B 333
Purple Sandpiper Calidris maritima T. 206, B some
Herring Gull Larus argentatus T. 383, B nn
Great Black-backed Gull L. marinus T. 102, B nn
Glaucous Gull L. hyperboreus B 1
Common Gull L. canus B 14
Black Guillemot Cepphus grylle T 4
As you see, no particularly high diversity, but quite a number of birds.
This is possible, of course, because the sea never freezes over here, due
to the ameliorating effect of the North Atlantic Drift.
Wim Vader, Tromsø Museum
9037 Tromsø, Norway
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