WHAT A DIFFERENCE A WEEK MAKES (SPRING IN TROMSØ,
N.NORWAY)
On 15 May I reported on the large differences in weather and temperature, that
are so characteristic for our area in spring. After that it got even colder
initially, so that we had snow on the ground on 15 May, and many cars, already
shifted to summer wheels, got in trouble on the slippery and icy roads. Our
national day (our 4th of July) is on 17 May, a day of many pageants and
processions, and by that day the temperature had again risen to +2*C, still not
much to celebrate outdoors! After that things got better very quickly and the
last week has been sunny and warm---although now in the weekend the temperature
has sunk again a bit; still, in the sun it is still very pleasant. This May
2006 will probably end up as the third warmest ever, with a mean temp. of c
7.5*C.
I myself had 'escaped' to Holland on 16 May for a week; I write 'escaped', as
it turned out that the weather in Holland this week also was most unpleasant:
rain, wind and chilly. Riet, Riet's son Iman and I had borrowed the cabin of my
niece in Friesland for five days, and on our return everybody asked, whether we
had been able to hold out in such awful weather!. In reality this seems always
worst when you are not yourself in the middle of it in a small cabin, as in
such cases one notices all the shorter and longer periods of less or even no
rain, and profits of them. So we had in fact a great time in Friesland, and saw
a lot of birds.
And when I returned to Tromsø last Thursday, the scenery had completely changed
in only that one week. Now all the trees are green, in the Folkeparken the Wood
Anemone Anemone nemorosa and the Wood Sorrel Oxalis acetosella are in full
flower, and everywhere the pagodes of Equisetum, the rolled up umbrellas of
Paris quadrifolia and the bishops staffs of the large ferns have poked out of
the ground. The ditches are yellow with Marsh Marigold, and the road verges
with dandelions. On the chalk grassland of Tisnes the very early flowers of the
Purple Saxifrage Saxifraga oppositifolia had already disappeared again, and
instead the grassland was yellow with the small stars of the Alpine Cinquefoil
Potentilla crantzii.
In Folkeparken now the Willow Warblers dominate the morning chorus, but there
are considerably more of the optimistic song phrases of the Pied Flycatcher
than a week earlier, and the Redwings already sing less intensively. In my
garden the Bramblings are gone---in the cold snap I could have 25 birds at the
same time---; I now hear their tired-sounding rasps in the forest. Instead we
have got feral pigeons and house sparrows (and as always the greenfinches and
the Kjøttmeis Parus major, the bird whose English name triggers filters),
probably also because Michael has sown in grass seed on the lawn)
The wetland at Tisnes, now finally an official nature reserve, was also in full
spring mood. Lots of ducks: Eiders galore on the sea, as well as a few
Red-breasted Mergansers, and in the pools and puddles Shelduck, Mallard, Teal,
Wigeon and Pintail, as well as Greylag Geese. The Lapwings already soon wil
have young, but the Redshanks are later, and the Ruffs have only recently
arrived; today's c 10 birds were my first this year. There are also Curlews
here, and lots of Oystercatchers. The large colony of Common Gulls is in full
swing, with much mating going on, but the Arctic Terns show no signs of nesting
here this year either, although also they are once more common in the rapids
outside Tisnes, finally back from the Antarctic.
Other birds here are Starlings, Hooded Crows, a few large gulls, and the sand
martins (Bank Swallows), that always can be seen along the nain road just
before one gets to Tisnes; no Barn Swallows this time. A few Golden Plovers
still linger, and in the willows also here Redwings, Willow Warblers and Pied
Flycatchers sing. Somebody else heard the first Cuckoo of spring here today.
I finished up with a short visit to a small cemetery near Håkøybotn, where I
often find Common Sandpipers displaying over a small river. Not this time, but
there is always compensation: A Bluethroat first regaled me with its wonderful
song, then boldly hopped out on the marsh and let me admire the red star on its
blue throat, just 5 days after I saw a White-starred Bluethroat in Holland!
Wim Vader, Tromsø Museum
9037 Tromsø, Norway
==============================www.birding-aus.org
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WHAT A DIFFERENCE A WEEK MAKES (SPRING IN TROMSØ,
N.NORWAY)
On 15 May I reported on the large differences in weather and temperature, that
are so characteristic for our area in spring. After that it got even colder
initially, so that we had snow on the ground on 15 May, and many cars, already
shifted to summer wheels, got in trouble on the slippery and icy roads. Our
national day (our 4th of July) is on 17 May, a day of many pageants and
processions, and by that day the temperature had again risen to +2*C, still not
much to celebrate outdoors! After that things got better very quickly and the
last week has been sunny and warm---although now in the weekend the temperature
has sunk again a bit; still, in the sun it is still very pleasant. This May
2006 will probably end up as the third warmest ever, with a mean temp. of c
7.5*C.
I myself had 'escaped' to Holland on 16 May for a week; I write 'escaped', as
it turned out that the weather in Holland this week also was most unpleasant:
rain, wind and chilly. Riet, Riet's son Iman and I had borrowed the cabin of my
niece in Friesland for five days, and on our return everybody asked, whether we
had been able to hold out in such awful weather!. In reality this seems always
worst when you are not yourself in the middle of it in a small cabin, as in
such cases one notices all the shorter and longer periods of less or even no
rain, and profits of them. So we had in fact a great time in Friesland, and saw
a lot of birds.
And when I returned to Tromsø last Thursday, the scenery had completely changed
in only that one week. Now all the trees are green, in the Folkeparken the Wood
Anemone Anemone nemorosa and the Wood Sorrel Oxalis acetosella are in full
flower, and everywhere the pagodes of Equisetum, the rolled up umbrellas of
Paris quadrifolia and the bishops staffs of the large ferns have poked out of
the ground. The ditches are yellow with Marsh Marigold, and the road verges
with dandelions. On the chalk grassland of Tisnes the very early flowers of the
Purple Saxifrage Saxifraga oppositifolia had already disappeared again, and
instead the grassland was yellow with the small stars of the Alpine Cinquefoil
Potentilla crantzii.
In Folkeparken now the Willow Warblers dominate the morning chorus, but there
are considerably more of the optimistic song phrases of the Pied Flycatcher
than a week earlier, and the Redwings already sing less intensively. In my
garden the Bramblings are gone---in the cold snap I could have 25 birds at the
same time---; I now hear their tired-sounding rasps in the forest. Instead we
have got feral pigeons and house sparrows (and as always the greenfinches and
the Kjøttmeis Parus major, the bird whose English name triggers filters),
probably also because Michael has sown in grass seed on the lawn)
The wetland at Tisnes, now finally an official nature reserve, was also in full
spring mood. Lots of ducks: Eiders galore on the sea, as well as a few
Red-breasted Mergansers, and in the pools and puddles Shelduck, Mallard, Teal,
Wigeon and Pintail, as well as Greylag Geese. The Lapwings already soon wil
have young, but the Redshanks are later, and the Ruffs have only recently
arrived; today's c 10 birds were my first this year. There are also Curlews
here, and lots of Oystercatchers. The large colony of Common Gulls is in full
swing, with much mating going on, but the Arctic Terns show no signs of nesting
here this year either, although also they are once more common in the rapids
outside Tisnes, finally back from the Antarctic.
Other birds here are Starlings, Hooded Crows, a few large gulls, and the sand
martins (Bank Swallows), that always can be seen along the nain road just
before one gets to Tisnes; no Barn Swallows this time. A few Golden Plovers
still linger, and in the willows also here Redwings, Willow Warblers and Pied
Flycatchers sing. Somebody else heard the first Cuckoo of spring here today.
I finished up with a short visit to a small cemetery near Håkøybotn, where I
often find Common Sandpipers displaying over a small river. Not this time, but
there is always compensation: A Bluethroat first regaled me with its wonderful
song, then boldly hopped out on the marsh and let me admire the red star on its
blue throat, just 5 days after I saw a White-starred Bluethroat in Holland!
Wim Vader, Tromsø Museum
9037 Tromsø, Norway
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
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