EARLY NOVEMBER MORNING IN TROMSØ , N.NORWAY (FEW BIRDS)
When I walked to work this morning around eight, it was still twilight, a
dead calm day, with very heavy hoar frost covering both roads, paths and
vegetation, but virtually no frost: the little brook that I step across was
open and running. A full white moon hung in a clear greyish sky, with Venus
just above it; the rest of the stars had already faded. The hills on
Kvaløya are white and clear in the sharp autumn air, and the sound lies
still and dark. When I cross the little rise on the path to the museum, I
see the firs in silhouette against an almost greenish southern sky, and in
the south,over the inner Balsfjord, there are already stripes of orange and
ochrish pink. The sun will still rise above the horizin for a week or so,
but only for a few hours in the middle of the day.
Few sounds disturb the morning silence, although even here there is the
steady background hum of traffic. In my garden Willow Tits scold (I'll have
to fillup the feeder twice a week now), and near the museum a pair of
Magpies chack sleepily, and that's all, in fact. Tromsø is a wonderful
place also in winter, but not for twitchers. Snow is very late indeed this
year; all the precipitation seems to fall elsewhere in Europe and here in
the far north we have had a mild, calm and dry autumn. We'll enjoy it as
long as possible; snow must be just around the corner!
Wim Vader, Tromsø Museum
9037 Tromsø, Norway
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