ASCENSION DAY IN TROMSO, N.NORWAY
Last week's two swallows did NOT make summer! Instead, we reverted to an
all too common summer mode here at 70*N, westerly winds, intermittent rain,
and temperatures of 7-8*C. But today, amazingly enough, was a partial
exception, with mostly dry weather, and temp. soaring to maybe 11-12*C,
with little wind. I say amazing, because already from my youth---when my
parents always promised us children to go out with us 'if the weather
permits'----it has usually rained cats and dogs on Ascension Day, which
also here in Norway still is a free day. Here in Tromsø people call this
day much more irreverently, although fondly Himmelspretten (the jump into
heaven). Tonight it will start raining again and cool off further; but I
found another pair of Barn Swallows today (they are not common here), and
also the Bank Swallows (Sand Martins) near my garage (yes the car is on the
road again) are back, so maybe togehter they can lift the temperature a bit
before long.
This morning the weather looked not all that promising, but I decided to
call it 'invigorating' and go out anyway; I needed to blow out persistent
headaches from the last days anyway. I started out first to Rakfjord, the
beautiful wetlands I told you about recently. But today it was uncannily
quiet there; all the various ducks seemed to have gone walkabout, the
Whimbrels , Redshanks and Snipe were much more quiet than last week, and
even the Lapwings winged only a few token laps before settling doiwn and
dozing. But there were, as always here north, where things go so
quickly---we have midnight sun by now, so 24 hrs a day of daylight, if not
sunlight--- various signs of progress anyway. The road verges are still all
yellow, but now with Dandelions, yellow violets, and pale yellow Lady's
Mantle Alchemilla, while all the Coltsfeet are faded away, and instead the
plant has sent up the coltsfoot-shaped leaves already. Also the horsetails
are already busy exchanging the fertile minarets with the sterile miniature
spruce plants, and also in the boglands there are now signs of spring and
the first flowers are out (here none of them are yellow, by the way!!): the
Cloudberries have white open flowers, the Marsh Andromeda light pink small
bells, and if you watch good enough, you will also find the reddish
ground-hugging starlets of the Trailing Azalea Loiseleuria.
The birds were of course mainly the same as last week, but the Golden
Plovers, although still mostly on the arable fields, are now in pairs,
everywhere you hear the tinny sounds, and see the parachuting descends, of
the Meadow Pipits, and there is also a new steady background sound: Koekoek
koekoek koekoek. Many people are surprised that Cuckoos are common at 70*N,
but they are as common here as I know them anywhere, and the numerous
Meadow Pipits are their favourite victims. I climbed a little hill today,
to look for 'my' pair of Whooper Swans, but I could not find them at all,
and fear they are not present this summer; there are several pairs of
Greylag Geese, though, and both Red-throated and Arctic Loons. I heard
displaying Wood Sandpipers, back on the moors, one of four year birds today
. (The others being the Cuckoo, the Dunlin and the Turnstone).
After two hours or so I drove back to Tromsø and then in the other
direction on Kvaløya , past the bridge to the island, and to another
traditional spot, a marshy small valley with a small river, near the
cemetery of Håkøybotn. The place is probably neither better than worse than
a lot of similar localities, but one tends to get back to the same spots
time and again, at least I do increasingly often. Here I always enjoy the
displaying Common Sandpipers on the little river---not seen or heard today,
though, the Song Thrush in the neglected spruce plantation (apparently
pushed out by a whole flock of Fieldfares, which have set up a colony there
this year), and the wonderful song of my favourite passerine bird, the
Bluethroat (And oh yes, this was nr five of the four year birds I clocked
up today!). Otherwise here spring had come less far: the cloudberries and
the Marsh Andromeda were still in bud, and the birch leaves only halfway
ut. But Willow Warblers sang everywhere, again with the cuckoo as basso
continuo.
Finally I continued to the Tisnes wetlands, where I saw a guy with a
telescope and a British car walking around (with the telescope, not the
car), and where my day list grew more than I had expected, even though also
here the birds were little active. There were not more than 5-6 male Ruffs,
and those more intent on feeding than on displaying (even though there was
also one Reeve with them). The terns had not yet come back to the
colony--which they suddenly left midway through the season last year---,
but they were fishing closely offshore, where there were also lots and lots
of Eiders, small flocks of Common Scoters and Red-breasted mergansers, a
few Cormorants, and a single Velvet Scoter flying past. Two pairs of
Pintails and two pairs, at least, of Shelducks, onthe wetlands themselves,
and on a muddy corner of shore some Dunlins foraged, and also displayed
their wonderful descending whinny now and then, while a few Knots were only
eating and eating---they have to fly to Greenland still soon. I walked the
short bit along the chalky grassland, where I always find the first
flowers, Saxifraga oppositifolia, every spring----already there uis no sign
anymore that they ever were there. Instead these open grasslands now are
dominated , flower-wise, by the Alpine Cinquefoil, Potentilla crantzii, and
guess what colour the flowers have? Yes, tellow again; there must be a
reason for the predominance of this colour in spring in all these open
lands, but not in the forest and not in the marshes (Not strictly true, of
course , as the most common flower just now is the Marsh Marigold Caltha
palustris , which colours entire wet meadows yellow; but this is a plant of
open meadows and shallow water, not of the acid bogs where the flowers are
white or pink .) later in the year the dominance of yellow disappears also
in the open country and white becomes the colour of choice. Already today I
saw the first Cat's Foot Antennaria on Tisnes, and the very first Cornus
suecica and Trientalis at Rakfjord. And especially the latter two will
become very very common indeed in our open woodlands.
At the sign put up by the local farmers and saying: "Birds are nesting. Do
not go past this point 15 May-1 August" a pair of Turnstones had appeared
since last time I was here, always very welcome, and already as aggressive
towards all neighbours as usual. The birdlist today, during this maybe 4-5
hours trip, counted 49 species, and I won't bore you with them all. By now
you must know them almost by heart, if you read all I write and send out.
Wim Vader, Tromsø Museum
9037 Tromsø, Norway
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