MIDWINTER IN TROMSØ, N. NORWAY; REALLY NOT MUCH TO TELL
Several subscribers have mailed me, asking why I was silent and whether
I
am OK. To start with the last, I am now, at soon 68, officially 4/5th
retired, but have for the time being been allowed to keep my office and in
practice work more or less as before on my beloved amphipods, at least now
in the dark of the winter. In summer the lure of the outdoors will get me
out more often, I guess. And there will be more opportunities to travel, I
hope.
As to why I am, otherwise so loquacious, largely silent in midwinter,
the
short answer is: there is not much to tell! Although we have got the sun
back and these days it is (just) above the horizon for more than one hour
around noon, whether it is actually visible of course depends upon the
weather, and there have been few clear days recently. Also, the days are
still quite short, and I walk to and from work in deep twilight still, so
that on the narrow path through the Folkeparken it is often difficult not
to stray off the path and sink in the deep snow. (Our Tromsø dialect has
its own verb for walking through deep snow, å grinne). This last week we
have had quite a lot of snow, and now there is maybe 1m of snow on the
ground. (I may add that we look with great astonishment on the reports from
e.g. New York, where a temp. of 20*F, combined with a snowfall of one foot,
is called an arctic blizzard and disrupts all traffic and much of the
infrastructure, and even closes airports. If it were like that here, we
could close up Tromsø for about half a year each winter!)
This last week the same vast region of high pressure that has yielded so
much cold and snow in south and central Europe, has pushed the Atlantic
depressions on a far northerly course, bringing mild air as far north as
Svalbard: the other day the only spot in the north with mild temperatures
was Longyearbyen at 78*N, where it was +5*C; ----11*C again the next day,
though, a more normal temperature there, where the sun has not yet risen
after the long winter darkness. The west coast of Norway has had enormous
amounts of rain and sleet this January (new precipitation records galore
for January), resulting in lots of avalanches and closed roads. But here at
70*N we have been mostly lucky and escaped the worst of the storms and
rain; very often we had only sleet or snow and the winds rarely were
stronger than force 8-9, which by the way feels chilly enough. For today
the forecast was for 'liten storm' (litterally 'small storm', i.e. force 9;
force 10 is full storm, and force 11 strong storm in the forecasts) and
rain to sleet, but again we have been fortunate: the winds are less strong
then forecast (may be 'as yet'), the temperature is just around freezing,
and we have had snow instead of rain. Until now maybe one foot yesterday
and last night, but it is still snowing densely. (The airport is open,
though, I hear the planes come over here). This temp. makes for very
slippery roads, though, and after the snow ploughs have been through that
is also true today; I fell heavily on the way to the museum and hurt my
thumb (easily done, when you are, like me, all thumbs).
In Folkeparken , the birch forest with spruce plantations, where I walk
through on my way to the museum, the path runs almost due south. Walking
south, the forest does not look all that wintery, as all the birch stems
are bare; there is nothing of the winter-wonderland effect of last week,
when it showed without blowing so much. But when you look back in the
northern direction, the forest looks completely different and much more
wintery, as the northern half of all the treestems is covered by a thick
layer of snow. The difference is very striking and two pictures taken in
opposite directions would not at all look like they were taken on the same day.
But these are bird lists, and here is the reason for my winter silence:
there are almost no birds at all. This morning I saw no birds at all, and
--as quite normal-- the only bird sounds I heard were distant Hooded crows,
they are a bit more talkative in winter than the also very common Magpies.
On maybe one walk in ten there are some other sounds: a scolding tit, a
'tuning' Bullfinch, a passing Raven, or the Great Black-backed gulls on the
shore. In my garden the feeder with sunflower seeds, so popular in the
autumn, that I had to fill it almost every day (and it is large tube!) now
stands almost untouched, and I only need to fill maybe every third week.
The only customers are the odd Great or Willow Tit (the last the first
bird of the year, at 1-30 am on 1 January), and very rarely a Greenfinch.
The House Sparrow, also a regular visitor in the autumn, is not even on my
yearlist as yet; two of its regular haunts in town seem unoccupied this
year---I heard rumours that the old lady, who regularly fed them there,
moved away.
I keep a year list every year; it is a good way of keeping your interest
alive also for the more common birds. But it is not a fast growing
business in Tromsø in January, and it has stood almost still for weeks now.
The last addition (nr 18) was a small flock of Fieldfares in the neighbours
garden a week ago. Most of these birds are the common wintering waterbirds
of the sounds around the island. the Common Eiders, Common Cormorants,
Long-tailed Ducks, Common Scoters, Mallards, and Herring and Great
Black-backed Gulls; typical for here, also the White-tailed Sea Eagle is on
the list almost from day one. Of course, if I only had been more fanatic, I
should by now have maybe ten more birds: there should be Red-throated
Mergansers around, and Grey Herons, there are still Bohemian Waxwings in
town (my daughter saw them even in my garden last week, where I had my last
flock on 30 December), and a concerted search will also uncover Willow
Grouse, Purple Sandpipers, King Eiders and Yellow-billed Loons not too far
from town. Somebody had a Blackcap on his feeder, and somebody else found a
small flock of wintering Snow Buntings on one of the outlying islands. And
a lone Black Grouse, an uncommon sight in town, has been seen in our
neighbourhood several times, and it even dug down into the snow in my own
garden, unluckily while I was at work. But more than 25 birds I have never
yet got on my yearlist in January/February, the numbers first grow--up
to >100 in a few days-- when I go and visit Riet in Holland in late
February/ early March.
Tromsø is a wonderful place to be for the naturalist, but probably a
very
dull site for the inveterate lister!!
Wim
Vader, Tromsø Museum
9037
Tromsø, Norway
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