SILENT SUMMER AT TROMSØ, N.NORWAY
Here in Tromsø we have had a May month that was considerably warmer than
normal, but June until now has been a big disappointmant: cool, windy and wet,
with temperatures frequently below 10*C. These last weeks have been so rainy
that I hardly have been out; it was weather for work and writing. But today
for a change we had 'oppholdsvær' (i.e. no precipitation) for part of the day
and not much wind either, so I decided to go to Kvaløya and enjoy the sounds of
summer, the display yodeling of the Whimbrels, the melancholical calls of the
Golden Plovers and the whinnying of the Snipe.
Spring had moved on inexorably: although the road verges still are mostly
yellow (dandelions and buttercups, with Marsh Marigolds Caltha palustris in the
wetter areas and filling most ditches), elsewhere white flowers are taking
over, mainly the sevenpointed stars of the Sevenstar (its Dutch name, and much
nicer than the English Chickwood Wintergreen ) Trientalis europaea, and the
white black-hearted pseudoflowers of the Dwarf Cornel Cornus suecica. In the
marshy areas Cloudberries Rubus chamaemorus and Bog Rosemary Andromeda
serpyllifolia still are in flower, but already fading, and some of the small
lakes are full of the glorious flowers of Bogbean Menyanthes trifoliata.
Insectivorous plants start to be noticed: the common Butterwort Pinguicula
vulgaris is in flower now, but the Sundew Drosera is only just starting. The
Scottish Asphodel Tofieldia pusilla, which must surely the smallest lily in
Europe, is also in flower, but oh so easily overlooked. In the birch forest the
Wood Sorrel is fading and soon the whole forest floor will be covered with a
violet pink carpet of cranebills Geranium.
But where were all the birds? Some were extremely obvious, as on arriving at
Rakfjord a flock of at least 50 Red-breasted Mergansers swept in that part of
the sound, which is cut off by the road and which now forms a shallow bight,
and later I also found some 20-30 Wigeons here. But why are these birds in
flocks now in the middle of June, smack in the centre of the nesting period?
Many other mergansers---this is the dominating duck in these wetlands--- were
in pairs on the many lakes. But strangely enough the wetlands were almost
silent this day,and I heard no display songs from either Whimbrel or Golden
Plover. Are all the birds sitting on eggs? They were present: I saw the
Whimbrels and Golden Plovers in the heatherclad hills, and the Redshanks,
Common Gulls and Parasitic Jaegers on the marsh. But there was nary a sound to
hear, except a few times briefly the whinny of a Snipe, and the here constant
backdrop of Cuckoo calls. Even the normally so boisterous Common Gulls were
largely silent. A few Meadow Pipits sang and parachuted, and where there were
willows Fieldfares scolded and Willow Warblers whistled their beautiful but
melancholy strophes, but the Wheatears that are always common here, I did not
see or hear at all this day.
In the shallow bight where all the Mergansers fished and displayed, there were
also the normal large gulls, eiders and mallards. Here large numbers of
redshanks have their territories , and these always highy strung birds of
course are not silent, nor are the also ubuquitous Oystercatchers. I also found
a lone Turnstone, and a pair of Ringed Plovers, and later on a Greenshank
advertised himself by calling, while I heard a Curlew yodel from down buy the
sound shore. The lakes kept their normal share of Tufted Ducks, and
Red-throated Loons, and on the larger lakes where these last years the local
Whooper Swans have nested, there were no swans now, only a pair of
Black-throated Loons methodically fishing. The local Greylag Geese, that also
nest here, I found first in the afternoon, when I briefly returned to the area
with visiting Dutch birder Peter Meyer and wife. Then we also found the
phalaropes that I had not found at their normal lake in the morning, now in the
round Bogbean-ringed lake close to the road.
There are always a few surprises, which is what makes birding so attractive:
you miss some, you win some! This time I heard and later saw a single Twite
among the many Redpolls in the area, and I also surprised a Jack Snipe, which
was so reluctant to fly far, that I flushed it three times more, in spite of
the fact that the area is protected so that one has to keep to the road. This
bird must have been a very late migrant to the nesting places in Finnmark; I
have only once hread the strange 'gallopping horse' display of the jack Snipe
in this area, and that is many years ago.
I add the list of birds seen today, but omit the Little Gull, that I was able
to show Peter at Prestvannet, and the forest birds around the museum and in
Folkeparken.
Red-throated Diver Gavia stellata
Wim Vader, Tromsø Museum
Black-throated Diver G. arctica
9037 Tromsø, Norway
Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo
Grey Heron Ardea cinerea
Greylag Goose Anser anser
Wigeon Anas penelope
Teal A. crecca
Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula
Northern Eider Somateria mollissima (first ducklings of the year today)
Red-breasted Merganser Mergus serrator (lots)
Common Merganser M. merganser (One male)
no raptors at all today
Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus
Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula
Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria
N. Lapwing Vanellus vanellus
Ruff Philomachus pugnax
Jack Snipe Lymnocryptes minutus (Just the one, only the third time I have seen
one here)
Snipe Gallinago gallinago
Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus
Curlew N. arquata
Redshank Tringa totanus
Greenshank T. nebularia
Turnstone Arenaria interpres
Red-necked Phalarope Phalaropus lobatus
Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus
Common Gull Larus canus
Herring Gull L. argentatus
Great Black-backed Gull L. marinus
Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea
Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus (very common here)
Meadow Pipit Anthus pratensis
Pied Wagtail Motacilla alba
Fieldfare Turdus pilaris
Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus
Magpie Pica pica
Hooded Crow Corvus cornix
N. Raven C. corax
Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris
Redpoll Carduelis flammea
Twite C. flavirostris (Just the one; they nest in the higher hills, which here
are closeby)
Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus
==============================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)
to:
=============================
|
