BIRD LIFE IN TROMSØ (70*N) IS IN CONSTANT CHANGE
I have lived in Tromsø, N.Norway for 35 years now, and in that time I have
experienced quite a number of changes in its bird fauna. Of course, when I
arrived, the population of the town was c 40 000 people, and now we are 65
000, and this means that there is more stress nearly everywhere and many
sensitive birds have disappeared from the more densely populated parts of
town. There are no longer Willow Grouse in Folkeparken (but there are still
many north on the island); no Bluethroats sing here south on the island (I
remember how I stopped and listened for half an hour in the middle of the
night during my first summer visit here, in 1970---and a bluethroat sang
from the veranda on our first house, on the mainland across from the island
in 1973 and 1974; now there are four rows of houses behind the one we lived
in, at the time on the edge of town---); and no Woodcocks rode anymore here
in front of our present home, as they did for years and years. I have
earlier written once about the gradual decrease of bird life at Langnes, the
wetlands and shores near to the airport, and similar stories could also have
been written about my local patch, Folkeparken, where Garden Warbler and
Sedge Warbler can no longer be heard, and this spring also the Song Thrush
seems to have given up. One sunshine history we have experienced in this
connection: on the little lake on top of the island, Prestvannet, more and
more Red-throated Loons have started to nest, and now there are no less than
six pairs.
But I am here more interested in other changes, that are more or less
independent of the growth of the town. The first wave of newcomers was
already there when I came to Tromsø in 1973; during our honeymoon in
Finnmark in 1965 Sunniva and I conscientiously noted down all records of
House Sparrow, Great Tit, and Pied Flycatcher in that province; they were
all newcomers there, and no doubt had followed the new roads and found
people --and nest boxes-- everywhere they arrived. Also some other birds
were slowly moving north at the time, such as the Black-headed Gull (that
has remained primarily an inland bird here north) and the Grey Heron
(primarily a coastal bird; all the freshwater freezes over for many months
each winter). Grey Herons started nesting on our island some ten years ago,
and now they ae a common sight in summer and on the seashore even in the
dark winter.
In 1973 we talked about the expansion northwards of the Greenfinch Carduelis
chloris, at that time this seed-eating fringillid had just established on
the island of Senja, some 200km south of here. Now, 35 years later,
Greenfinches are about the commonest birds in suburban Tromsø, and they
occur in numbers all over Troms and Finnmark, all the way to the arctic
coasts and the russian border. We are uncertain as to why this has happened,
but think a combination of much increased bird feeding by people in winter
(Greenfinches are very fond of sunflower seeds), and the many coniferous
trees and hedges in the gardens that provide shelter and safe nesting
opportunities, may have played a role. This last factor probably also lies
behind the increased nesting in the area of the Goldcrest Regulus regulus.
In the same period the Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita has also become a
regular nesting bird in Troms; even though in Norwegian this is called the
'spruce warbler' (gransanger), I do not think that conifers have played a
special role in its arrival. Interestingly enough, another very early
returning warbler, the Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla, has not really succeeded
in conquering Troms, even though, just as in the case of the European
Blackbird, wintering males are reported occasionally---this is a warbler
that is very fond of berries!
During the last couple of years we notice the new gradual arrival in the
Tromsø area of a number of mostly southern species, some of them did not
occur here north at all previously, while others were earlier mainly
confined to the pine forests of the inland. Real newcomers are the Blue Tit
Parus caeruleus (several times in my garden this winter) and the Jay
Garrulus glandarius; both species are residents, and now regularly reported
from the Tromsø area. Also the European Blackbird, here still a forest bird,
just as it was in Central Europe a century ago, is observed increasingly
often, with wintering males most frequent. In Folkeparken two other species
have been frequently present these last years, i.e. the European Robin
Erithacus rubecula and the Woodpigeon Columba palumbus, both were species
which I earlier needed to drive some 150 km south to the inland to see.
In addition to this 'directed changes', there are lots of oscillations in
our birdlife. In years of bumper crops of rowanberries Sorbus aucuparia
Fieldfares and Redwings stay here until midwinter, while we often have large
influxes of Bohemian Waxwings Bombycilla garrulus and Pine Grosbeaks
Pinicola enucleator. And the food situation in the taiga east of us decides
whether we'll get invasions of Great Spotted Woodpeckers Picoides major,
Crossbills Loxia curvirostris and Coal Tits Parus ater. Finally, the numbers
of raptors and owls change with the density of rodents. So every year and
every month are unique in some ways; even though we do not have a very
diverse and dense birdlife up here, there are always surprises!
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)
to:
=============================
|
