LAST SUNRAYS OF 2008 AT
70*N
Today was a fine, mild (+4*C) and sunny day here in Tromsø, although the
sun is already low on the horizon, even around noon; twelve days from now
it will become invisible all day, and we then won't have a chance to see
the sun again until 21. January. This is what we call mørketiden', the
dark period.
But today was really nice, not too much wind either, and lots of birds on
my feeder in the garden: some ten Kjøttmeis Parus major, and two other
tits, the Willow Tit, which has been here north all along, regardless of
the presence of people (We think that the Kjøttmeis, which does not store
food, is much more dependent on people feeding them in winter), and a
newcomer, the Blåmeis (The Blue Tit, again a name that can easily
misinterpreted, especially in such a cold climate as ours!), Parus
caeruleus, which I saw for the first time in my garden last year, In
addition there is a large unruly gang of up to 20 greyish immature
Greenfinches, that ofte try to monopolize the feeders for longer periods.
Two feral pigeons have also discovered this bonanza---the greenfinches are
sloppy eaters, and much falls on the ground--, and join the magpies and
Hooded Crows. And I have regularly to chase the neighbour's cat!
In another garden on the island of Kvaløya, some 25 km from here, we have
an exotic guest, an Oriental Turtle Dove, a rarity here in Norway; but I
feel no great need to go and see it. I have seen beautiful pictures of
that bird, and there is no doubt that it concerns this species, the 10th
record for Norway, I think.
Instead, I walked along the sound near the airport this morning. All the
shorebirds, except the Purple Sandpipers, ''come to their senses and fly
south' in autumn, as a popular song has it. Nevertheless, I found no less
than 5 Curlews, the one species that now and then tries to winter locally;
of course they still may fly south when winter starts up in earnest. The
same may happen to what may well be the last new bird on my year list, a
long Red-necked Grebe.lingering later than usual; these grebes are here on
migration in small numbers, but we do not really know where they go
afterwards; they do not nest in N.Norway. The dominant birds in the sound
are the large and tight flocks of Common Eiders, the Cormorants on the
skerry, and the fewer but almost always present Red-breasted Mergansers,
Common Scoters and Long-tailed Ducks, plus of course Herring and Great
Black-backed Gulls and Hooded Crows, real shore birds too here in winter.
Land birds there are few, although just today some tens of thrushes,
mainly Fieldfares, paused in our garden for a little while, and the
Rowanberries still get visits from large flocks of Bohemian Waxwings. But
now, 4 pm, it has already been dark for two hours, so we have not all that
much daylight to go birding in anyway. A good season to polish the year
list!
Wim
Vader, Tromsø Museum
9037
Tromsø, Norway
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