THE RIGHT SORT OF WINTER IN TROMSØ, AT 70*
'N
For almost two weeks now we have had the sort of weather that we prefer in
winter here in Tromsø, N. Norway. First it snowed for three days on end,
so that we got 3-4 ft of fresh snow. And afterwards we have had day after
day of sunny weather, temperatures a few degrees below freezing, and most
days moderate winds, chiefly from the Southeast. Now a change is in the
air, and the winds will veer to the SW, with milder and wetter weather,
according to the forecasts. The day light these days is only a little
shorter than werever you live, as in a week we'll have the spring equinox;
after that, we'll have longer days than you have (Unless the lists have
some subscribers on Svalbard)
Birdwise there are no great changes as yet; spring here does not 'spring'
before mid May. With c 1 m of snow and all the freshwater frozen, most
migrants know better than to arrive in Tromsø in March. Because of the
very rich crop of rowanberries in 2008, we nevertheless have had more
wintering passerines than usual, this winter. The waxwings are still
around, but the number of Fieldfares has latterly decreased a lot. Some
people have reported European Blackbirds, and more surprisingly, also
several Ring Ouzels, a bird that almost never winters so far north.
This is the right season to go owling, and this winter there seems to be
more owls active than the last years. But to go owling here, one almost
needs to go skiing, and my skiing days are over. And as most of the
secondary roads are still quite icy, and braking or swerving is definitely
a high-risk venture, I also note that I get gradually much less good in
spotting birds from a moving car., especially when, as usual, I am alone
in the car There have been Hawk-Owls around, for example, but I have seen
neither those nor the Ring Ouzels
Otherwise it is still really winter. Yesterday I drove out to the locally
famous wetlands at Tisnes, but saw nary a bird: a few Hooded Crows in the
snowy fields, Great Black-backed Gulls on the shore, and Northern Eiders
in the sound. In the Kvalsund, on the other side of town, the picture was
basically the same, but here there is often more fish--Kvalsund has very
strong tidal currents--, and also the bottom fauna seems particularly
rich. So there are large flotillas of Common Eiders, and usually smaller
numbers of King Eiders, there are many Cormorants--with the occasional
Shag (those are more common on the outer coast)--, and now and then
suddenly many auks, this time Razorbills, Atlantic Puffins and a few
Little Auks (Dovekies). In one of the eider flocks I noted a single
Goldeneye.
At the airport shore today the situation was basically unchanged from two
weeks ago, although I did not see any Purple Sandpipers this time; 'not
much to see, but it is anyway a nice stroll', said an old man who also had
brought his field glasses. But there WERE in fact the first small signs of
spring-to-come. three Oystercatchers and one pair of Common Gulls! But
no Starlings as yet around the many nestboxes, hung for them here.
In my garden the magpies have started to fly with branches, always
reminding me of the friend in Newfoundland, who once wrote to me in April.
'The birds here fly with branches, mistakenly thinking it will be spring
soon. They are fools!!' But I have also already a few times heard the
melodious subsong of the magpies; what a pity they never get further than
that, and soon revert to their fierce scolding. My feeders have the same
customers as before, but the greenfinches now seem much greener. Is that a
moult, or are most wintering birds immatures, and these newly arriving
adults?
It will take almost two months before spring really arrives here. But
winter days like these are also excellent!
Wim Vader, Tromsø Museum
9037 Tromsø, Norway
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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