VÅRJEVNDØGN
'Vårjevndøgn' is the Norwegian name for the spring equinox, and it
signifies precisely the same; this is the day that night and day are of
equal length all over the world. So wherever you live in the world, you
will today have the exact same amount of daylight as we have here in
Tromsø, N.Norway, at 70*N. (But from tomorrow our days will be longer and
nights shorter, and from 21 May we'll have the midnight sun in two
months).
But although the daylength is the same everywhere during the spring
equinox, spring itself is at very different stages around the northern
hemisphere, and in the southern half of the world summer is just past. I
see on the bird lists several contributions in praise of spring: flowers
opening, first butterflies and bumble bees arriving, migrant birds
returning. And that is definitely very different from the situation in
Tromsø these days. It is true that we have had rather mild weather for the
time of year these last days, with temperatures usually at +1-2*C; but it
has snowed almost constantly, and in spite of the fact that most of the
snow these last days was too wet to remain on the ground here in town,
snow depth was at 4 ft yesterday. Today, with somewhat colder weather and
still constant snow, we 'll probably gain another foot. Fortunately
clearer winter weather is expected for the coming week, and there will be
excellent conditions for skiing, although with much avalanche danger.
And in Tromsø there are as yet no flowers or insects that show that spring
is on its way. But there ARE some migrant birds back. Common Gulls,
Shelducks and Oystercatchers on the shore, the first Horned Grebes in the
fjord, and the first Starlings here and there, mostly also on the shore,
The next to arrive will be the Snow Buntings, arriving in large numbers
from their wintering areas on the Russian steppes, and staging here for a
few weeks, in order to fatten up for the very arduous flight across the
Atlantic to Greenland and E. Canada, a very long crossing for a small
passerine. As we have more snow on the ground now than in most recent
winters, chances are that we'll get flocks of Snow Buntings in the garden
and on the feeders---if there is bare ground closer to the shores, they
usually congregate there The next harbingers of spring will be the White
Wagtail and the Chiffchaff, but it will bealmost a month before those will
be here
It would be nice to have a few more snapshots of 'spring around the spring
equinox' from other areas, and maybe the contrasts in the far south, where
the summer is rapidly disappearing, but day and night also have exactly
the same length now.
Wim
Vader, Tromsø Museum
9037
Tromsø, Norway
==============================www.birding-aus.org
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