A TRIP TO THE OUTER COAST, FULL WINTER STILL
Here in Tromsø we still have wonderful winter weather, with a lot of sun,
not all too much wind, and temperatures a little below freezing at night
and a few degrees above during the day. And the days get longer every day;
last night we shifted to summertime , so just today sunset will be 'one
hour later' than yesterday, plus the normal 10 minutes we gain each day.
Snow depth still hovers around one meter
Today I used the opportunity to drive out to the coast, some 70 km along
the outer road that skirts the south coast of the large outlying island of
Kvaløya. There is a shorter road across the island, but that lies in part
rather high above sea-level, and I chickened out there; my vet daughter
had warned me that some roads were 'super slippery' these days. In
practice it was not all too bad: some bits of the road were still
ice-polished, but large parts were covered with slush (in Norwegian we
have the wonderful word 'slaps' for that condition), and were easily
driveable with care. There were lots of people around (by our
standards--these roads are never really crowded): plenty of cars parked
along the road, with ski tracks leading out into nature---this is a
wonderland for cross country skiing--- and, maybe a first sign of spring,
almost as many people on bicycles as on the spark, the archetypical
Norwegian push-sledge.
But few birds, basically only Magpies and Hooded Crows along the road,
and large gulls on the shore. In addition, the Oystercatchers are back,
with a pair every 100 m or so along the shore-line; but as yet there are
almost no Common Gulls, usually at least as common as the
oystercatchers---I saw only a few as yet. The magpies are in spring mood;
they try to break off small branches to use in nest building, and the
males do not leave the females out of sight for a moment.
At the Tisnes wetlands everything still was starkly white and
snow-covered, with the few crows scattered on the fields accentuating
rather than alleviating the impression of emptiness; in a few months these
will be wetlands full of ducks and with a large larming gull colon. On the
outer island of Hillesøy the snow had blown off the higher areas, and
collected in the valleys, but also here there were as yet mainly crows.
The snow showed lots of tracks, mostly again of the crows, and probably of
dogs, but I saw a few grouse tracks,(here no doubt Willow Grouse), a few
of Hares, and one track across a small peninsula, that I am almost certain
was made by an Otter: it ended in a slide down into the sea again!
On the outlying islet pairs of Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls
already had gathered on their territories, although I heard very few of
their melodious Long Calls as yet---apparently the gulls on the flat roofs
in town have already come a bit further in their seasonal cycle, no doubt
because of the somewhat higher temperatures in town. At sea the usual
cormorants and shags were present, and I saw a loose flock of Kittiwakes,
the first of the year for me; but there were too many waves to see the
Black Guillemots that usually also are here.
On the way back I stopped for a while at the 'harbour' of Sommarøy--in
reality the sound between Sommarøy and Hillesøy, where a tight flock of
some 400 Common Eiders milled, without any diving or foraging. Clearly
there was a lot of excitement in the flock, although there was little
regular full display; but the drakes regularly lifted themselves half out
of the water, showing their black bellies, and they jostled each other a
lot, while I also saw much inciting by the females. There were also
Long-tailed Ducks here, some 50 maybe, but these were in a much looser
flock, and also dove a lot, no doubt foraging; a few times I heard their
jolly 'a-a-AUly' calls. Most of the drakes were still in splendid winter
plumage, but a few of the ducks had already changing into breeding
plumage.
All in all the aspect was still very wintery. Snow everywhere, and few
harbingers of spring. No Snow Buntings, no Starlings---but I know a few
have arrived--, and no Rock Pipits as yet either on Hillesøy. But this was
a very beautiful day in a fantastically beautiful landscape. I wish I
could show this to you, but you will need to come and see for yourself!
Wim Vader, Tromsø Museum
9037 Tromsø, Norway
==============================www.birding-aus.org
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