.......and furthermore
I had planned to keep silent for a while, after 2 messages in one week, but
today's surprise I 'must' tell about.
The weather is still cold (6*C) and windy, and I needed both mittens and a
woollen cap today. I started out at the airport, where I gave up yesterday.
Little to see at first sight, but at the sandy beach the two pairs of Ringed
Plovers had arrived now, and I also heard several Golden Plovers. Then a small
flock of small shorebirds flashed by, and I walked along the coast, trying to
find them again. They turned out to be some 25 Red Knots, still in winter
plumage, part of the large number that stage further inland in the fjords here
for a few weeks, before continuing on across the Atlantic . While I was
counting them, suddenly all the birds flew up, even the two Grey Herons.
Looking up I saw to my great pleasure a Gyrfalcon cruise past, a bird I had not
seen for several years, even though a small number are resident in N. Norway,
with grouse as their main prey
I continued on to my usual walk along the road north on Kvaløya (another place
I have written about many times); here the ground is acid and quite poor, and
the terrain consists of low hills covered with heath, extensive marshes and a
number of lake. As yet there is not all that much spring to be seen in the
vegetation, and the only flowers are those of some of the diminutive arctic
willow species. Common Gulls nest here too, mainly in the marshes, while the
hills are the domain of the Golden Plovers and Whimbrels. Two Arctic Skuas
(Parasitic Jaegers) have arrived on territory; this species has decreased here
quite a bit, while the Lapwings have altogether disappeared here, as many other
places in our region. Several pairs of Greylag Geese, common nesting birds
here, and as usual also Redshanks and Common Snipe on the marshes. The lakes
held Mallards, Red-throated Mergansers and several pairs of Tufted Ducks, this
a species which has increased considerably here in the last decades. The local
nesting pair of Whooper Swans had also arrived now; they were not yet here when
Riet and I were here a week ago. Little small bird activity in the chilly
weather, and the Meadow Pipits, the most numerous small bird here, were still
foraging in a flock. The Willow Grouse was displaying actively, as they did a
week ago.
But still no terns anywhere. The common tern here is the Arctic Tern, while the
Common Tern is much less common (Sentences like this are the main reason I
still use capitals for bird names!)
I'll now return to anonymity.
Wim Vader, Tromsø, Norway
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