Thanks once again for an interesting and thoughtful report from Tromso,
Norway. I have never been to Norway but my Mother’s father was Norwegian
so I have a distant interest in the country. Yes we are in interesting
times with Covid-19 which has followed flooding and bushfires here in
Australia. Keeping sane is a challenge and as you say even the smallest
observation of nature can be of solace. We currently have two pairs of
White-necked Herons nesting in gum trees in our village, one pair almost above
our shed. The first-built nest now has a single nestling. The Grey
Shrike-thrush pair continue to tap on our windows from early in the morning and
then call so beautifully that it is hard to think of them as being a nuisance,
despite them being an unwanted alarm clock.
I wish you good health in these trying times.
GREETINGS
FROM A SMALL WHITE WORLD
One
of the first pieces I sent in to the bird lists, in 1997 (time flies), was
called "snow snow snow". That winter we had the great snow winter in northern
Norway, and I wrote my first contributions as a reaction on the many spring
stories on the lists. This winter we have a lot of snow again, albeit as yet not
quite as much as in 1997--- just now there is around 180 cm of snow on the
ground; but this weekend the weather is changing , so that we get days of plus
temperatures, very icy roads, and here and there flooding problems.
Much
has changed since 1997. I have sold the house to my daughter and family, and now
live in the basement apartment, where just now I have serious problems looking
over the heaps of snow; the small window in my office is completely covered..
Also, I no longer drive my car in winter and, at 83, am also extra careful
walking when the streets and paths are very slippery; I walk anyway always with
'brodder' under my shoes in winter. And now, of course, my world has got smaller
still: After having visited my partner Riet in Holland late in February (where
my bird year list jumped from 12 to 44, without really trying!) I had to go in
quarantaine for 2 weeks because of the corona virus epidemy, and after that I
was strongly advised to stay and keep at home, as I am in the high risk group. I
am lucky, as my daughter can do the shopping for me, but it also means that i am
very little outside these days and my year list has definitely stalled
again.
I
have a feeder in the garden with sunflower seeds, but this has this winter
almost completely been neglected by the local birds. Only now and then a small
flock of Great Tits comes to visit, with the occasional Blue Tit, a newcomer
here, with them. At a house some 50 m down the street, where people also feed
the birds in a garden with many bushes, there is almost almost a small flock of
House Sparrows, but I have as yet never them seen here in the garden; they are
extremely sedentary. The other birds in the garden are the ubiquitous European
Magpies and Hooded Crows, and in the air above I regularly see Herring and Great
Black-backed Gulls, a small flock of feral pigeons, and occasionally a Raven.
Once a White-tailed Sea Eagle flew over, not your usual garden bird! And
yesterday I thought I saw a Common Gull overhead; these will in summer be very
common house and garden birds here in Tromsø, but they migrate and return late
March. My local newspaper yesterday had a picture of another returned migrant ,
the Oystercatcher.
There
are of course some signs of the coming spring, if you look carefully. The most
important is daylight: The sun has been back only six weeks, but
yesterday was spring equinox and from today off we have longer days than all of
you, culminating in midnight sun from 21 May. Another welcome sign of spring is
the frequently heard melodious Long Call of the Herring Gulls; you never hear
that in winter. And just this week the Greenfinches have started singing; also
most welcome, even though one has probably to be a Greenfinch to really
appreciate the quality of the song. The only other bird singing as yet is the
Great
Tit, but that one starts already in February. With almost 2 m of snow on the
ground we can't hope to find the first flowering Coltsfoot Tussilago as
yet, but after a few days of thaw these yellow stars will probably peep up some
place where the snow has run off; they often pop up through the snow even.
Sadly
we live in the ll-famous 'interesting times' this year, and life is suddenly
much more complicated than last year. But there is a lot of solace in nature,
even the smallest bits of life around the house. I wish you all good contact
with nature around you, even though for many of us the world has shrunk a
lot.
Best
greetings and wishes from the far north!
Wim
Vader, Tromsø, N. Norway
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