Tromsø

I am currently in Tromsø where I am helping Jr settle into her new life as a student at the university here. Tromsø is a great town (to call it a city is rather overdoing it though and who ever came up with the description «Paris of the north» should take some time out from describing things) and we are currently enjoying very warm temperatures although in just a few months it will be all snow, darkness, hopefully northern lights and unavoidably thousands of foreign, mostly asian, tourists seeking these «exotic» delights.

Now though this town which boasts the most northern football team, and now also McDonalds, in the whole, wide, world is full of nervous students about to start a new life, apprehensive parents, and yesterday the whole circus that accompanies professional cycling when the last stage of the Arctic Race of Norway was held here and myself and Jr managed to photobomb the winner interview, it was my birthday afterall🥳

I have only allowed myself a little birding and am only using the bus to get around but there is a lot of potential up here. Prestvannet, a small lake 10 minutes bus journey from downtown is a fantastic place with many breeding, and noisy, Red-throated Divers, a good variety of ducks, a few waders including Spot Red when I was there (and apparently lekking Ruff in May) and both Common and Arctic Terns. Tromsø is on an island and the surrounding fjord obviously has potential. By the airport there are some mudflats and here I had a good collection of waders including (distant) Red-necked Phalarope, Little Stint and Ruff. Turnstone also breed in the area and I look forward to seeing them next spring. There were hundreds of seaducks too far out for my bins to ID so I may have to bring my scope on future visits as there must be the chance for some interesting species.

Downtown is full of breeding gulls with Kittiwakes nesting on window ledges, signs and more recently especially built «hotels» which allows incredibly close contact with these birds and their nests. Common and Herring Gulls are also common urban breeders and I have never seen such a concentration and variety of urban breeding gulls before.

Prestvannet

A Spotted Redshank (sotsnipe)

Red-throated Diver (smålom) with a surprisingly small young. Others were nearly fully grown

This Common Gull (fiskemåke) was ringed here as an adult in August 2018. In Feb 2022 it was in Hull, UK

This bird was ringed here as an adult in August 2010 and has been seen regularly but only in Tromsø

Langnes near the airport where I searched for waders

A young Ruff (brushane)

An Arctic Tern (rødnebbterne) that clearly had young nearby as it was very unhappy with my presence

A Sedge Warbler (sivsanger)

My first Little Stints (dvergsnipe) of the year

Adult and juvenile Redshank (rødstilk)

Oystercatchers (tjeld)

Whilst many young Common Gulls were already fledged this youngster still has a number of weeks before independence

This Meadow Pipit (heipiplerke) was still feeding young

The Kittiwake (krykkje) hotel

I haven’t yet managed to find out any information about this ringing scheme. It doesn’t cease to amaze me that colour ringing schemes can be so hard to work out - surely you only colour ringing schemes can because you want to get reports of observations

The Arctic Race of Norway

Summer holiday - cabin life

Summer in the arctic is no cold affair! Temperatures are in the twenties and may reach 30 degrees tomorrow! I hoped this would result in loads of butterflies but instead I have seen hardly any but it may still be early in the season (we are usually here later in July).

I have spent far too many hours searching for the pratincole close to the cabin but got very excited when my phone plinged yesterday afternoon to say it had been found at Klungsett (my favourite birding place up here and where I previously found the Asian White-winged Scoter). I was there an hour later but was yet again too late on the scene and the bird had vanished. The flocks of diving duck were also far too distant so I couldn’t salvage the day with a rare duck either.

The in vain searching for the prat has turned up quite astonishing numbers of breeding waders though. I have always known the area is good but this year seems exceptional (although being here earlier than normal may also play a role). 6 pairs of Lapwings have young and along with a flock of 18 non/failed breeders this is perhaps the best site in Nordland county for the species. I have also seen 2 broods of Curlew and angry adults in at least 6 other areas plus loads of alarm calling Redshank. Unfortunately the farmers have just started to cut the hay fields where many of these birds are and after witnessing how a young Curlew just lat flat on the ground in response to its parent alarm calling my presence I fear that many young Curlew and Redshank will meet a nasty end. Ringed Plover, Snipe, Common Sandpiper, Oystercatcher and Woodcock also breed in the area, Whimbrel not too far away and a female Ruff was also intriguing although was I suspect a failed breeder from somewhere else.

Moose have also been seen in exceptional numbers and I had 13 one morning with most being males including a group of 6 plus a female with a small calf.

Pied Flycatcher (svarthvit fluesnapper) are nesting in a box at the cabib

Pair of Shelduck (gravand)

Moose

Lapwings (vipe)

Curlew (storspove)

Female Ruff (brushane)

Spotted Redshank (sotsnipe), Greenshank (gluttsnipe) and Redshank (rødstilk)

A fly orchid (flueblom)

Baby Lapwing - this one could fly whereas others were much smaller

Redshank

Curlew (storspove)

Baby Shelduck (gravand)

Raptoring

So, I had set my mind on raptors today with a brief return to southerly winds and sun making this feel like a good option although with the temperature not getting into double figures it was never going to be a great day. As I fell asleep last night I debated in my mind where to go. I discounted Maridalen as it isn’t the best place for Maridalen, considered Østensjøvannet in Ås where I spent some time the last couple of years but settled on going to Nordre Øyeren and setting up store in Snekkervika. As things unfolded this morning though I ended up driving all the way to Hellesjøvannet…

I awoke early when the dog decided to bark before 6am and decided to just get up and out after having heard a Red-throated Diver calling as it flew over the house and a Willow Warbler singing which had me thinking things were afoot.. I quick trip into Maridalen revealed nothing though with not even a R-b Diver on the lake so I decided to head straight for Nørdre Øyeren. First stop was Svellet where the recent rain has now left it looking VERY good with lots of wet areas but still lots of mudflats so it will remain perfect for quite a few days even if they decided to quickly increase water levels. It is still early days but 27 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 Redshank, 2 Oystercatcher and 6 Curlew were a good start and in one weeks time these numbers might by higher by a factor of 50! if the Birds Gods are happy with us. A Peregrine also flew over and was noted as the first raptor of the day. It was now that I decided to continue dow the east side of Øyeren and go to Hellesjøvannet rather than driving round to the west side and Snekkervika and remembered some of the good raptors days I have had there including the Red-footed Falcon thatZak and I had on 4 May 2012 – the Force was clearly with us that day.

As I drove I kept hoping for a Red Kite or harrier but had nothing until I got to the north end of Hemnesjøen where there were male and female Marsh Harrier, Osprey and Kestrel and all this before 9am – I was getting excited 😊

A short drive to Hellesjøvannet revealed first a lot of hirdundines feeding over the lake with all three species present. There were few ducks or GC Grebes on the lake but it was the sky I was here to watch. Over the course of the next 3 hours I had at least 4 Marsh Harriers, 9 Common Buzzard, 3 Ospreys, Sparrowhawk, Merlin, Kestrel, White-tailed Eagle and best of all Golden Eagle. It was a fairly good haul but it lacked a real star and as usual for me nothing showed particulary well but I was still a happy man.

On the drive home I added Golden Plover and Little Ringed Plover and ended up with 5 new species for the year (in addition to the two Redshank sp and Sand Martin).

this pair of Marsh Harriers was displaying and the female was quite noisy

the female is distinctive and I have seen a similar bird at Hellesjøvannet before

immature White-tailed Eagle (havørn) with a Buzzard for size comparison. With so much moult going on I believe this to be a 3cy

the Golden Eagle (kongeørn) was even more distant but also had a Buzzard mobbing it for good size comparison. I believe this to be a 2cy but it probably isn't possible to distinguish it from an older bird

first Golden Plover (heilo) of the year

and first Little Ringed Plover (dverglo)

and first Redshank (rødstilk) together with a Lapwing (vipe)

and first Spotted Redshank (sotsnipe) together with a Greenshank (gluttsnipe) on Svellet which is starting to look VERY good