ANOTHER RAKFJORD WALK NEAR TROMSØ, N. NORWAY
These last days we enjoy wonderful summer weather here in Tromsø, with sun, blue skies, and temperatures up to 20*C—does not sound so much to you, I bet, but two days from now we’ll be back to 10*C, and that makes you enjoy the good days even more. When I left home yesterday around 9 am (As you can see from this, I am not a real power birder) the sun shone around my house (at c 50m a.s.l.), but there was still a quite dense fog over the sounds and along the coast— this dissolved quite quickly, though, and when I arrived at Rakfjord, in the acid-rock area North on Kvaløya, along the Kvalsund, there were only wisps left, as well as a ‘roll’ of fog over the sound itself. I always park where the road crosses a bight of the sound on a low permeable dam. It was almost low water here now, and a lot of temporary islands had emerged, on one of which there were c 15 Greylag Geese, all adults: their nesting season here can not have been a great success. Several Common Eider and Red-throated Merganser females swam proudly around, each with a train of half-grown young, and there were quite a number of Tringa sandpipers: as always mostly Redshanks, but there were also several Spotted Redshanks, wading belly-deep, with one even swimming in quite deep water (this is by far the most aquatic Tringa I know), and also two Greenshanks, running around agitatedly, no doubt hunting for gobies or shrimps.
The marshes here are protected, although there is only a single puny sign announcing this, and lots of people seem unaware; fortunately much of the area is so marshy that it more or less protects itself. But I know, so I keep to the road; the road verges here are often covered with Coltsfoot Tussilago leaves, and otherwise the flowers are the usual: Yarrow, Vetch, Carroway, Parnassia, and often lots of small light-blue Eyebright Euphrasia. Meadowsweet and Fireweed occur also here, but mostly in clumps near houses or farm buildings. in the marshes Cotton Grass relieves the monotony of the marsh vegetation, while on the heath the ‘purple hues’ of heather Calluna vulgaris now dominate. This is the last suite of summer flowers, to which also Hawksweed, Goldenrods and the first mushrooms of the season belong. Many small hills are covered with enticing looking large red berries; don’t let yourself be fooled by what the kids here call grisebær (=pig-berries), they do not taste anything at all. These are the berries of the Dwarf Cornel Cornus suecica and even the birds seem to avoid them—one wonders what can have been their survival value in evolution.
As the other day on the coast near the airport, also here there are now lots of small birds: again mostly Meadow Pipits, but also whole families of Redpoll (lots of those, often far away from the nearest trees), Twite and Northern Wheatear, while I also note wagtails, Willow Warblers and a young Pied Flycatcher. A Raven crosses over, and just when I formulate a sentence in my head about the season being so advanced, that it can cross the marshes unmolested, the marsh guardians, the Arctic Skuas (Parasitic Jaegers) rise and see him off with spectacular divebombings. Still, the season is clearly much advanced: most of the earlier so common Whimbrels seem to have left, there are no ducks or loons visible anymore on the small lakes, the skuas go up, but do not deign to really attack me anymore, and even the Arctic Terns keep to some token attacks before losing interest. I don’t see the phalaropes either, but they are very good at ‘disappearing in plain sight’, so they still may have been present. Small flocks of Ruffs cruise around, and a few Common Snipe are also still present.
I always walk past the hamlet of Tronjord (lots of kids on the fast growing numbers of garden-trampolines) to a hill top, from where I can see across a lake, where in earlier years a pair of Whooping Swans used to nest. I have not seen them at all this year, but this has somehow become the traditional turning point. The relevant corner of the lake is completely overgrown with tall Water Horsetail Equisetum fluviatile, and to my complete surprise I see today a white head in the midst of this horsetail patch. So I wait and gradually I become aware of the presence of at least 4 swans, two adults and two cygnets (and maybe more); I wonder where they have nested this year. This lake is also always used as an ‘ablution building’ by the local large gulls, who clearly prefer freshwater for their ablutions; there is a constant stream of gulls to and fro.
Then it is timeout, becuase now the molter (=cloudberries Rubus chamaemorus) are all ripe, juicy and excellent, and this year there are quite a number of them. The ripe berries are orange yellow, while the unripe ones are red. They grow many places here, but are especially numerous on small hummocks on the edge of the marshes. And they are very very good. (One may pick and eat them everywhere—Norway is an open society—, but you may not go and gather them in large amounts unless you are on state ground; the land owners have the first pick.)
I walk back the same way, shoo up a Willow Grouse, that flies up protesting with its quite characteristic and funny calls, and later watch a majestic sea eagle overhead. No sign of fog anymore, and lots of terns fishing over the sound. i live in a wonderfully beautiful country!
Wim Vader, Tromsø Museum
9037 Tromsø, Norway
PS Again, many thanks for your mails!
A list of birds seen today:
Cormorant
Grey Heron
Whooper Swan
Greylag Goose
Northern Eider
Red-throated Merganser
White-tailed Sea Eagle
Willow Grouse
Oyestercatcher
Golden Plover
Ruff
Common Snipe
Whimbrel
Spotted Redshank
Redshank
Greenshank
Arctic Skua (Parasitic Jaeger)
Great Skua (2, first I ever saw here)
Common Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Arctic Tern
Sand Martin (Bank Swallow)
Meadow Pipit
Pied Wagtail
Northern Wheatear
Fieldfare
Willow Warbler
Pied Flycatcher
Great Tit
Magpie
Hooded Crow
Northern Raven
Brambling
Greenfinch
Twite
Redpoll
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