first bird

In Tromsø, N. Norway, there is not all that much choice this time a year, nor is there much daylight. This year the Black-billed Magpie won ut over the Hooded Crow ,and these are the two birds I have seen hitherto; on the other hand, there are many of them. We have overcast weather, light frost, after we have had temperatures just above freezing for most of the Christmas holidays—first time in my 40 years here–, and there is about 2 ft of snow on the ground. Few land birds, although the occasional Great and Willow Tit show up at my feeders, and there are House Sparrows here and there in town. Yesterday Riet and i walked along the shore of the sound here (That never freezes over) and there are more birds there: Flocks of Northern Eider, a few Common Scoters, a Red-breasted Merganser. Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls and Great Cormorants. A Winter-clad Black Guillemot was unexpected, we rarely see them in town. I wish all Birding-Aussers an excellent 2014, at home, at work and at play. Wim Vader, Tromsø Museum 9037 Tromsø, Norway wim.vader@uit.nowim.vader@uit.no> _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org