Bird cliff web camera - the Hornøya Kittiwakes

Love is in the air - and we are filming it!

Last year we had a web camera mounted on Hornøya bird cliff giving close up views of the Puffins on the cliff. Thanks to funding from Rob Barrett of Tromsø University Museum, we now have the opportunity to mount another bird cliff web camera. This time we will have a closer look at the life of the Kittiwakes on Hornøya.  

Hornøya is an amazing place: it is the home of 100 000 seabirds, and it is only a 10 minute boat drive from Vardø island. It hosts a wide varitey of bird seabird species. It is this spectacle we aim to bring closer to the people of Vardø and the rest of the world. This time we have also expanded the project to inlculde high quality microphones, because the sound of the cliff is just as spectacular as the views.  

Below follows a few images from the trip we just did to the cliff to mount this new web camera, in proper arctic weather. We are just getting into the mode of making a few Iphone video productions: fast and easy. Hopefully you will enjoy getting a glimpse of just another day at the office!

The Kittiwakes have just settled in the bird cliff.   

Our new web camera is fixed at section of the Kittiwake colony. This time with high quality sound too. 

Hornøya is one of Varangers finest bird sites. A true spectacle! This photo was taken from the boat to Hornøya.

The fixers and doers, the Iphone-movie:

The web camera project on Hornøya is spearheaded by Biotope and Cloudware - a mix of nature knowledge and computer knowledge. We have developed a web camera set up, that provides high quality and a very decent price. We handle everything from the mounting to the online presentation and  operation systems. In short: we have made a system of quality components to easily stream the bird life from cliff to the people. A few photos below from our recent trip to Hornøya. Grand thanks to fisherman Ole Klaudiussen in Vardø, who brought us safely to and from Vardø on a windy march day. 

The team at the bird cliff: Eivind Bøhn and Reidar Øksnevad from Cloudware, Tormod Amundsen and Alonza Garbett from the Biotope office and Ole with his very cool sailing / fishing vessel.

Arctic style! Hornøya March 10th, 2013.

Rob Barrett of Tromsø University Museum have been researching seabirds on Hornøya bird cliff for more then 30 years! In Vardø he is known as Mr. Hornøya - with good reason. No one has spent more time on this magnificent place then Rob. I can highly recommend checking out the seabird booklet written by him and several of his collegues. This is everything you need to know about seabirds of the north, and then some. A great publication. Knowing that this new web camera will let scientists monitor the bird life on Hornøya even closer is great. Rob and Tromsø University Museum have financed all the hardware for this project. This project is both public awareness and science combined!

The birds of Hornøya

The variety of bird species on Hornøya is great. The high arctic  alcid species Brünnichs Guillemot is one of the birds that many visiting birders want to see (sitting left in image).

With the amount of birds present on Hornøya Gyrfalcons, Ravens and White-tailed Eagles make a daily drama at cliff. This photo is from the most read article on the Biotope website: Gyrfalcon versus Raven. Cool scenes from a spectacular place.

The Puffins may be cute, but they are also fierce fighters! Check more photos in the story about the previous Hornøya web camera, with a Puffin fight club series.

With such wide variety of spectacular birds and stunning landscape Hornøya has become a favourite location to visit for birders and photographers from all over the world. We are very happy to have this place so close to our office! It makes livving in the arctic a greater experience. Now with the new web camera we can share it with the world too. We hope you will enjoy it!

We will launch the new Kittiwake web camera on Gullfest 2013, in a weeks time. 

Stay tuned for a spectacle, and the new web cam launch on www.birdwatch.tv

Tormod A. / Biotope

The iconic Steller´s Eider - winter birding in Varanger

When we are not working with bird projects we are out birding. I guess all our activities are somehow part of the ongoing Biotope adventure. This weekend we had some very fine blizzards in Varanger, and what better to do then spend a day at the beach! That is the beach in Kiberg harbour, Vardøs neighbouring fishing village. A great place to view Stellers Eiders - if you are properly dressed!

Steller´s Eider Polysticta stelleri, Kiberg, Varanger - February 2013

Male Steller´s Eiders showing off. Both by sound and sight this is an amazing spectacle!  

Female Steller´s Eider taking off. 

Amazing nature at the doorstep

Varangers iconic arctic seaduck, the Stellers Eider. Breeding in Siberia, and wintering in Varanger. We in Biotope do an annual count of the Varanger Fjord on behalf of researchers. In March 2012 we counted a total of approx 4500 Steller´s Eider in the fjord. An amazing number of birds, but still lower then just a few years ago. We also counted approx 12 500 King Eider last year and nearly 20 000 Common Eiders. All the arctic seaducks can be seen at all coastal sites around the Varanger peninsula. However the various species have their preferred areas. Kiberg, Ekkerøy and Vadsø are strongholds for the Stellers Eiders. To have great views of other ´superduck´, the King Eider, the numbers one place to visit is Båtsfjord. For this experience all we had to do was get dressed (in a survival suit), and drive from Vardø to Kiberg. That is a ten minute drive, and a great little pre lunch adventure. 

Winter birding in the arctic: lovely snow blizzard and rapidly changing conditions.  

Kiberg harbour is one of several photogenic fishing harbours in Varanger. Fishing and birding goes very well together. I have written more about this in a previous article about Varanger harbours (Gull focus). Note to politicians, etc: Supporting the sustainable fishing industry in Varanger is also a pro bird and eco tourism act.

Kiberg town aerial, outer Varanger Fjord. All the shallow bays of Varanger makes a perfect habitat for arctic seaducks. Much of your birding in Varanger can actually be done within a few meters of the car. It is almost too easy. 

Testing & prototyping

We are are continously working on new ideas for fascilitating for better birding. Making photo hides is a key part of this work. As with all lines of work it helps loving what you do, so spending a Sunday flat on the belly on an arctic beach for a few hours is just perfect! Trying to get new photos of our favourite birds is an educational experience: seeing how close you can go without disturbing, learning light conditions, imagining new ideas as you work. Its grand! 

 

Photo hides is where clothing and architecture meet. We have made a series of prototypes, testing what works, and learning about what doesnt work. The below photos are from the making of two different prototypes: one floating photo hide (made with fish boxes) and one semi-mobile photo hide based on an old stroller. The semi-mobile hide wokred fantastically well, and we are now making the ´pro-model´. The fish box version is still to be improved...

Bird photo hide protoyping

Camouflage is essential. Whilst clothing is an easy option, a hide lets you move around inside it without disturbing the birds. Which is why the Båtsfjord floating King Eider hide works amazingly well for several people and over a longer period of time. Using wool plankets proved very usefull as snow sits well on it and you instantly blend in the arctic landscape. Making movement less visible for the birds. It worked well, but surely a hide would have proved easier for me and the birds would have settled faster. Judging by the birds I seemed to be quite invisible.  

About 45 Steller´s Eiders came within few meters. All photos are takes with a 300mm lens (Nikon d800 + Nikkor 300mm F2.8)

Great to have birds flying towards you, and not the rear views of frightened birds. 

 males

female 

Several Purple Sandpipers came very close too. Great birds, with some impressive survival skills.

Enjoying a day at the beach, in a survival suit. No trouble from the cold water when the tide kept rising. Get low - the rule of cool bird photography.

Steller´s Eider in snow blizzard. 

By the way, I just made a new Iphone movie: the previous weeks highlights in 1 minute. Out now on youtube. It a fast and and basic production, all iphone, but it gives you a sense of what the King Eider experience in Båtsfjord is like.

Gullfest 2013 is happening very soon in Varanger - It looks like we will have an Eider party too. And we are preparing some new photo hides for Gullfest!

Stay tuned..

Tormod A. / Biotope

The Varanger King Eider extravaganza

I just came back from one of my best birding trips ever. Being a fishing town, Båtsfjord harbour is one of the most bird rich places in winter in Varanger. For a birder or bird photographer this small town on the northern side of the Varanger peninsula is actually bird heaven! Thanks to a new floating photo hide, where the initial idea of the hide was to fascilitate for the ultimate King Eider experience. Båtsfjord harbour is now without a doubt the finest place in the world to experience Arctic seaducks! A true nature spectacle in the town centre. Any bird photographer and / or birder will have an experience of a lifetime. 

Båtsfjord town aerial. I took this photo in december 2011 flying over Båtsfjord. The floating photo hide is now situated in the fishing harbour of this amazing little place in northeastern Norway. Winter in Varanger is spectacular!  

Steller´s Eider, male

Below is Ørjan Hansen preparing the RIB to take a group of 4 birders / bird photographers to his new floating photo hide in Båtsfjord harbour. For this experience we got up and met Ørjan at his harbour base at 0600. That gave us time to settle in the hide before daylight. I just came back from a tour in the UK, presenting projects and approaches from Varanger at various UK bird clubs. Ørjan was one of the guys I talked about. One of the things that struck many was how early light returns to the Arctic. In my opinion February is one of the finest birding months in Varanger. The light is simply stunning. Crisp, deep blue light for hours both in the morning and the evening. And to many peoples surprise we have near full days of daylight. By early February the sun rise at about 0800 and do not set until 1400, and by late February you have full days of birding. The rest of the time we chase the Northern Lights! It is pretty cool - litterally - and one of the reasons we have established our architectural practise in Varanger.

Ørjan at his Båtsfjord base, ready for departure at 0600. February morning light.

Long-tailed Duck, male - preparing for a day of showing off

Common Eider, male - this is very cool design by nature

The floating King Eider photo hide

This unique product is now a part of the harbour scene in Båtsfjord: the floating King Eider photo hide. It is based on a concrete jetty and will provide a sheltered comfortable space for a group of 6-10 birders / bird photographers. This is from where all the Arctic Seaduck photos in this article are taken. This is innovation in the Arctic. I am certain that the next few years will bring some of the most stunning photos of Arctic seaducks ever produced. Through changing conditions of light, sun, snow and wind this will be a stable and solid hide, providing the ultimate close encounters with some of the worlds coolest birds! Being a part of this project feels like a privilege. From testing the prototype motorised fish boxes (!) in the harbour, to seeing this ´pro model´ in place is fantastic! 

Close encounters 

The two photos above are taken from inside the floating photo hide with a 50mm lens. It is hard to describe in words how good this experience is. I think these photos make a solid statement: You are surrounded by some of the most spectacular bird species in the world. They are all familiar with both the photo hide and Ørjans boat. It is simply magic! Even armed with no more then an Iphone you should be able go home with pretty cool photos. One thing is certain - you can not blame the camera if you dont!

The variety of birds, behaviour, displays, backgrounds and light is enough to keep a birder, bird sound recorder or bird photographer busy for days. 

Reflections

Steller´s Eider, female

King Eider, male

The making of...

The floating photo hide has been developed over 2-3 years. From the testing of the concept by motorised fish boxes to the solid concrete jetty based new model. It is still a fascility of basic comfort, but it has insulated matresses for comfort, and even a camping toilet. It will provide the best possible photo opportunities imaginable! It may not be a place you go for a honeymoon, but it certainly is the best option if spectacular birding is on the menu. The photo montage above shows some of the drawings we made for Ørjan and a few prosess photos from the making of this new hide during the summer 2012, at Ørjans base camp in Båtsfjord. 

A good man with a very cool car!

I have written about fisherman and bird guide Ørjan Hansen before. He is one of the just-do-it-people I have been lucky to cooperate with since we moved to the Arctic in 2009. Varanger is a sparsely inhabitet place. About 10 000 people live in an area the size of Wales in UK. In such small conditions you realize that everyone matters - and that you can make a big difference. We are a group of dedicated and entrepreneurial people in Varanger, working to realize as many pro nature ideas as possible. Now the ultimate winter birding experience is here.

Båtsfjord is a fishing harbour. It is also a birding harbour! Photo taken from RIB when driving back from the photo hide experience. 

Ørjan driving four very exited birders / bird photographers by his RIB to the photo hide at about 0600 in the morning, february 16th 2013.  

Some of the birds where sleeping when we arrived the hide in early morning. The variety of backgrounds cought my eye. Being able to portray some of my favourite birds in such stylish surroundings was amazing. The February light is very photogenic.

Steller´s Eider male.

The King and the Queen

For a little while light snow showers created a magical scene in the harbour. The chance to portray King Eiders in such beautifull light was amazing. I still havent quite landed after this experience. Nature is fantastic! 

Queen Eider 

King Eider

I hope you enjoy these photos (by the way, you can click on the photos for slide show mode).

If you need a birding architect feel free to contact me at: tormod@biotope.no 

Best wishes from the Arctic

Tormod A. / Biotope

Touring UK - the Iphone road movie

Pushing the Boundaries Tour - the Movie

During my 15 days tour with Martin Garner around UK, I recorded a series of video clips with my Iphone. I had a very simple idea: Instead of recording masses of video from the tour, I would simply record a few seconds long moments every now and then. So here it is - 150 moments avarage 2.8 seconds condensed to 7 minutes. A speedy glimpse of our tour around UK, visiting bird clubs, giving talks, meeting new people and birding. Not any kind of masterpiece but it gives a relatively good idea of how the tour was. It is an all Iphone production. Hope you enjoy :) 

Also check it out at our youtube chanel

A series of Iphone video fragments recorded on tour, and edited on my way home. Basic and doable during a hectic tour around Britain (Iphone screenshots above). 

Touring UK

This tour have been a fantastic experience, and a more personally engaging experience then I expected. As I have spoken of in our talks at the numerous bird clubs we have visited, I really own much of my birding knowledge and enthusiasm to English bird litterature - being practically raised on it! During this tour the highlights have been many! Meeting so many engaged birders is a privilegie. There are too many meetings to name them all, but meeting Ian Lewington certainly stands out for me. Simply because the Rare Birds book from 1991 sparked my interest in birds outside Europe. As a young birder I read this book, and studied its art in detail. It widened my horizon. Visiting Ian now and seeing his art in progress today was great. Simply amazing work! Birding with new birders all the time was fantastic too. Seeing new places and talking birds with new people non stop for 15 days was brilliant. Being in a place where phrases like "the abietinus is really the Baltic Gull of the warbler world" is part of a normal conversation is good (thats Martins phrase, by the way). I wish to thank all the bird clubs who hosted our evening talks, and all the kind birders we stayed at - grand thanks for your hospitality! During my talks I also spoke of an amazing visit to the Scilly Isles in 2008 - a trip that strengthened me an Elins ambitions to be pro bird architects. Talking to so many birders after our talks have also been a great experience. So many encouraging words and good ideas have been shared. Thanks all!

Also touring with Martin have been a brilliant experience. We connected early in 2010, when I wrote Martin a mail about a strange looking Bean Goose I had photographed in Varanger (probably an eastern type, ssp middendorfii-ish kind of bird). We have stayed in contact ever since. I really admire the openess and inquisitive approach of Martins Birding Frontiers concept. He proves over and over again that new discoveries is within reach - it is all about your own perceptions and eagerness to learn more. Being two rather entrepeneurial birder types on the road has been a great experience! Sharing ideas and fine tuning concepts over so many hours have been the on-the-road privilegie! Thanks Martin! Much more to come... Meanwhile, do check out the Birding Frontiers blog for an eyeopener in the world of birding.

Talking 

The Pushing the Boundaries Tour was an idea that me and Martin have been talking about for a while. The idea was simply to make an extended event, a tour, and share stories of birds, people, discoveries, conservation work and new and innovative approaches to birding. I have shared my story from Varanger / Arctic Norway. This is where I live and work, and run the pro bird architectural office Biotope. Varanger is without a doubt one of the worlds birding hot spots, and certainly the easiest accesible arctic birding destination in the world. In my talks I have told stories from the work with the development of this amazing destination. No birding destination just exists, it is built, with infrastructure, bird guides, local nature awareness, mapping and loads of enthusiasm from locals and visitors. During our tour in the UK I have also met several of the british birders who are contributing to the building of Varanger as a birding destination. Among them the Brewood Ringers (photo above) who have made the Nesseby Ringing Scheme possible. I have also spoken much of the locals in Varanger, and how people like Ørjan Hansen in Båtsfjord, fisherman gone bird guide, have made a great impact in Varanger and for visiting birders. I have talked about Varanger gardens, of the kind with grenades and Snow Buntings. I have also shown a series of photos of unique arctic bird life (f.ex the Phalarope story and the fighting Puffins). I am very happy for all the encouraging comments from birders we have met about our birder architecture projects - both mapping and bird hide designs. I hope to meet many of the birders we have talked to during the past weeks in Varanger at some point. Or perhaps in the UK. I will certainly be back! It has been very inspirational.

Back in Varanger

Two busy weeks on tour in UK was grand, but being back is fantastic. I made little attempt to hide my enthusiasm for Varanger in winter and early spring. February is one of my favourite birding months in Varanger. The light is simply spectacular and the birding is fantastic too. Just got back from a  walk in the harbour (photo above fromyesterday). The Stellers Eiders, King Eiders and flocks of Gulls are enjoing life in the harbour.  
The photo below is taken yesterday just after sunset at 15.00, from the mainland, with a view towards Vardø island. A pretty cool place to live, work and bird!

Thanks all! 
We are in the mood for action: next project is the Gullfest 2013!

To be continued...

Tormod A. / Biotope