Life and death at the bird cliff

Section of the steep Hornøya bird cliff (iphone photo). Vardø town in the background.

Hornøya bird cliff must be the densest inhabitet place in Eastern Finnmark. It is a truly magnificent place. Approx 100 000 seabirds come together - some for safety in numbers, others for the numbers of easily available prey. I visit Hornøya several times a month, from mid March to mid August and I have never returned dissapointed. Very often I guide a tour group, journalists, friends or I go for some other bird project reason. Getting the latest info from the summer resident scientists is allways great or like on my last visit: testing the new soon-to-hit-the-market Swarovski telecope. Still, finding time to simply sit down and marvel at the spectacle is important. This is understanding a place by experiencing it with all senses.

July is a month with less birders in Varanger, and less visitors on Hornøya. At the same time late July is the time for the seabird chicks to fledge their nests. A critical time in their life. I feel priviliged to experience this. Last sunday (22.07) I sat quietly by the shore on Hornøya, admiring the entire scene: Noisy, smelly and filled with bird life: young Guillemot chicks where falling-flying from the cliffs, calling at their parents that lay on the sea, with little else to do then see if their young can make it to the sea.  Now imagine life being all about one small spot on the edge of a cliff for a month as a young chick, then one jump later and the world becomes the grandest place full of new challenges - and dangers. 

Young Guillemot: the big jump. Talk about nerve! 

The sea getting closer and closer for every free fall and crash landing.

The Great Black-backed Gulls guard the last piece of sloping land between the cliff and the sea. Finding a clever path past them is a huge challenge. Some make it to the relative safety of their parents on the sea, others simply become food for hungry predators.

One more jump and the steepest part of the cliff is overcome. 

 A brief moment of hesitating - then its all in - again.

Finally - the safety of the high plants / scurvygrass (skjørbuksurt). Surely a new and strange environment for a cliff dweller. Allways on the alert.

The first adventure is not over - only meters left to the sea.

But the predator gulls on hornøya are experienced. One wrong move is all it takes..

Flight of the Brünnichs Guillemot

This sunday I had been fortunate enough to borrow Jörg Kretzchmars brand new Swarovski ATX/STX telescope. He had a pre-release telescope for testing and digiscoping. I was sitting by the sea enjoying some extraordinarily great views of Guillemots through this excellent birders tool. Luckily with my other birder essential next to me - my Nikon d300 with the 300mm lens. The next half second gave me a glimpse of what must be one of the biggest jumps performed by a Guillemot chick that day. The Brünnichs Guillemot breed on the steepest parts of the bird cliff, and it seems their approach, at least in this case, is one single semi-controlled jump from cliff to sea. The bird family seemed to fall as a single unit, hitting the sea surface almost simultaneously. The photos I got is of the very first resurfacing after a less then elegant landing. Yet impressive - something similar to a wingsuit base jump. Except without any training whatsoever. What a first flight performance!

Brünnichs Guillemot (polarlomvi / Uria Aalge) pair with chick, split second after first landing

Shaking of the water

I guess some comfort is welcomed after such an experience...

Lesson one: jump far! Lesson two: stay close!

More stories from Arctic Norway to come. For the keen reader of bird cliff stories: I experienced another drama earlier this spring with a Gyrfalcon and a Raven (see: https://www.biotope.cloud/2012/04/gyrfalcon-vs-raven-hornya-photo.html )

Thanks for tuning in to the Biotope website! To be continued...

Tormod A. / Biotope

Semipalmated Plover at a man made bird site

A Semipalmated Plover was found four days ago in Sunddammen in Vardø, Varanger. This little bird magnet of a location is actually a man made bird site. Not made to be a bird site, but rather a very lucky and convenient result. Sunddammen below Vardøs old fortress is a well known and very bird rich place. The tide just barely cover the pool beach twice a day, and it is a favoured place for waders in the outer Varanger fjord. This is where the concrete sand for rebuilding Vardø town after WW2 was found. The left over space is a very attractive, artificially / man made wetland. 

I have just published an article of the find of Norways second Semipalmated Plover (amerikasandlo, Charadrius semipalmatus). An extraordinary find and an extreme rarity in Europe. There you will find the story on the bird. Below follows a brief story on the place.

Article at Birding Frontiers: 
https://birdingfrontiers.wordpress.com/2012/07/05/semipalmated-plover-and-other-rarities-varanger-is-hot/

Semipalmated Plover, a visitor from North America

Even the tabloid newspapers found their way to Vardø for this bird! VGs photographer in Sunddammen. The old fortress in the background.

Sunddammen, Steilnes and the Vardø birding fascilities project

As a part of a wider project to improve conditions for birds, birders and locals in Vardø, we have made a study on the nature qualities of Vardøs southern areas. Included here is of course Sunddammen in a nature- and culture path. This work is commisioned by the National Tourist Routes of Norway. We are very happy to be a part of this project, and most importantly - making sure that birds, birders and locals can have this fantastic area protected and even improved. Too often architecture happens at the expence of nature - the Sunddammen, with the pond itself being an example, show us that we can actually make things better for nature! Dare I even say ´make nature better´...

Below is page 1,3,5,6 and 13 of a 19 page area study / proposal. Sunddammen is a key site in the area. We will start building a new bird hide at the southern point of the Steilnes area this summer. The making of the birding destination is in good progress. More to come on that soon. For now: a little more material on the chosen site of the Semipalmated plover (link to Birding Frontiers article).

Steilnes, Vardø - an important bird site: possibilities and considerations 

Aerial view 

Sunddammen and the old fortress, overlooking the very bird rich Bussesundet 

Sunddammen - a natural viewpoint. The pond in front, Bussesundet and mainland Vardø in the distance. 

Overview of the Steilnes area, and the fascilities to come. We are starting with a new wind shelter / bird hide at the southernmost point. 

Stay tuned for updates - pro bird work in progress..

Tormod A. / Biotope

twitter: @BiotopeOffice

The "Harleking" - a celebrity bird

A brief follow up on the increasingly famous Harlequin duck in Persfjorden, Varanger

The adult male Harlequin Duck or the "Harleking", is now quite the celebrity in Varanger. The first photo on the Norwegian bird log www.artsobservasjoner.no/fugler have been seen more then 1700 times. On the danish bird forum Netfugl.dk the Harlequin photo have been seen more then 800 times. The article describing the find, released on Martin Garners Birding Frontiers blog was read 1600 times the first day. In Varanger the bird have now been seen by a couple of hundred birders! The "Harleking" also made it the regional newspaper Finnmarken.

New bird news service:

In collaboration with www.birdlife.no we are now running a Varanger / Finnmark bird news service with many of the local guesthouses hotels, etc in Varanger included in a sms-group recieving the latest bird news from the region. We have also launched a twitter service dedicated to the latest bird news in Varanger and Finnmark, see @Finnmarkbirding. You will find it in the sidebar on this website, and soon to come on several other websites (if you want the @Finnmarkbirding twitterfeed on your website, then drop me a mail). 

For more details on where to find the bird see the Birding Frontiers article:

https://birdingfrontiers.wordpress.com/2012/06/24/varanger-the-harleking/

I just came back from another trip to the outer Varanger fjord and the magnificent Harlequin Duck is still present, and showing very well!

Harlequin Duck (Harlekinand, Histrionicus histrionicus) prefers the company of Long-tailed Duck 

 That is the Harlequin in the centre of the photo, with Harlequin-finder Anders Mæland. Good birding in Varanger!

 Now seen by lots of birders

Where to find the Harlequin Duck, see orange arrow. Vardø island to the right.

 The celebrity duck

This bird completes the exclusive selection of very cool ducks that can be found in Varanger this summer.

Tormod A. / Biotope

twitter @BiotopeOffice

The "Harleking" - first post on Birding Frontiers

Martin Garners website www.birdingfrontiers.com have been a favourite website for quite some time. Inspirational and educational - a true birders site! I have had the pleasure of working with Martin on a couple of projects now: the latest being the Gullfest 2012. Recently Martin asked me to be a part of a team of contributors to the Birding Frontiers. I am honoured to be a part of such a great Birding Frontiers team, and I look forward to the many posts to come from this varied and knowledgeable group of people. I aim to share stories of both birding and nature destiantion development.

My first contribution is the short story of a day birding in Varanger: As usual Varanger delivers the birds - this time a stunning looking Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus, Harlekinand). An extreme rarity in Norway (and Europe, outside Iceland). 

Check out "the Harleking"-article at Martin Garners Birding Frontiers:

http://birdingfrontiers.wordpress.com/2012/06/24/varanger-the-harleking/

Martin very popular blog The Birding Frontiers

Also check out these articles for more stories on Varanger birding highlights:

-The King Eider Vortex

-Gyrfalcon versus Raven, at Hornøya bird cliff

-Stealth Birding in Vardø (photo hide story)


Best wishes from the northern birding frontier

Tormod A. / Biotope

Find Biotope on twitter: @BiotopeOffice & on www.facebook.com/biotope.no

Varanger Golden Oriole, etc. - Birding by the people

Birding in Varanger is on the rise - and the locals are the new bird finders! Rare bird finding have so far been the domain of visiting birders. However with the recent years focus on birds and the unique birdlife of Varanger, locals have become very much more aware of our avian friends. 

Golden Oriole (Pirol, Oriolus oriolus) Komagvær May 2012, photo: Roland Strige

Pallid Harrier (steppehauk, Circus macrourus) Vardø May 2012, photo: Erling Slettvold.

I keep getting phone calls, sms´ and mails with questions about birds and requests to help with species identification of birds observed and photographed in Varanger by locals. Often it is common birds, or odd-looking birds. It is fairly straight forward, and mostly the hard-to-id-birds are for example moulting Long-tailed Ducks. But sometimes it is something extraordinary. Recently, just within a few days, I recieved a picture of a Golden Oriole (pirol) and a Pallid Harrier. The Oriole was photographed by Roland Strige in Vardo (photo below). He found this rarity dead on the porch of his cabin in Komagvær. Why it lay dead on the terrace of his is not known (probably crashed into a window), but one thing is certain - it is far from where it is supposed to be. The Pallid Harrier was seen flying by and luckily the sharp observer Erling Slettvold from Vardo managed to take this photo of a beautiful adult male. An excellent documentation of this eastern vagrant. As with the Oriole this species is only seen a few times in Finnmark. A few days later me and Elin headed out towards Hamningberg, outer Varanger fjord. Here we had a European Bee-eater flying by. What a bird! An explosion of colours in the otherwise earth-coloured arctic tundra landscape. Such an exotic trio of rare birds of course made it to the regional newspaper Finnmarken.

It is during the summer season most rare birds are found. This is when birders from around the world visit this region. The logic is simple: the more birders, the more exiting birds are found. Last year two new species for Norway was found in Varanger: an Asian White-winged Scoter (Knoppsjøorre, Melanitta fusca stejnegeri) from Siberia were found in Persfjorden and the rare Glaucous-winged Gull (gråvingemåke Larus Glaucescens) was discovered in Kiberg. Both are extremely rare, even in a European context. Now we are well underway for this season with the observations of both Golden Oriole, Bee-eater and Pallid Harrier. We have now been working with local development projects and birding in Varanger since 2009, and the great thing is that the birdfinders are now the people of Varanger. 

Birding to the people 

We recently completed a destination development study, outlining the possibilities in birding. Varanger is a birding destination in the making. Visiting birders have a very positive effect in Varanger, not just economically speaking, but the fact that people from around the world travel to Varanger to study birds is a huge compliment to the regions birdlife. Locally this undoubtedly raises the local awareness and appriciation of the regions birdlife. People in Varanger have a birdlife and nature to be proud of, and now it seems the locals are turning in to quite the bird finders!

Page 1 of 123

p 25/123 - local bird projects: ringing, nesting boxes, bird guiding, etc

The destination development study is a documentation of the past three years pro nature / pro bird work we have engaged with in Varanger. In fact - it is more about people then birds. 

Below is the last page of the regional newspaper Finnmarken: the last page allways features photos sent to the paper by its readers. Increasingly bird photos feature this page with allmost daily one or more bird photos. And when the Pallid Harriers and Golden Orioles are found and identified by locals its is no doubt Varanger is a birding destination!

Local birders visiting Ekkerøy, 08.06.2012

We are doing quite a bit of bird guiding in Varanger. Below with teacher Tord Skardal and his students from Vestre Jakobselv birding Ekkerøy, Varanger fjord.

Who knows - maybe one of these guys will find the next Golden Oriole or some other rare bird.

The summer season is just beginning in Varanger, and it is not given that visiting birders will be the only finders of rarities this year...

A 2011 highlight: Galucous-winged Gull. What will the 2012 Varanger highlight be?
More photos in previous article: Varanger harbour life - northern and eastern gulls

stay tuned.. 

Tormod A. / Biotope

Vardø eagles - Clash of the titans

White-tailed Eagles are impressive birds. With a wingspan of 2.5 meters one might think that they are built for slow and powerfull movement, but these birds are giant aerial acrobats. 

The eagle photos where taken just a five minute walk, and a five minute boat trip from our house. For three years we have been living and working in Varanger.  We are allways looking into new possibilities for birding experiences in Varanger, and having such a wide variety of extreme nature experiences at our doorstep is fantastic. Lately, however we have been doing most of our birding from our office window. We have been working constantly for several weeks on finishing a destination development study, and haven't had much time to go birding (exept for this brief eagle adventure).The 125 page study documents the past three years of pro nature projects we have been involved with. It also features a 70 page mapping of birds, sites and potentials for bird hide development, photo hides, etc. Varanger has been a well known name within the international birding scene for many years. We have spent much time raising local awareness of Varangers unique qualities. It has been three years and thousands of meetings with lots of great people (and birds). We will make an article very soon with on the destination development study. For now we feature the map above (page 3/123). Note that the Varanger fjord is Norways only fjord facing east, sheltering it from the heaviest westerly winds. The fjord is shallow and thanks to the warming Gulf Stream it is ice free in winter. This combination makes the Varanger fjord one of the most varied and life rich places in the Arctic.

On our latest bird adventure Arne Moen joined us. He is heading a major project for the National Tourist Routes in Vardø. They commissioned us to make another study on the birdlife in Vardøs Steilnes area, and to make proposals for fascilitating for birds, birders and locals. Now we are putting the final touches on the bird hide at Steilnes, which will be built within a few weeks. 

For now we present the eagles of Vardø, as we could experience them when we teamed up with Per Ivar Grunnes from Vardø, with his RIB. Thanks for a great trip! Contact us or Per Ivar if you are interested in some close encounters with eagles, alcids and gulls around Vardøs Hornøya and Reinøya nature reserve. We are still exploring possibilities for new bird adventures around Vardø with Per Ivar (more niceness coming up later - how about snorkeling with alcids?!). Per Ivar will be running trips from Vardø harbour during this summer (tlf: +47 482 11 909 or mail: perigru@hotmail.com). It is spectacular!

Young eagles showing of aerial skills

A 2nd calender year bird (approx one year old). One of few birds you can measure by square meters!

An adult (probably 5 cy) White-tailed Eagle teaching a young eagle a lesson. A meeting of giants.


We will be back soon with more on pro nature destination development in Varanger. For now we hope hope you enjoy these eagle photos. 


To be continued..


Tormod A. / Biotope