Reflections of Norway 2017

Still waters are always good for catching reflected images and during my recent visit to Norway I took some shots of plants and birds mirrored in forest bog pools. This first photograph is of a mossy hummock in a bog pool. As spring was late the seed heads of the cotton grass are only just forming and not open in their typical white fluffy  form.

I saw several pairs of whooper swans, but none seemed to have bred this year. They usually lay their eggs early and the cold late spring must have put them off nesting this year.

Broad-billed sandpiper, the main species I was studying this year. These birds are very difficult to see in the bogs. They are the size of a large vole and run through the sedge like little mammals, preferring to hide within the vegetation than fly into the open. This one stands reflected in the water, so it is easier to see its reflection against the clear sky than the actual bird against the sedge.

In this shot of a wood sandpiper, it is possible to see the bird's feet under water. The shade of its body has cut out the glare of the light on the water surface, giving a true depth to the image.

My favourite picture is this one of the same wood sandpiper. The reflections of the twigs and spring leaves remind me of the 16-19th century Edo style of Japanese bird paintings, which portrayed the seasons so well.

Lots of insects - and birds

A Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava eyes off a crane fly Tipulidae

As a final post on my recent trip to Norway, I would like to mention the insects, the profusion of insects which make it possible for so many migrant birds to breed in the tundra and birch forests. The most noticeable insects are the mosquitoes, of which there are thousands, millions, and all the females are intent on sucking blood. This is probably the most deterring factor for me to visit the arctic, but for the birds it is perhaps the most alluring factor. And many other insect species also thrive in high numbers, all adding up to form the rich feeding grounds for birds to rear their chicks. Of course, on balance, it is worth the discomfort to study the birds.

Mosquitoes torment a Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus chick

However, not all birds eat insects. The owls eat voles and have to endure the mosquitoes like we humans.

Male Red-spotted  Bluethroats Luscinia svecica are one of the more conspicuous birds in the birch forests
they often perch on on high perches when hunting for insects

The most obvious and abundant passerines feeding on the insects are the Yellow Wagtails, Red-spotted Bluethroats and Willow Warblers Phylloscopus trochilus. However, in some years the weather can be cold and insects scarce. Then the passerines are scarce too, as so often happens with bonanzas, it can be a case of boom or bust. The migrant birds clearly take a risk in flying so far north to breed, but the risk must be worth taking or else evolution would have selected against such behaviour.     

Female Red-spotted Bluethroats are one of the less conspicuous birds in the birch forest
when they hide on their nests 

The waders also rely on the insects. The adults eat them, often probing for the larvae, and the chicks eat them, often as adults, picking emerging mosquitoes as they lie on the water surface. If only they could eat a few more mosquitoes before they eat me. But now that I am back south and away from the mosquitoes, birch flies and horse flies, I have cast them out of my thoughts. I can now concentrate on the good memories; the wealth of flora and fauna in arctic Norway. That was a great trip.

Wood Sandpipers are very conspicuous when they have young.
They often stand on high perches overlooking the mires where their chicks are feeding
- even in the rain

Arctic waders

Adult Wood Sandpiper

Here are a few photographs of waders and their chicks which I was studying recently in northern Norway. Part of the work, which is organised by my brother Rab, involves finding and catching both adults and chicks to ring them in order to help discover such information as where they live in the non-breeding period, whether they return to nesting or natal sites, and how long they live.

A pair of wood sandpipers, ringed and ready for release

The most abundant wader species in the tundra mires is the Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola and the Broad-billed Sandpiper Limicola falcinellus is one the less common and seldom seen species. Most of the waders live in extensive mires, hidden by lush growth of sedges and other marsh plants.

An adult Broad-billed Sandpiper is measured -  the sexes are similar in plumage, but can be differentiated by size

Wader nests and chicks are notoriously difficult to find due their cryptic plumage and seclusive behaviour, arctic-breeding species are especially so. Wood and Broad-billed Sandpipers nest in the mires and it takes very specialized skills and a very very keen eye to find them.

A Broad-billed Sandpiper nest and chicks lie hidden in a mire

Broad-billed Sandpiper chicks in the nest

Four Wood Sandpiper chicks, a typical brood size

A single Wood sandpiper chick is extremely difficult to see when creeping through the sedge

Nordic Waders

Wood sandpiper

I am just returned from northern Norway where I was helping my brother, Skitts, with his long-term study of breeding waders. However, as in Scotland this spring, there have been almost incessant northerly winds there. This has led to a late thaw and emergence of plants and insects, and very few birds were breeding compared with the amount in years of more usual weather. 

Wood sandpiper, which was caught and ringed

In one mire where there would normally have been twenty-forty pairs of wood sandpipers breeding there was only one pair with chicks. In some mires there were none. And it was similar story with spotted redshank and reeve. Red-necked phalaropes were particularly scarce, probably because they are surface feeders and as there were very few mosquitoes emerging they had no food supply.

Ringing a wood sandpiper chick.

Of the two main study species, jack snipe did not seem to be breeding at all, although several birds were seen displaying. And less than a quarter of the expected number of  broad-billed sandpiper were breeding.

Adult, (1st year) broad-billed sandpiper caught and colour-ringed for identification in the field in subsequent years of study.

Unfortunately, a high proportion of clutches from the few that were laid were eaten by predators. This was probably mostly by hooded crows which were walking over the mies, in large flocks of twenty or more birds, feeding on emerging cranefly. They would have welcomed any eggs they came across in the process. We also saw several red foxes roaming the area, and they would have been likely predators too.

Waders in north Norway

 Spotted redshank

I am up in north Norway at the moment studying high latitude breeding waders. The habitats are lakeside mires within which there are several sub-habitats utilised by various waders for feeding and nest sites. Open water is used by red-necked phalaropes, open sedge is used by broad-billed sandpiper, close growing sedge is used by jack snipe, wood sandpiper and reeves. Spotted redshanks nest on the nearby heath and lead their chicks into the bogs to feed.

 Lakeside mire

 Spotted redshank

Wood sandpiper