There are only hours left until take-off to a week in Arctic Norway. The target is Varanger in Finnmark county. Finnmark is the northernmost mainland in Europe, and is probably the hottest destination in Norway for foreign birders. Placed at a latitude of up to 71 degrees north and a longitude similar to Istanbul, the fauna is both both unique and hard-faced.

On 16 March seabirds were counted from a height near Vardø. More than 400 000 alcids, 7 500 King Eiders and 12 000 Common Eiders were counted from a single point. Stunning numbers, and I really look forward enjoying them live!

The alcids have just returned for their breeding season at Hornøya ("Horn island") just outside Vardø. Hornøya holds thousands of pairs of Atlantic Puffins, Common and Brunnich's Murre (Guillemot), Razorbill, Kittiwakes and Shags. In addition thousands of gulls will be around at any time. The gulls will mainly be Herring, Glaucous and Great Black-backed, but we will also meet Iceland Gulls and Black-legged Kittiwakes. There is also a faint chance of seeing oddities like Ross's Gull and maybe Glaucous-winged Gull? The latter was seen a few years ago, the only Norwegian record up to date, in Vardø town.

In April 2012 the first Arctic bird festival was arranged in Norway, namely the Gullfest. This year it is moved a bit forward, to 21-26 March. During the Gullfest participants will be fed with a spectacular program including ringing of Arctic gulls, visiting the Hornøya bird cliff (where tens of thousands alcids have returned), talks from several established birders and much more...

I am representing the Norwegian Ornithological Society in a project developing Finnmark as a birding destination. During my visit in Varanger I will also meet some people offering birding adventures for tourists. Exciting projects with floating hides and boat trips for photography, feeders set up to attract Arctic passerines and more.

Steller's and King Eiders, Glaucous and Iceland Gulls, Gyr Falcon, Brunnich's Guillemot, Arctic Redpolls and tens of thousands other birds - here I come! Hopefully I will serve some snapshots from the trip during the week. Stay tuned for more!

March is a good month for building and placing nest-boxes for passerines. Did you know that it is possible to offer Oystercatchers and Mew Gulls man-made residence as well? An easily constructed platform mounted on top of a pole may serve as a perfect nesting site for the two species. Both species breed in April and May, so it is time to build the platforms now if you want them breeding this spring.

Along the shore in Porsanger, Finnmark county (map below) you can see 2-3 meter high poles with small "fenced" platforms on top. They are placed there for the birds. These pictures were taken 21 May 2011.

Both the Oystercatcher and Mew Gull usually breed on the ground. The breeding success of such species is often correlated to the local predatory pressure. Obviously, a platform such as these makes the nest unaccessible for four legged predators, such as cats and minks. In addition they will not get any problems with high tides or waves visiting their nest. At least it seems they prefer platforms before the traditional ground in this area, possibly because of increased breeding success.

The Pasvik Valley is a tounge between Russia in the east and Finland in the west. It's longitude is about the same as Istanbul in Turkey, meaning we are as far east as we can come in Scandinavia. The habitats are a nice blend of marshes, river (that forms most of the Norwegian-Russian border), lakes and old coniferous forest. Pasvik is known for its share of eastern bird species that do not exist elsewhere in the country, and the largest population of Brown Bear in Norway lives in Pasvik.

Highlights of the day was several family groups of Siberian Jays, two Rustic Buntings, a Little Bunting, three Pine Grosbeaks, about ten Rough-legged Buzzards, twelve Cranes and lots of Siberian Tits. Some pictures from the afternoon birding and photography session 4 September 2012 follow:

The last days of May and the first week of June 2005 (28 May - 6 June) was spent in northernmost Norway this spring. The main aim was to do some pre-breeding studies of the Red-Throated Pipit at the tundra on the Varangerhalvøya near Vadsø in Finnmark county. However, we (Professor Göran Högsted and myself) were able to fit in a few days at the start in the Pasvik valley taiga forest.

The Pasvik valley is placed at the crosspoint of Norway, Russia and Finland. The valley is an unique habitat in Norway, with regular breeding birds such as Great Grey Owl, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, Little Gull, Arctic Warbler and Little Bunting. All these species are rarities in all other Norwegian counties. We were to early for most of them, but did at least witness the fligh-courtship of Spotted Redshanks, as well as seeing great numbers of birds that usually are not annual on my species lists. On the last day, we ran across a subadult Lesser White-fronted Goose that was resting on some ploved fields. A really great and unexpeced experience with the most threatened bird in Norway.

Our drive out to the Varanger peninsula was done in two days, with lots of birding from the car. Huge numbers of Red-necked Phalaropes along the shores and in small ponds inside the shores was the most stunning appearance birdwise. There were lots of birds around, both on land and at sea, and it was strange to experience that the spring was in such an early phase compared to southern Norway.

Then followed six days at Svartnes near Vardö at the Varanger peninsula. The pipit-studies were carried out with extreme accuracy of course, and several adults were color-ringed. Göran will give these individuals further attention later this summer.

Lots of pictures from Finnmark and Arctic Norway can be found in my galleries. Here are some selected photos from the trip (click for large version):