Costa del Arctic

We are whiling away the summer at our cabin near Bodø, north of the Arctic Circle. Temperatures have hit 30C (in the shade – no kidding!) and it is over 20C in the sea. Birding has been just an incidental activity and I have spent more time in our newly acquired rubber boat trying my fishing luck – so far I have only managed to feed the family on one occasion when a decent sized cod was careless enough to take the lure although I have had a number of fish that were small enough to deserve a second chance.

There a number of “comic” terns in the area and I have always had problems in deciding what they are which I eventually concluded is because both Arctic (rødnebbterne) and Common Tern (makrellterne) are breeding here. That I am losing my touch though came with a small breeding colony that I found and was able to observe through bins. I convinced myself they were Common Terns but the pictures show them to be Arctic. My only defence was that it was overcast and difficult light conditions...

I have seen Arctic (tyvjo) and Long-tailed Skua (fjelljo) and a migrating flock of Cranes but strangest sighting must be this White-tailed Eagle which seems to be missing a major part of its wing rather than just moulting some feathers. It flew without any problems and as can be seen was able to catch food.

Arctic Skua

Arctic Tern

Fritilary Butterfly of some description

White-tailed Eagle missing a chunk of wing

midnight sun