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 birding...

         Norway

 







Dipper Cinclus cinclus ©Terje Kolaas http://www.northernbirding.com

Norway stretches 1800 kilometers in a north-south direction, and while the coastal areas are humid and surprisingly warm in winter, this is not the case once you move inland. The fjordlands and mountains in the west, woodlands in the east and arctic conditions in the north probably makes Norway one of the most diverse countries regarding habitats.

Some of the best places to go birding in southern Norway are located along the south-western coasts between Lista and Stavanger. Lista Bird Observatory is one of the largest and definitely has the best coverage of Norwegian bird observatories, and is located in Farsund commune south of Flekkefjord. This area is good for anything, including raptors and shorebirds. Further west, just south of Stavanger, there is the Jaeren wetland system. There is lots of good wetland- and coastal birding here. Both Lista and Jaeren are best during migration, and so hold few or none of the Scandinavian specialities. If you visit Oslo, then the northern parts of the lake Öyeren to the east of the city is well worth a visit, particularly in spring and early autumn.

The best mountain birding in southern Norway is at Hardangervidda. Sought-after species such as Gyr Falcon, Great Snipe, Temminck`s Stint, Red-necked Phalarope, Horned Lark, Bluethroat and Lapland Longspur all breed here.

Woodlands in the east and central part of the country hold a variety of owls and woodpeckers, most easily found in early spring. Woodland birding can be difficult - it is all about finding the right spots and it helps if you can identify birds from songs and calls.

Seabird colonies are scattered all around the coasts of Norway, but auks are scarce breeders south of the famous bird island Runde near Ålesund. Other large seabird concentrations are in the Lofotan islands, and Röst in particular, as well as along the Varanger peninsula. Birding the arctic along Varanger and in Pasvik is probably the most spectacular birding Norway can offer, the seabird migration in May is astonishing and arctic specialities such as Steller`s Eider, King Eider, Brünnich`s Guillemot, Siberian Tit and Siberian Jay are easily added to a trip-list together with lots of other good birds.

Birding is still a minority pastime in Norway, with a few hundred active birders and around 5,000 members of Norsk Ornitologisk Forening the Norwegian BirdLife International partner. Lots of good birds go undetected, we are only able to cover a tiny fraction of the thousands of islands along the coast each autumn, when eastern rarities turn up almost everywhere.

  contributor

 

Alf Tore Mjøs
Norsk Natur Informasjon - NNI
(Birding Norway)
contact@birdingnorway.no
http://www.birdingnorway.no/

  numbers

 
Number of bird species: 463

  useful reading

 

Books, CDs etc

Most areas in Europe are adequately covered by Europe wide fieldguides etc. See the Fatbirder Europe page...

  useful information

 

National Bird


Dipper Cinclus cinclus

Proact


Coordinator: none (why not apply?)
see http://www.proact-campaigns.net/coordinators
Members: 16
Join us at http://www.proact-campaigns.net/team

  clubs

 

Dalane Lokallag NOF

http://www.nofdalane.net
Observations, activities etc. (in Norwegian)

Finnmark County NOF


The Norwegian Ornithological Society (NOF) is the society for birding and bird protection! At the moment we have approximately 6.000 members all over Norway. Except for Sogn og Fjordane there is a department in every county. In addition there are 57 local groups. All groups and departments arrange both meetings and excursions. They also take part in a variety of projects for information and bird protection. Several birding magazines (mostly in Norwegian) are published...

Norsk Ornitologisk Forening avd. Nord-Trøndelag

http://www.nofnt.no/
Nord-Trøndelag er et fylke med et meget variert fugleliv. Vi har noen av landet beste lokaliteter fra kysten, via fjord ferskvann, skog og myrer til høyfjell...

Norsk Ornitologisk Forening avd.Oslo & Akershus

http://www.nofoa.no/
Norsk ornitologisk forening er en landsomfattende organisasjon for alle fugleinteresserte. Foreningen arbeider for å øke kunnskapen om fuglelivet og verne om fuglene og deres livsmiljø. Vi er altså fylkesavdelingen for Oslo og Akershus, og består pr. idag av ca.650 medlemmer. Dersom du ønsker å vite mer om oss kan du klikke på deg rundt på våre sider. Her vil du bl.a finne ut mer om medlemsbladet vårt, ulike prosjekter vi driver, hvordan du kan bli medlem mm...

Norwegian Ornithological Society - Norsk Ornitologisk Forening

http://www.birdlife.no/
Seminarplassen 5, N-7060 Klaebu. +47 72 831166; fax +47 72 831255; norornis@online.no
The Norwegian Ornithological Society (NOF) is the organisation for bird protection and conservation in Norway! NOF has about 6000 members. The members constitue the societys backbone, and by becoming a NOF-member you will give us a hand in protecting the birds, and you will appreciate the offers and information NOF gives you...

Norwegian Rarities Committee

http://www.birdlife.no/organisasjonen/nskf/
The website is only in Norwegian...

  observatories

 

Akerøya Bird Observatory

http://www.kopinor.no/~christer/birds/aos/
Akerøya Bird Observatory, located on the east side of the Oslo fjord in the south-east of Norway. Latest observations, ringing results and pictures.

Jomfruland Fuglestasjon

http://jomfruland.no
Now in both Norwegian & English! Jomfruland Bird Observatory is situated at the north tip of the island of Jomfruland. Making up the outer coast line in this section of the gulf of Skagerak, the island consists largely of boulderes only. Migrating birds follow the coast line, and pass the northern tip both in spring and autumn. Add some scenic and varied nature, and this makes up an extraordinary experience for the nature lover...

Lista fuglestasjpn

http://home.c2i.net/clifu/Lifu/norsk.htm
The total of observations made at the Observatory...

Slettnes Bird Observatory


Slettnes lighthouse is the northernmost mainland lighthouse in the world! Most birders associate Arctic Norway with the Varanger Peninsula, but there is a little known peninsula between Varanger and North Cape, named Nordkyn...

Turoy Bird Observatory

http://www.zoo.uib.no/turoy/ind_en.php
Turoy Bird Observatory is located on the outer coastline NW of Bergen, half an hours drive from the city centre. We have ringed birds on this site in 1993 (end of September-October) and from the end of July in 1995-98. We use around 30 mist nets placed in different vegetation on the eastern part of this small island. On Turoy we do not trap large numbers of typical ringing station species such as goldcrest and tits, instead our target species are storm petrel, meadow pipit, Sylvia-warblers and thrushes. We borrow an old school house from the local people, who have been very cooperative and given us their permission to erect mistnets almost wherever we like.

Utsira Bird Observatory

http://home.no.net/utsira/e_start.html
Utsira is a small island 24 km southwest of Haugesund. It`s geographical site and size makes Utsira an unique place in Norway. Utsira is the site which has the most records of birds new to Norway. Utsira Bird Observatory was formally established the autumn of 1992.

  reserves

 

Wetlands

http://www.ramsar.org
Norway presently has 37 sites designated as Wetlands of International Importance, with a surface area of 116,369 hectares...

  trip reports

 

Travelling Birder
http://www.travellingbirder.com
The Travellingbirder.com birding trip report search engine guides you to 7,000+ birding trip reports on the Internet. You can search for trip reports from a specific country and time of year. Not all these reports are in English. So, if you can’t find the trip report you want on this Fatbirder page… give them a try!

2001 [June] - Ignacio Yúfera- Veranger

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/norway/Varanger/Varanger2001.htm
From a birder`s point of view, the Varanger Peninsula is a fantastic place. In five and a half days of birding I saw 74 species, maybe not a lot in terms of numbers but being my first time in Northern Scandinavia, almost every bird was a big thrill. Although some of the species listed below can be seen in Spain and Southern Europe in winter, here they were all in full breeding plumage. Of my target species I only missed Yellow-billed Loon Gavia adamsii and Snowy Owl Nictea scandiaca (apparently this hasn`t been a good year for the latter)...

2003 Jelger Herder - Svalbard

http://www.digitalnature.org/svalbard2003.html
Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, located about midway between Norway and the North Pole. Svalbard lies between 74° North and 81° North latitude. The climate is mild for the high latitude, this is because of the warm sea current that flows around the west coast...

2003 [April] Martin J Pitt

http://www.surfbirds.com/mb/trips/finland-mp-0403.html
The North of Finland and its easy access to Varanger mean that this area of Europe has relatively simple access to some of the most specialised species on the European (and Western Palearctic) list. It has therefore become a firm favourite of the birder`s itinerary and many reports have concentrated on a trip in June or even later in the summer.

2003 [July] - F. Simpson - Arctic Norway

http://www.fssbirding.org.uk/finlandnorway2003trip.htm
This report documents the sightings on a two week whistle-stop birding tour of Finland and north-eastern Norway from the Baltic Sea to the Arctic Ocean (and back) via the Central Lakeland, Oulu Province, Koillismaa Region, Lapland, Varangerfjord, Karelia and the South Coast. For the most part the notes are copied straight from my notebook and reflect the shorthand nature of observations written in the field...

2003 [June] John van der Woude

http://home.kabelfoon.nl/~trogon/Scand2003/text.html
Late May, early June seems to be the ideal time for a birding visit to northern Scandinavia. Wintering birds like Steller`s Eider are still present, summer birds like Red-flanked Bluetail and Rustic Bunting have arrived (early June); and residents like Gyr Falcon and owls have nestlings while others are defending their territories...

2004 [August] - Janne Aalto - Lofoten

http://koti.mbnet.fi/caligata/lof.html
Like always when we have crossed the Norwegian border we haven`t seen almost any birds before the view to the sea had opened. Now we reached the sea near Narvik and right away we saw some birds but much more interesting were the beautiful views! Mountains were rising straight from the azure-blue sea, and even the weather was really good - 25 degrees and no wind at all! We really started to think that winter jackets and hats and other winter clothes wouldn`t be so necessary on this trip...

2004 [July] - Lutz Lücker

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/scandinavia/scand5/scan-july-04.htm
...The usual Arctic Divers near Höbäcken car park S of Hudiksvall. No Lesser white-fronted Geese there. They were to arrive 2 days later….First displaying Woodcock near Lycksele at 7 pm...

2004 [July] - Massimiliano Dettori - Spitzbergen

http://www.travellingbirder.com/tripreports/default.php
I have been in Spitzbergen only for a week in mid July 2004. The main reason of my trip was nothing scientific but to twitch some artic bird species. I travelled with a friend of mine, Alberto, who is not really interested in birds. Unfortunately we could not have the possibility to have a boat trip to the northern part of the island (Ny-Alesund) as we planned, so I could not add to the list species as Long-tailed Skua or Sabine`s Gull...

2004 [July] - Stephen Burch

http://www.stephenburch.com/trips/norway/norway.htm
A business trip arranged at short notice to Trondeim gave me this opportunity for a follow-up to my earlier brief experiences of northern birding in Sweden in 2002...

2004 [June] - Avian Adventures

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/avian-adventures/finland/fin-nor-2004.htm
...Our morning was spent walking around and enjoying simply fantastic close encounters with all of the species: comical-looking Puffins, delightful Black Guillemots and aggressive Shags, all at almost touching distance...

2004 [March] - David Walker - Varanger Fjord, Northern Norway

http://www.kentos.org.uk/Trip%20Reports/Varanger.htm
In 1992 Birding World published a short article on winter birding in Northern Norway describing huge numbers of Steller`s and King Eiders along with Gyr Falcons and Brunnich`s Guillemots, White-tailed Eagles and Siberian Tits. Since then I have harboured a desire to make such a trip but have always been under the impression that the costs would be prohibitive...

2005 [May] - Stephen Burch

http://www.stephenburch.com/trips/norway05/norway05.htm
Another business trip, this time to Bergen, gave me the chance to visit this site in central Norway within reasonable reach of Bergen. It is reputed to be good for both White-backed and Grey-headed Woodpecker...

2007 [August] - Chris Hall - Spitsbergen Cruise ~ Polar Bear Quest

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/norway/Spitsbergen/Spitsbergen-july-07.htm
Taking to the Zodiacs, we drift past low cliffs, spotting white winged Glaucous Gulls, Puffins, hundreds of Brünnich’s Guillemots and just one Razorbill! On the slopes above the cliffs are Reindeer and Pink-footed Geese with downy grey goslings. Deeper into the bay is a flotilla of Barnacle Geese, steering themselves between small icebergs covered with Kittiwakes...

2007 [July] - Lutz Lücker

http://louiscrex.skyrock.com/
...cock Ptarmigan (Lagopède alpin) (Alpenschneehuhn) and a female Dotterel (Pluvier guignard) (Mornellregenpfeifer) in my study area, 2 Black-throated Divers (Plongeon arctique) (Prachttaucher) on the Lake at km 4 of the Batsfjord road with 2 LTS. In Bärbel's area we spot the PSP and another Dotterel (Pluvier guignard) (Mornellregenpfeifer). Still no nest...

2009 [May-June] - David Mason - Finland & Arctic Norway

http://www.realbirder.com/Finland.html
Finland has always been a destination high up on my wish list with the mouth-watering possibility of more lifers than most other European destinations. High costs relative to other similar trips, plus the potential for 24 hour birding has, in the past, left it on the back burner. With Amanda not really wanting to undertake a full-on birding trip, when our son Nick suggested he accompany me instead, the die was cast...

  tour operators

 

Birding Norway

http://www.birdingnorway.no/
Are you visiting Norway for birding? Then you have come to the right place! Birding Norway is a brand new offer for those who don`t want to waste any time searching for the best birding sites.

Birding Pal

http://www.birdingpal.org/Norway.htm
Local birders willing to show visiting birders around their area...

Birdwatch Norway

http://www.birdwatchnorway.com
Norway—the land of the midnight sun. Known for its mountains, fjords and rugged scenery. Bird watching in virtually untouched nature is always exciting, be it Norway’s premier Arctic birding location, the Varanger Peninsula or the Pasvik Valley. However, one does not have to travel to beyond the arctic circle to enjoy watching Norway’s bird life...

Eirik Grønningsæter - Photographer & Guide

http://www.wildnature.no
I spend approximately 6 months outdoor each year, either going out by myself, or through my work as a field biologist where I conduct fieldwork for different research projects in different parts of the world. Thus also contributing to science, which I think is important and also hope to do through my photos, publications, talks and nature guiding.

Finnature

http://www.finnature.fi/
Finnature offers travel arrangements and itinerary services for groups in Finland, Norway and Estonia, Highly trained English speaking birding guides, Brown Bear watching and photography opportunities, Wildlife and landscape photography tours and Wildlife photos and lectures.

Northern Birding - Terje Kolaas

http://www.northernbirding.com
Guided tours with base close to Trondheim. Coast, fjords, boreal forrest and high mountain species. Day-trips, weekend-tours and target tours. Offers photo-hides for some of the scandinavian specialities...

  mailing lists

 

Fugler.net

http://www.fugler.net/
Diskusjons grupper - Her er det mulig å diskutere litt av hvert. Det kan være observasjoner, artsbestemming, ringmerking, turer og mye mer. Du kan spørre om hjelp om du lurer på noe. Tipse andre om ting. Eller bare komme med en mening. Bruk siden aktivt, det er deg den er til for! The site will soon have an English version.

Scandinavia

mailto:sakseid@ifi.uio.no
To post to list:sakseid@ifi.uio.no.
List contact:Bjorn Einar Sakseid
Mailing List – Discussion Group Send your request to join the mailing list for Norway, Sweden and Denmark (and automatically receive EuroBirdNet postings)

  other links

 

Bird Watching In Norway

http://birdwatch.brinkster.net/
The most comprehensive listing of top birding localities in Norway...

Birds in Hordaland - Fugler i Hordaland

http://cyberbirding.uib.no/nof/
County birding news, the best birding sites, galleries, mailing list, local rarities comittee and much more from Hordaland county on the western coast of Norway. Norwegian only...

Birds of the Veranger Peninsula

http://www.tommy777.addr.com/Varangerpage.htm
The scope for this site is to give interested birders some information about this unique birding area of Europe. During the months of June and July there are always a lot of visiting birders here, both Norwegians and foreigners with telescopes is a common sight along the road. During the other ten months of the year however, the picture is somewhat different. There are only a very few birders in the area, and it goes without saying that this is not nearly enough to cover the area adequately...

BLOG - Eddie Chapman - Birds & Birding in Norway

http://www.surfbirds.com/blog/Norway/
Hallo and a warm welcome to my blog "Birds and Bird Watching In Norway". As the title suggest the blog is about my day to day birding in this fantastic country, Norwegian birding news and other general information that will be of interest to birders, both in Norway and those planning to visit...

Fuglenytt fra Hordaland - Norwegian Cyberbirding

http://cyberbirding.uib.no/
A very nicely presented site with excellent photos and observations...

Fugler (Birds)

http://www.fugler.no/
Looks like all sorts of goodies - mostly just in Norwegian.

Fugler.net

http://www.fugler.net/
Latest observations

Natural Born Birder

http://www.naturalbornbirder.com/
In 2006 I will start what seems to be a unique project within Norway - the daily systematic counting of migrating of seabirds as they head north up the Norwegian coast. At present there is no external funding whatsoever but I just had to do it anyway..... Most birders have thought about doing something like this - I am actually doing it. This website will present the the results...

NetNatur

http://www.netnatur.dk/
Catch all nature site.

Norway Outdoors - Bird Watching

http://www.norwayoutdoors.com/birding.php
Norway is a great place to watch birds, with diverse species observable in locations that are among the most beautiful places in the world. It is well worth making a birding outing part of any trip to Norway...

Norwegian Birding Route

http://www.norwegian-birding-route.com
The Norwegian birding route has been created to cover a selection of regions in western Norway that are not only good for bird watching, but also offer a wide range of cultural experiences. To start with, you will be staying at holiday homes that are connected to farms. This way, you will get the chance to experience unique accommodation as well as meet the owners. They will only be to pleased to tell you about their local area...

Norwegian Gull Page

http://cyberbirding.uib.no/gull/
Another excellently presnted page - Lots of pictures of gulls in Norway. Different age, races, hybrids and so on...

Øygarden Birding

http://oeygardenbirds.blogspot.com/
Norwegian BLOG

  artists

 

Digiscoping from Norway

http://home.no.net/agu/
Excellent photographs and ID puzzlers...

Espen's Fugleside

http://escfugler.piczo.com
...my bird pictures...

Gallery

http://gavarc.kuvat.fi/kuvat/21.NORGE.VARANGER_BIRDS/
Excellent material from Finnish photographer Juho ja Jukka Könönen and sons...

Gallery - Natur specialisten

http://www.naturspesialisten.no/index.php?c=2&kat=galleri
Bird photos from Norway and WP

Gallery - Norwegian Cyberbirding

http://cyberbirding.uib.no/
Lots of pictures of both rarities and more common birds from Norway.

Gallery - Uvanlige fugler i Norge - Gallery of Rare Birds in Norway

http://www.naturamedia.no/funo/bild.htm
Just that… some [excellent for the most part] photographs of rarities that have turned up in Norway.

Photographer - Christain Tiller

http://www.fuglebilder.no
Digital Images of Rare and Unusual Norwegian Birds...

Photographer - Eirik Grønningsæter

http://www.wildnature.no
Eirik Grønningsæter's excellent bird photos...

Photographer - Jonas Langbratens

http://home.no.net/jonaslan/
Photogallery - Her vil du finne bilder av fugler og øvrig natur. Har du noen tips/kommentarer eller spørsmål til siden, er det bare å ta kontakt med meg på.

Photographer – Terje Kolaas

http://www.naturspesialisten.no
Over 500 Western Palearctic bird species - mainly from Scandinavia, besides Israel, UAE, Spain, Morocco, Croatia etc…

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