Day 1:
I arrived at Kirkenes airport in northern Norway on Thursday after a long journey from Zurich via Oslo. I had bought a book about birding in the Varanger area. The next morning, after picking up the rental car, I travelled to the Pasvik valley, south of Kirkenes, in the Taiga. It was about -14° C as we drove along the icy road toward our hotel.
As we passed an open area with tall birches, I spotted a bird at the top of one of them. Pulling over at the side of the road, I quickly identified it as a Northern Hawk Owl, the first lifer of the trip. It didn't seem bothered by the car at all, so I got out, crossed the road and started taking pictures. Because of the temperature, the owl's feathers were puffed up, making it look comically fat. It was one of the birds I wanted to see most on the trip, so I was excited.
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| Northern Hawk Owl |
I then checked in at the Birk Husky B&B, a hotel recommended in the book. It had bird feeders, meaning I could look for Taiga species there. Unfortunately, none of the species I had hoped for showed, but I did go on a husky tour in the evening, which was a lot of fun.
Day 2:
I headed toward my next destination, the town of Vadso on the Varanger fjord. On the way I enjoyed seeing many reindeer, which despite being wild, are herded and slaughtered by the Sami people each fall, so some are marked with collars or colored markings. The pictures are from the way back to Kirkenes, where I stopped to photograph them.
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| Reindeer |
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| Reindeer |
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| Reindeer |
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| Reindeer |
I stopped in Nesseby, a town with a beautiful church on the water, where I photographed Purple Sandpipers on the beach, a species that proved to be very common on the Varanger coast.
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| Nesseby church |
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| Purple sandpiper |
After arriving in Vadso, I immediately went into the harbor and saw my first Steller's Eiders, a stunning duck that was common in Vadso, but extremely rare in Europe as a whole, with almost all of the population wintering in and around the Varanger fjord and breeding in the Russian tundra. There were about six close-by in the harbor and many more farther out in tight rafts. Other than that, there were many Long-tailed ducks in the harbor, a common bird which I saw at almost every location from then on.
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| Steller's Eiders |
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| Steller's Eider |
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| Steller's Eider |
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| Steller's eider |
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| Steller's and Common eider |
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| Steller's eider |
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| Steller's eider |
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| Steller's eider |
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| Purple sandpiper |
I then started my journey east toward Vardo, and barely five minutes outside of Vadso, a huge White-tailed Sea Eagle flew past, cruising along the coast the opposite way of the car. I only saw my third lifer of the trip for a few seconds, but it was a majestic and awe-inspiring sight. According to the book, sea eagles were once rare in Varanger but have made a come-back recently, although they are more common in summer than winter and that was the only sighting of this species during the trip.
In Kiberg I saw the first Glaucous gulls of the trip and of my life, although they were far away and difficult to identify certainly as Glaucous rather than Iceland gulls, which are also found here, but in smaller numbers. I also saw other species I had seen earlier in Vadso such as Common and Steller's eiders, and a group of long-tailed ducks close to shore.
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| Long-tailed Duck |
Continuing on to Vardo, I was surprised to find out that you had to pass through a tunnel to get to Vardo. It's a very cool experience going through the tunnel. When I arrived in the town, I started walking around Vardo harbor, much bigger than the one in Vadso. The first thing I saw was a European shag and a Glaucous gull on a small floating pier. To my surprise, the kittiwakes were already breeding and in breeding plumage. They breed on harborfront houses in Vardo, but in much smaller numbers than on the island of Hornoya, where the nesting seabirds are a true spectacle. Nevertheless, the kittiwakes were fun to watch and great photo subjects, especially when they opened their bills to reveal bright red coloring inside.
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| European shag and Glaucous gull |
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| Black-legged Kittiwakes |
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| Black-legged Kittiwakes |
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| Black-legged Kittiwake |
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| Black-legged Kittiwake |
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| Black-legged Kittiwake |
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| Black-legged Kittiwakes |
On the other side of the harbor I finally found my first King eider of the trip, a female sitting on a rock alone. I expected these to be a lot more common, and this was the only good view I ever got. At the end of the harbor I saw my first Iceland gull of the trip, easy to identify next to two Glaucous gulls. The snow was falling rapidly at this point, creating cool pictures.
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| King (Queen) Eider |
Day 4:
Overall, the trip was very successful, and I hope to visit Varanger again.
