Birds and Flowers in Norway

Barry and I took separate side trips to see the birds. Mine was up off the North Cape. There were not many birds to be seen on an ordinary day from the cruise/ferry ship. But here on this trip and in this photo you can see there were hundreds. I saw cormorants and hundreds of puffins, among many others, but they were too fast to photograph. Every speck of gray in the sky in this photo is a bird. Try clicking on it to enlarge the photo. That will give you a better view.


The ship was too rolly to to get a lot of shots. It was hard to stand up but our cold weather suits added to the difficulty. Kept us nice and warm ( except for the face), and we were well padded if we fell! We were quite close in to the rocks as you can see below. This photo also shows the rows of gannets, nesting on the cliffs. Gannets are quite rare, very large and somewhat like a refined pelican, because they dive after fish like a streamlined dart from a good height. We were in the Arctic Ocean here -- almost literally, because at one point when the boat was turning around we were definitely at a 45 degree angle. I wasn't too worried 'though because I've been in seas like this before, when I was growing up.


Barry went to see the Sea Eagles. The crew on the small boat throw out fish to attract them. Of course there were plenty of other birds to help pick up. I think that is a fulmer about three down from the top of the picture.

The Sea Eagles came and had a feast. They also are quite rare. They are something like our Bald Eagle but don't have the 'bald' head.


The flowers were just starting to come out in Bergen. Beautiful red Poppies -- very large.


Don't know the name of these, but they were quite attractive. I think I took this photo through the window at Grieg's home.



This I love. Of course it really doesn't come under the category of flowers but it was such a beautiful, sheltered woodland that I would have gladly gone exploring, that is until I discovered that it was private land.

There were rhododendrons everywhere and of every color....
...'though I've never seen yellow ones before.

Finally, these were just too beautiful to pass up. Yes, it was raining but I used my macro focus, at which I'm not very experienced and I was very pleased with the result.
Huskies tomorrow, I promise and then we will finish with Norway. If you've had enough, remember I had 350 to go through! I think I have been remarkably restrained :)