In Norway

NN3404 Earl Plato

To bird lovers - How many times have you sat at a roadside picnic table and watched the local birds? Plenty of times, I suspect. Ring-billed gulls, starlings. sparrows - we know them all. My recent experience was some what different. As a bird lover I was pleased to be resting at an outdoor restaurant in the middle of Norway on Highway N6 May 19, 2004. We had no sooner sat down with our burger and coke ($14 Can,) when the “typewriter” birds arrived. That’s the name daughter Diane gave to these members of the crow family. Their “clink-clink-clink” call is a ringing sound. Irritating to some. Magpies are common to Norway. They are a large black and white bird with a long black tail.
In our Canadian West the magpies are black-billed and so were these. As they meandered around the grassy knoll they seemed to be looking for insects. Close to me another bird arrived. My hamburger was excellent and expensive. Would I share it? He came quite close and I threw him a piece of my bun.The magpies seemed indifferent to this new comer. I made a quick sketch of this bird that was larger than our sparrows - black head and black vest and brown wings. When I returned to my cousin’s place near Oslo I looked in his bird book. Lapp wing fitted the description. It reminded me of Horned lark. Back in Oslo outside my cousin’s house I heard first then counted eight magpies as they descended on a large Norway spruce. Suddenly a bird that was probably a hawk exploded from its cover seeking safety. Yes, “mobbing” occurs in Norway too.
Gulls were present in the Oslo harbour. I recognized ring-bills, lesser black backs, and herring gulls. We ate at a beautiful outdoor restaurant near the Viking museum. It was a sunny bright day but the gulls had good manners. Not one bothered us. Norwegians are polite as even their wildlife did not harass us Canadians.
Next: The land of the moose.