Breeding bird survey in Norway: day 9

Route number 1918 was going to be a fairly easy one. It was still on a mountain slope but it wasn’t as steep. This one I did by myself. I woke up excited by the coming walk and the shining sun. After the rainy first days it was important to catch up with the timing and make use of every single day with suitable weather no matter how tired I was.

The road where i needed to go was with a barrier so there was a bit of excitement if the barrier will be open at 3 a.m. We did search for people in the village nearby to make sure there will be no problem but couldn’t find anyone so we had to risk it. Luckily there was no problem. I went in and then left the area with the barrier open.

Approaching the route was full with excitement. I had a Willow Grouse along the track and then a large herd of Rein Deer with some youngsters. Going up the hill wasn’t difficult and I soon had my next exciting bird  - Purple Sandpiper. The call was fairly distant but I compared it with my records and proved right. It wasn’t long until I ticked a Rock Ptarmigan patrolling its territory. Then a Golden Plover was calling ‘irania, irania, irania’….lovely call to remember. Another individual let me rather close only a couple of metres away from it. Of course I didn’t have my camera with up in the mountains.

route 1918

Later on another Rock Ptarmigan turned up, than another and another making a total of five birds two of which were together in a pair.

Soon I finished with the route and at 9.30 i was back by the tent. We packed and had a brief breakfast before we headed our way to the east. When I looked at the map of the next route I realized I needed a break before doing it. It’s been three routes in a row so will need some extra energy to do the following route which looked pretty steep. Especially after the steep route couple of days ago. So we decided to stay in a hostel and get some good sleep and shower.

We were driving along superb dramatic landscapes. We were approaching the Lyngen fjord… they call them the Arctic Alps. What a scenery! After consulting the information desk in Lyngenseit we decided to stay in a hostel called MagicMountain Lodge. I would smile here when remembering the comfortable and cozy place. It is managed by young people devoted to alternative sports. The rooms was with a gorgeous view to the mountains. It was clean and we could use a washing machine for free. This was rather important because I have been out in the field for 10 days now and hadn’t done much washing. We booked dinner at the lodge which turned out to be stunning. Even at the local information desk the cook of the Lodge was recommended against the one in a local restaurant. We had Cod with vegetables with noodles and soya sauce. Well it was more of a Thai recipe rather than anything local. Actually when consulting the info desk for local stuff they were recommending Italian ice cream 😊

Magic Mountain Lodge

the lounge

view from our room

Well it was time for bed which looked pretty comfy.