Two foxes and a hare

On our final drive, back to Ivalo, but still in the heart of the very dramatic and lonely landscape of coastal Norway.  We received a radio call from the van behind us.  There was a red fox (Vulpes vulpes) trotting along the road.  We reversed course, and went back to see the fox.  Beautiful creature moving with sure-footedness over the rocky terrain, scent-marking as he went. He wasn't unaware of us, as the photos suggest, but he was not deterred.  He stayed his course, crossed the road in front of us and continued on.  He appeared robust, healthy and handsome.  A pleasure to see.  What's not to love?  

Above:  Mountain Hare (Lepus timidus).

We saw them daily, singly like the one above, or in groups.  They are also known by many other common names.  They have a comical running style.  I loved them.  A pleasure to see.  

After three or four attempts we finally saw the Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus).  This one and a brown one had been sighted in this location.  The photos below reveal the Arctic Fox molting into its summer coat and color. The Arctic Fox traversed the road back and forth - worrisome; fortunately the road did not seem to be busy and, at one point, he used a drainage tunnel beneath the road to evade us and get to the other side.  He appeared to be looking for food.  I thought about what life must be like for animals (birds, foxes, reindeer ... name any ... constantly on a search for food.  Animals have hard lives.  Before we left, we watched him go up to a couple of houses on a distant hill and circle around a trash can of some sort.  I used "he" to describe this fox.  Knowing that there was also a "brown" Arctic fox, I took the leap to think there was a female with kits in a den somewhere. 

  

The Arctic Fox photos were taken around 10:00 at night and mostly through dirty van windows.  The final three might be with the van door open - can't remember.  They look a little clearer.  True enough, he wasn't wearing his seasonally best coat.  This was our final night in Vardø.  Very lucky sighting of a fabulous animal.  

The Willow Ptarmigan's name is also lagopus.  It originates from Greek meaning "hare-foot."

A morning at the beach

Above:  Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola)

Above:  Ringed Plover and Golden Plover (Pluvialis apricaria)

The following four photos below were taken at Nesseby.  Nesseby map.

Above and below:  Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica)

Above and below:  A banded Redshank (Tringa totanus)

The photos below are from a beach in Vardø.  In the all and all, Vardø was quite a spectacular municipality (this is how it is called in Norway).  Vardø town is located on the island of Vardøya in the Barents Sea, just off the coast of the large Varanger Peninsula.  To get there we drove through quite a long tunnel.   We stayed at the Vardo Hotel which was very nice.  The hotel link is the Trip Advisor link which includes photos of the harbor and hotel.  The hotel has since been newly renovated and the rooms, the lobby, the dining room and the bar area have all been updated.  There are many photos of the food which was excellent, though I don't recall anything like what appears in the photos.  I highly recommend this hotel.  Many of the photos are from winter time when visitors come to see the Northern Lights and birders come to see eiders.  Photo number 17 is a close-up of Steller's Eider (which we did not see on this trip).    

Above and below:  Dunlins (Calidris alpina)

Above and three below:  Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima)

Again, above and below, Dunlin

Above:  Purple Sandpiper and Dunlin

Above and below:  Red-necked Phalarope

I could blame the black eye in the black feathers again, but my photos should be so much better.  We were so close to two phalaropes feeding just at the water's edge.  They were so tame.  This is clearly the fault of the photographer (me); wrong ISO, f-stop, shutter speed, whatever.    

Crazy looking birds

This would be the Ruff (Philomachus pugnax).  Now there's a name.  You guessed it, pugnax is Latin for pugnacious, combative, fond of fighting, aggressive.

  

I found the bird above on my free day while wandering around the hotel before the trip.  Seconds after taking this somewhat distant photo, the Ruff took off running - yes, running!  It certainly appeared pugnacious while running.  

Above and two below:  These photos were taken at a roadside stop where another (presumably) photography birding group with gigantic lenses, tripods - the works - had encroached very closely on two or three male Ruffs, probably on their lek.  Eventually the Ruffs ran off and the photographers were called back to their van.  We were left on our own to take our photos.  I did not encroach too closely.  

The Ruff doesn't look pugnacious just standing around and displaying.

On our last day, and long drive back to Ivalo, we stopped at a lovely park in Vadsø located on the southern shore of the Varanger Peninsula along the Varanger Fjord.  There were many other visitors here; people walking their dogs, school kids on an outing, other birders.  We saw many birds here including, amongst others, another Red-throated Pipit, an Arctic Skua chasing birds, many Red-necked Phalaropes on a smallish pond and the Ruffs shown in the photos below.  This was a beautiful spot with grassy trails, views of the fjord, the weather was good and I would have been happy wondering around for a lot longer.

Alas, it was a relatively brief stop.  

I'm 100% sure that all of the photos below are unnecessary, but I include them anyway.  Not all,  but most are of two Ruffs fighting in the presence of Reeves.  This is unlikely to be something I'll ever see again.  I was happy to see that I do have photos of the Reeve.  Had forgotten about these. 

  Above:  Being pretty pugnacious, two Ruffs and a Reeve

Reeve.  Perhaps my favorite of the photos included here.

Back at it!

Above and two below:  Reeve

 

The photos below are of birds on a lek across the pond from where the photos above were taken.  The Ruffs below were closer.

Above and three photos below:  Ruffs on lek.  Male Ruffs really do have a variety of color combinations and appearances.

One of the guides stated that these birds were on their lek.  I could write more about this, but won't.  It's a story and a tangent that would seem and read like quibbling about inequities that are possible and even likely on any birding trip.  Not worth it. 

 

I was surprised to find this along one of the paths.  If this had been found in the states it would have been picked up and carried off by someone.  By now, maybe someone has decided to do that in Norway, too.   Both Anttu and Nigel suggested that it was a moose skull.  I thought that it could also be reindeer skull.  

Later in the day, arriving closer in Ivalo, we stopped at a somewhat untidy area to look for a moose.  We found fresh moose droppings (I'm surprised I didn't take a picture) - but no moose.

It was also on this day, quite close to arriving back in Ivalo, that we stopped along the road and called out - for those lucky enough to see it - a Hazel Grouse (Tetrastes bonsasia).  It flew across the road, kind of like how we had seen the male Capercaillie.  It reminded me of how our Ruffed Grouse (genus Bonasa) looks when flushed.   Same body formation and dark band along the terminal edge of the tail. This was in the same location we had looked for Hazel Grouse three days earlier and where we scared off the Smews who were in good light and close.  

On a different topic

I am going to assume that readers might enjoy a break from the Finland and Norway posts although, if I say so myself, the best is yet to come.  

I needed a break.  Yesterday I hauled myself on a three hour drive south to Urbana, Ohio to try to find Gray Petaltail (Tachopteryx thoreyi) at a really nice fen.  This was my second visit there - the first being mid-July last year - when I did not see the Gray Petaltail.  We hypothesized that mid-July was already too late to see them.  Going by Odonata of Ohio (pages 188-189), (incidentally, you can purchase the book many places for much less than $65) June seems to be their month.  "Gray Petaltails are specialists of wooded seeps and often frequent quite shady haunts.  It sometimes occurs around the margins of fens, ponds or forested glades ..." (page 189). 

Cedar Bog features a mile long boardwalk through precisely this kind of habitat.  I stayed about three hours and circled the boardwalk twice.  I found a couple of other things but, when compared with my first visit last July, there were few Odonata.  Cedar Bog also hosts other speciality odes.  No Gray Petattails were found on this day. 

Here's what I saw and was happy to see them - only my second time ever, the first time also at Cedar Bog.

Female Elfin Skimmer (Nannothemis bella)

Male Elfin Skimmer

Elfin Skimmers are well named.  Elfin indeed.  They are so small - the female is possibly easier to see because of her color; but the male hides very well.  Last year I think my photos of the female Elfin were comparable to these.  My photos of the male Elfin this time are much better.  Both ♀︎ and ♂︎ are pretty jittery and, for me at least, this also makes for a difficult photo op. 

Pink Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium acaule)

This was overlooked - it was sort of hidden as you can see from my not great photo - until a park employee came by to point it out to us.  I think we were seeing the last bloom of the season.

Two Hackberry Emperor butterfliess (Asterocampa celtis) on fox scat accompanied by a red-eyed fly in photo below. 

Many years ago I had a common hackberry tree (Celtis occidentalis) planted in my front yard just to see if I could attract this butterfly.  No luck in my yard, but super happy to see several of them yesterday.  Even if it hasn't yet attracted the Hackberry Emperor, my Celtis occidentalis is the tree that attracts many birds in both spring and fall migrations.

Hackberry Emperor perched in shadow on a tree trunk.

About five Prince Baskettail's (Epitheca princeps) were hawking insects over a fen meadow.

Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata)

Cedar Bog attracts a variety of human visitors.  There were families walking the boardwalk - no bins, no camera - just visiting and looking.  It also attracts photographers and there were many present yesterday.  I got acquainted with a couple and they helped me find things.  That's who the 'us' is in the Lady Slipper anecdote.

Cedar Bog is surprisingly uncrowded - but it was hot yesterday so it may not have been a representative Saturday.  For me, coming from SE Michigan, it's also a challenging drive.  About half the drive is on I-75 South and the other half is on two lane highways through pleasing small towns and farmland.  While the drive along the rural roads may be pretty, it's still challenging.  That might be a good thing.  Otherwise, I could be tempted to become a more frequent visitor.