Hornoya and surrounding areas of Vardo
Our visit to Hornøya was one of the most anticipated events of the trip. After lunch, in the afternoon of Sunday, June 1st (by this time of the trip I had no idea what day it was) we boarded the boat that we had seen earlier that morning taking birders to Hornøya. I had heard of island breeding sites for seabirds where one could reach out and nearly touch the birds. I have never been to one - until today. We were set free - no van in sight - for about an hour and a half.
I was worried about the cold wind and hoped that as long as I was moving it would be tolerable. On this particular day, I need not have worried. We disembarked on the island and the birds were perched on lee side of the wind - it was cold, but very tolerable, even pleasant.
Above and below: Shag (Gulosus aristoltelis)
The first bird I came to was a Shag sleeping in the middle of the path. That may have been his burrow on the left. There is a lot of competition for nesting sites and from what I could tell, Shags nest pretty much anywhere. If they get an unoccupied burrow that's great. If not, well, under the dock or a clump of grass would do just as well. With the tuft of feathers adorning the top of its head, the Shag struck me as a truly old-world bird. So I checked. I'll be accused of TMI. Guilty as charged. Google's AI overview is as follows:
"Cormorants and shags, which belong to the family Phalacrocoracidae, have a long evolutionary history. Based on the fossil record and genetic studies, this group of birds has existed since the Late Oligocene, which is estimated to have occurred roughly 23 to 34 million years ago.
It's worth noting that within this group, the European shag (Gulosus aristotelis) is considered to be one of the deepest divers and is thought to have branched off from a larger group of cormorants between 9 and 11.2 million years ago.
Fossil evidence of the European Shag specifically has been found in Quaternary deposits (extending back about 2.6 million years) along the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Black Sea coasts. Additionally, bones of the Antarctic Shag have been identified in shell middens in southern Fuego-Patagonia, with records spanning from relatively recent times (280 years ago) back to the middle Holocene (around 6,100 years ago)."
Pretty old bird. As for being amongst the deepest divers, just look at those feet. You can take an even deeper dive into the (European) Shag with Google's AI. This is plenty for now.
Above and two below: Razorbill (Alca torda)
Beautiful. I'm at a loss of words to write more. Razorbills were mostly just standing around and from what I observed, they were the fewest in number - other than Thick-billed Murres. The photos, especially below, speak for the bird.
Above and below: Common Murre (Uria aalge) - formerly called Guillemot.
Common Murre's were the island's most populous inhabitants. We also saw Thick-billed Murre (Uria lomvia) formerly Brünnich's Guillemot - but I didn't get a photo. Dumb.
The photos above and below reveal a feature of the Common Murre which I would not have noticed if it had not been pointed out to me. The white eyeing and white line going away from the eye is not always white. Sometimes it is the same color as the head features. This is well-seen in the photo below. The white eyeing and line are called the "bridled variety" (page 211, 2nd ed. Birds of Europe).
Above: Also, according to the 2nd ed. Birds of Europe, the birds with "variably streaked flanks" (U. aalge albionis) are found in Western Europe (page 211).
Mating with an audience.
Afterwards
Honestly, what's to say about the Puffin (Fractercula arctica)?
So cute, so charming and they were everywhere. So easy to photograph. At some point I wondered if I could possibly take any more pictures. These were randomly selected. Seriously, it was more satisfying just to watch them. Puffins are marvelous. Everyone knows this. I took a few photos with my phone to send home and even non-birders knew they were Puffins.
Redwing (Turdus iliacus)
Not only seabirds occupied Hornøya. Sometimes the ordinary and common birds are my target birds for any trip. As with the Fieldfare, so it was with the Redwing. It was nearly the end of the trip and I accidentally walked beyond a red sign cautioning not to go further - the sign was tiny and I didn't see it - to see a Redwing. It was worth it.
Above: Rock Pipit
Anttu found the Rock Pipit (A. petrosus) for the person who needed it for her life list. He told me where it was found (300 m the other way) so I took the path he pointed to and found the bird. There were a few Shags along the path, but few others to distract me. Nigel asked to see my photo. He wanted to make sure I had not, instead, seen a Meadow Pipit (A. pratenis). He announced to Anttu that he had even vetted my photo. The above photo is a silhouette of a small bird on a rock, but looking directly at the SIM card image in the camera it is easy to see the identifying features of the bird. Too bad they don't download that way. Note: I am starting to change the way I crop some photos. A tightly cropped version of the Rock Pipit would not have meaningfully improved the image of the bird. I think the photo is more interesting with the little bird in the middle of the rocks with the water visible beyond.
Above and below: A look at the numbers.
4:30 pm came and the boat was leaving. We piled aboard. I asked Anttu if the birds had been counted and if it was known how many nested on the island. His response, 200,000. Could it be possible, but it seemed like more.
