Bergen to Stavanger (19-21Jul2017)

Work has been crazy, hence the long wait between posts.  Here is some eye candy from Bergen and Stavanger in Norway which are both cities on the west coast nestled in fjords.

The view from atop one of the Seven Mountains that surround Bergen.  This one I think is Floyen and  I am looking at Ulriken.  Apparently you can hike all 7 in one day which is a popular thing people do in Norway.



The Queen Mary 2 was docked in Bergen, and it was spewing smog the whole time we were there.  Apparently they need to keep the engines running while in port.  A pity as it made the whole fjord smoggy.

Melissa took more photos of the scenery, I of course was focused on birds.



Eurasian Nuthatch - the birding behind our Air B&B was good but the light in the forest was not good.  So most of those pictures are substandard.



Great Tit




I believe this was a Marsh Tit.  The Willow Tit is very similar.  This bird was more grey than brown on it's back, the bib was smaller and there was no obvious white panel in the secondaries.



Robin chick.



Eurasian Wren - very similar to our Winter Wren and was once lumped together.



Goldcrest



Great Tit



Anyway, I was a bit disappointed in Bergen.  It was nice, but I really thought it was going to be more of a quaint seaside town, not a bustling metropolis.  I am not a city guy but I had to keep the old lady happy.

The road to Stavanger from Bergen was beautiful and included several of the most efficient ferries I have ever seen.  They would pull into the dock, disgorge 30-40 cars and trucks and reload then push off all in 10-15 minutes.

The waterways around this area in Norway are full of little houses on secluded islets.  I would not mind such an existence.  That being said their days might be numbered with global warming.





European Shag or Great Cormorant?  I don't want my lifer to be a speck on the horizon so I will have to wait for a better opportunity before I add it to my list.

Once checked in to our hotel in Stavanger we immediately set out to go hike the famous Priekstolen or Pulpit Rock.  The next day threatened rain so we wanted to get the hike in before that.  Interestingly enough, there was an international food festival going on in Stavanger.

The hike at Pulpit Rock was everything it was billed to be and more.  The pictures don't do these fjords justice.

Its hard to accurately portray how insane the vertical drops were at this location.  About 1000 feet of straight down.

A Norwegian Princess

Some random dude.

Some random lady.

 That's me second from the left, I am not particularly scared of heights but I was worried up there.  The wind was blowing hard and I couldn't quite believe how cavalier some people were being strolling right up to the edge.

Back on the trail down, I ran into some nice birds...

Wood Warbler

Common Chaffinch

No big deal, just one more unnamed ridiculously gorgeous waterfall.

Common Raven

A really good hike and amazing scenery, I recommend it for anyone visiting Norway.

I hoped this was a Rock Pipit as it was standing on a rock.  However, it was just one more Meadow Pipit.

Willow Tit

Redwing

Juvenile Robin

Adult European Robin

On the last day in Stavanger before we hit the road, I was able to check some local areas for Lapwings and finally found a nice area.

Northern Lapwing

Once on the road en route to Kristiansand, we stopped a couple times in the Jaeren area to look around.  The birding was supposed to be really excellent but I had trouble finding public access to the lakes.

A colony of Bank Swallows was nice but getting a decent shot of these frenetic birds on the wing was next to impossible.

Another Northern Lapwing

Next up are some final shots from the Oslo area which was actually pretty birdy.