Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Other Marine Mammals
Norway's waters shelter reasonable populations of bottlenose, white-beaked, Atlantic
white-sided and common dolphins.
Seals are also commonly seen near the seashore throughout Norway and some inland
fjords. The main species include
steinkobbe
(harbour seals),
havert
(grey seals),
ringsel
(ringed seals),
grønlandssel
(harp seals),
klappmyss
(hooded seals) and
blåsel
(bearded
seals).
The much larger
hvalross
(walruses), which in Norway live only in Svalbard, measure
up to nearly 4m and weigh up to 1450kg; their elongated canine teeth can measure up to
1m long in males. Although once heavily hunted for their ivory and blubber, the Svalbard
population has increased to around 1000 since they became a protected species in 1952.
Marine Mammals of the North Atlantic
by Carl Christian Kinze is an excellent field guide to
51 marine mammals, almost all of which are present in Norway.
Birds
Norway is an excellent destination for ornithologists. The greatest bird populations are
found along the coastline, where millions of sea birds nest in cliff faces and feed on fish
and other sea life. The most prolific species include terns,
havsule
(gannets),
alke
(razor-
bills),
lundefugl
(puffins),
lomvi
and
teist
(guillemots),
havhest
(fulmars),
krykkje
(kitti-
wakes),
tjuvjo
and
fjelljo
(skuas) and
alkekonge
(little auks).
The standout species among Norway's host of wading and water birds include the
stor-
lom
(black-throated wading birds),
smålom
(red-throated divers; called 'loons' in North
America),
horndykker
(horned grebes),
åkerrikse
(corncrakes) and Norway's national bird,
the
fossekall
(dippers), which make their living by diving into mountain streams.
Norway is also home to at least four species of owls:
jordugle
(short-eared owls),
spurveugle
(pygmy owls),
snøugle
(snowy owls), and
hubro
(eagle owls).
The most dramatic of Norway's raptors is the lovely
havørn
(white-tailed eagle), the
largest northern European raptor, with a wingspan of up to 2.5m; there are now at least 500
nesting pairs along the Nordland coast, Troms and Finnmark. Around the same number of
kongeørn
(golden eagles) inhabit higher mountain areas. The rare
fiskeørn
(ospreys) have a
