Birding Tromsø in March (1 Viewer)

Hello, we are planning to visit Tromsø, Norway for a week in March this year, and have been trying to find areas close by for bird watching. We will have a car, and are happy to stay overnight somewhere if a bit further away. Could anyone advise where we could go please. Many thanks

We are arriving there on 20 Feb a week and then south to Lofoten. I’m interested in any replies. I’ll let you know if we find anything interesting.

Tomeitsparadise said:

We are arriving there on 20 Feb a week and then south to Lofoten. I’m interested in any replies. I’ll let you know if we find anything interesting.

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Thank you

This may help - eBird hotspots for Tromso filtered for March: https://ebird.org/hotspots?env.minX...96&env.maxY=69.7795317220241&mr=on&m=3&yr=all

This is the main website used for bird observations in Norway. It should be very helpful for searching for any species you're interested in looking for and for recent observations.

I visited Tromso for a week in March three years ago. As expected for the time of year and location, the diversity of birds was quite low with just over 40 species seen:

1. Mallard
2. King Eider
3. Eider
4. Velvet Scoter
5. Common Scoter
6. Long-tailed Duck
7. Goldeneye
8. Red-breasted Merganser
9. Feral Pigeon
10. Coot (local rarity)
11. Oystercatcher
12. Purple Sandpiper
13. Kittiwake
14. Black-headed Gull
15. Common Gull
16. Herring Gull
17. Great Black-backed Gull
18. Black Guillemot
19. Cormorant
20. Grey Heron
21. Sparrowhawk
22. White-tailed Eagle
23. Tengmalm's Owl
24. Eurasian Pygmy Owl
25. Jay
26. Magpie
27. Hooded Crow
28. Raven
29. Willow Tit
30. Blue Tit
31. Great Tit
32. Treecreeper
33. Redwing
34. Fieldfare
35. Tree Sparrow
36. House Sparrow
37. Bullfinch
38. Greenfinch
39. Redpoll
40. Yellowhammer

One thing to bear in mind is that Tromso itself is on an island and it lacks some of the species present on the mainland. In terms of birding locations, I found the area around the Telegrafbukta and Sydspissen to be the most productive for offshore birds, including some great views of King Eider. The numbers of the latter that spend the winter around Tromso are quite variable but there should be a few around having looked at Artsobservaasjoner.

The Folkeparken a short distance from Telegrafbukta was good for passerines such as Willow Tit and Redpoll. Another good spot was Langnes just west of the airport, which also had King Eider, Rb Merganser and Velvet Scoter. It is the peninsula just west of the roundabout here:


In central Tromso, the Polarhavna and surrounding area had a few interesting birds and worth scanning offshore for Eider etc.

On the mainland, spent a few hours walking the trails in the woods of Tromsdalen south of the TUIL Arena:


Three-toed Woodpecker has been recorded here infrequently but unfortunately it was fairly windy on the day and the best observation was excellent close views of a Northern Treecreeper. Walking back towards Tromso, I stopped off at the marina by the coast which had a decent flock of roosting Purple Sandpiper as well as a fly-over WT Eagle:


For two days, I went with a friend out to the Skibotn valley east of Tromso where a random stop along the main road in the evening produced singing Pygmy and Tengmalms Owls. The area is amazingly scenic and was one of the highlights of the trip. We drove a couple of hours into Finland (note time difference!) which made for a complete change of birdlife once you are out of the hills. A couple of random stops produced winter plumaged Willow Grouse, Black Grouse and Pine Grosbeak. We stopped by a house that had a feeder hanging in their garden which quickly added Siberian Tit, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and more Pine Grosbeaks to the list.

All in all an amazing trip, probably much more for the scenery and seeing the Aurora borealis than for the diverse bird life, especially given Norwegian prices for absolutely anything. A few tips:

-Getting shoe crampons is an absolute must for walking anywhere due to the ice. You have to take them off before walking anywhere indoors though (including shops).
-There is a good local bus network to get around Tromso island and is probably a bit easier than driving.
-Having some experience of snow/ice driving would be good + knowing about snow chains.
-There is a local catamaran ferry to the town of Harstad on the edge of the Lofoten. On Saturdays they offer discounted prices and would make for a very nice cruise through the fjords as a day trip if you have nice weather. Saw a couple of Porpoises and King Eider when I did the trip.
-Tromso town has a lot of light pollution so if you want to get good views of the Aurora, you will need to go a bit outside of the town for darker skies.

Let me know if you want any more info on any of the above.

Having had a look on Arstobservasjoner, there is currently a drake Steller's Eider off Langnes which is quite a rarity locally:


Also, a White-billed Diver was seen in the 'Rollafjord' (not sure if it actually has a name) and I think this spot gets them regularly:


Also, I think this may be a slightly better link to view sightings in Troms county on Artsobservasjoner:


Simply click on the arrows by the date to see past sightings. If you click on the 'i' on the far right hand side of the page, you can see the full details of the sighting. Artsobservasjoner is a really good system once you get to know it a bit, far better than eBird.