Wildlife spectacles in Norway
16 spectacles through the year, ordered by when they peak. Open Norway in the interactive calendar for the map and listening times.
Varanger in winter: Steller's and king eidersLong-tailed duck yodelling from rafts of hundreds, king and Steller's eider crooning at close range in the harbours, the crunch of sea ice on the shore, wind; fish-plant conveyors and the odd trawler.
White-tailed eagles: Smøla, Lofoten and the TrollfjordThe eagle's yelping 'klee-klee-klee' duet from a nest crag, wing-rush of a 2.4 m bird taking a fish 10 m from the boat, gull and tern colonies, otters whistling in the skerries.
Capercaillie and black grouse leks in the eastern forestsCapercaillie's clicking, cork-pop and grinding song from pine bog edges, wing-beats of cocks flying in, black grouse bubbling on the open bogs; cranes, whooper swans and Tengmalm's owl in the same nights.
Runde bird cliffs: puffins at LundeuraKittiwake colonies screaming from the cliffs, puffin growls at the burrows, gannet colony grating from Rundebranden, eagles yelping, surf below; storm petrels purring from stone walls after midnight.
Hornøya and Gjesværstappan: Arctic seabird cliffsA guillemot wall at arm's length: massed growling and trumpeting, kittiwake screaming, puffin grunts, Brünnich's guillemots' lower calls; Arctic surf; at Gjesværstappan the gannet colony's grating and the constant wing-noise of puffins by the hundred thousand.
Great snipe lek at FokstumyraThe great snipe's extraordinary accelerating clicks, rattles and whistles from a group of males displaying on the bog, ruff males in silent lek nearby, whimbrel bubbling, bluethroat song, cranes bugling, snipe drumming everywhere, willow grouse cackling.
Midnight-sun taiga chorus in PasvikBluethroat and redwing song across bog and pine, brambling, cuckoo, whooper swans and cranes from the lakes, red-necked phalarope, spotted redshank, hawk owl screeching, the Pasvik river; a bear may pass — Norway's densest brown bear population.
Puffin arrival day on Lovund and the Røst coloniesThe wing-roar and growling of a puffin colony wheeling over the slope, kittiwakes, eagles; on Røst, Leach's and storm petrels at night; the Atlantic.
Sperm whales of the Bleik canyon, AndenesWith a hydrophone: sperm whale click trains and creaks from 1,000 m down (the operators locate whales acoustically), occasional codas; above water, the explosive blow every 10–15 s at the surface and the tail-fluke dive; fulmars and gannets around the boat.
Lemming years and the owl irruptionLemmings squeaking and chattering from every tussock and running across the trail, long-tailed skuas mewing, snowy owl barks and short-eared owl wing-claps, rough-legged buzzard mewing, arctic fox yips at a den; in a crash year, silence.
Svalbard: Arctic summer cliffs, walrus and ternsLittle auk colonies — a shrill, laughing chorus from scree slopes by the hundred thousand; Brünnich's guillemot walls (Alkefjellet) with birds pouring off 100 m dolerite cliffs; arctic terns in a screaming defensive cloud in Adventdalen; walrus grunts and snorts on a haul-out; calving glaciers.
Musk ox on DovrefjellIn the rut, bulls' guttural roars and the crack of two 400 kg skulls colliding at 50 km/h, which carries across the plateau; otherwise snorts and grazing, golden plover and dotterel whistles, wind on the tundra.
Autumn migration at Lista, Jomfruland and UtsiraDawn flight calls of thousands of thrushes, pipits and finches leaving the coast, waders on the Lista beaches, skuas and gannets passing the lighthouse in a westerly gale; at night, redwing and song thrush calls overhead.
Moose rut in the eastern forestsSubdued compared with red deer: bulls' low grunts and 'oouh' calls, cows' long nasal moans, antlers thrashing in willow and birch, heavy splashing in bog; tawny owl and cranes overhead; rifle shots — the hunt opens 25 September.
Wild reindeer rut on the high plateausBulls' hoarse grunting and antler-clatter, the tendon click of a thousand hooves as a herd moves, rock ptarmigan, wind and snow; almost no anthropogenic sound on the inner plateaus.
Orcas and humpbacks on the winter herring, SkjervøyWith a hydrophone: orca calls, whistles and echolocation from several pods carousel-feeding, humpback social sounds and feeding calls, the hiss of a herring ball being tail-slapped; above water, blows, tail-slaps and the roar of a humpback lunge; fishing vessels' sonar and engines.