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Rune Allnor
Guest
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 Posted:
Sat Jan 08, 2005 4:49 pm Post subject:
Way OT: Yet another eagle++ incident |
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Hi all.
I'm on a slightly extended christmas leave and have, as
usual, spent some time in the north. The boat trip here
a day or two before christmas was quite nice, good weather
with little wind and few clouds. A sea eagle held a
spectacular show, fishing, when the ship was in port
at first light. Between that port and me leaving the ship
three hours later, I had spotted 10 eagles and hundreds of
cormorants.
Since then I've been doing my usual rounds every few days.
I know the area well enough by now, to predict where the
interesting birds are. There are hundreds of ducks and gulls
by the sea farm across the fjord, but they stay as quiet as
possible in the cold wet weather. I haven't found any great
surprises there, so at this time of year I tend to focus on
the eagles.
It turns out that the sea eagles that usually are scattered
along the coast, tend to congregate not far from here. I have
seen eagles on virtually every trip I have made to one
particular bay. This morning I went again, and was quite
happy to see several eagles circling above the bay long
before I actually got there. I parked my car, mounted my
telescope and went to take a closer look. Tens of birds:
at least three, possibly four or even five eagles, tens
of crows, ravens and magpies. And a red fox! I see those
critters every now and then, usually in the the distance,
in grain fields in the late nights. This one was 50 m in
front of me, in plain daylight and relatively calm about
its business.
It turned out all this activity was caused by a carcass
by the road, probably the leftovers by a large roadkill,
reindeer or moose.
I couldn't see very well from that particular position, so
I drove to the other side of the bay, and watched the scene
from over there. The ravens, crows and magpies had a field
day on the carcass. The eagles were very calm, three of them
sat in the tree tops just waiting for me to disappear (or
because they already had got their share of the meal?).
I had nothing better to do than start photographing
through the telescope with my small, hand-held digital
camera. Once more there was just too little light to get
good images. I've just reviewed the images, and the best
ones (well, the two that show anything at all) show two of
the eagles sitting in the tree tops.
This camera is getting really annoying now. Not only is
it so cumbersome to operate that I consistently spoil
each and every good photo oportunity I get, today I missed
the mink (or was it a small otter?) that played at the water
edge some 10 m in front of me while I was concentrating
on the eagles 1 km away. Only when I shut down the camera
and put it away did I see the small animal, which had been
watching me for who knows how long, and slipped into the
water just as I slammed the camera shut.
Oh well. At least the days are getting noticeable brighter
by now.
Rune |
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Guest
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| Posted:
Sun Jan 09, 2005 7:21 am Post subject:
Re: Way OT: Yet another eagle++ incident |
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"Rune Allnor" <allnor@tele.ntnu.no> wrote:
| Quote: |
Oh well. At least the days are getting noticeable brighter
by now.
|
It's only a couple weeks past the solstice ... didn't think the
difference was that noticeable yet. Here, at N43 latitude, it's only
12 minutes difference since then ... but maybe it's more, at the more
northern latitude where you're at in Norway. Or maybe you just meant
there's less cloud cover now!
Regards,
Robert
( modify address for return mail )
www.numbersusa.com
www.americanpatrol.com |
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Rune Allnor
Guest
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| Posted:
Sun Jan 09, 2005 1:53 pm Post subject:
Re: Way OT: Yet another eagle++ incident |
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r_obert@REMOVE_THIS.hotmail.com wrote:
| Quote: | "Rune Allnor" <allnor@tele.ntnu.no> wrote:
Oh well. At least the days are getting noticeable brighter
by now.
It's only a couple weeks past the solstice ... didn't think the
difference was that noticeable yet. Here, at N43 latitude, it's only
12 minutes difference since then ... but maybe it's more, at the more
northern latitude where you're at in Norway. Or maybe you just meant
there's less cloud cover now!
|
At N67 30' latitude 12 minutes difference is important. North of
the arctic circle, the sun (or at least the centrum of the solar
disc) disappears below the horizon at winter solstice. Here, there
is a few hours daylight (no sun) at christmas, further north
they don't even get that. I'll guess there are 1 - 2 hours more
daylight now, than two weeks ago.
At my present latitude the sun should be above the horizon at
noon, by now. At my present location, the view towards the south
is obstructed by mountains, so the sun is not visible until
February 1st, when we'll get a glimpse of it through a mountain
pass.
The kids at school usually get the rest of the day off the first
time the sun shines through the windows into their class rooms.
Further north they make larger public celebrations the first day
they see it.
And yes, you are right, the weather is less cloudy, and that
helps too.
Rune |
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Guest
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| Posted:
Sun Jan 09, 2005 10:37 pm Post subject:
Re: Way OT: Yet another eagle++ incident |
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"Rune Allnor" <allnor@tele.ntnu.no> wrote:
| Quote: | Oh well. At least the days are getting noticeable brighter
by now.
It's only a couple weeks past the solstice ... didn't think the
difference was that noticeable yet. Here, at N43 latitude, it's only
12 minutes difference since then ... but maybe it's more, at the more
northern latitude where you're at in Norway. Or maybe you just meant
there's less cloud cover now!
At N67 30' latitude 12 minutes difference is important. North of
the arctic circle, the sun (or at least the centrum of the solar
disc) disappears below the horizon at winter solstice. Here, there
is a few hours daylight (no sun) at christmas, further north
they don't even get that. I'll guess there are 1 - 2 hours more
daylight now, than two weeks ago.
|
Kind of interesting that the sunrise is actually later for the first
few weeks after the solstice, but the increase in the sunset time is
greater ( by 12 minutes here, etc ).
Robert
( modify address for return mail )
www.numbersusa.com
www.americanpatrol.com |
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