Eyes on the Skies: Your Lofoten Birding Guide

I will say, while I’ve been excited for a lot of my trips, going to Norway was high on my list for many reasons. A lot of my favorite wildlife, like ptarmigans and stoats live here, and I’ve wanted to travel above the Arctic circle for a long time now. Even with my anticipation, though, I still didn’t quite expect just how fun this trip would be until I was on it. Norway was everything I hoped for, and then some. Rolling green meadows, beautiful water, dramatic mountains… you name it. It was an amazing place, and I’m very excited to share it with you over these next few posts.

The first area I’d like to share with you is the Lofoten region, a place of history, natural beauty, and wonderful wildlife! The striking scenery is a mix of rolling green fields and deep fjords, all of it surrounded by tall peaks. It was incredibly beautiful to see the landscape here, which was just so dynamic; every time you went around another corner, you’d find a secluded channel or mountains spearing up into the clouds or even rolling meadows filled with thousands of wildflowers. I had a lot of fun in this region, and I hope that this guide to birding there will help you do the same. If you’re not as interested in birds, though, there’s another post coming later about the rest of Lofoten, but until then, sit back, relax, and enjoy the wonderful birdlife of the Lofoten archipelago.

Because I obviously hadn’t been here before, I thought it would be a good idea to recruit a guide to the region. Enter Martin. He was a great guy, and was super nice, as well as very helpful in guiding us around the region. His birding background comes from working as a conservation advisor for BirdLife Norway, and as such, he was remarkably good at finding pretty much any bird you ask him to (bird cooperation permitting, of course). He doesn’t normally lead regular bird tours, as his knowledge of birds in the region is mostly directed towards personal and professional birding experience, but he was a very skilled guide, and we were lucky to have him to show us around. As if that wasn’t enough, he also brought snacks to share and introduced us to one of our top three snacks from this trip (stay tuned for a snack guide to Norway mini post later), Walter’s Mandler, a candied almond chocolate bar with a truly unique and incredible taste. They were good enough that we brought some home from the trip, and it’s safe to say they haven’t lasted very long. He took us to three main habitats on this excursion, and I’ll detail the best birds from each one to showcase some of the wonderful birds Lofoten has to offer.

There were three main habitats we went to in order to find birds on this outing, and while all of them were fun, I’ll start with the forest. While we didn’t go into any deep forest areas, we were still able to find some wonderful forest birds, despite one in particular avoiding us (curse you, long-eared owl). We mostly found small passerine birds, and there was an amazing selection of finches and similar birds to find. Around the middle of our trip, we stopped by the side of the road near a river to look for some smaller birds. We got out of the car, had some tea, and waited by the side of the road while Martin played the sounds of a bird we were looking for on his phone, trying to draw one out. We were looking for a Bluethroat, but while we waited, we saw (and heard) plenty of other fun little birds. A few minutes in, we were standing near a small bridge, surrounded by short pine trees, and Martin identified the call of a Brambling in the area (while still listening for a Bluethroat, mind you) and pointed us in the direction he heard it. Bramblings are small, whitish-pink birds with little spots, and I noticed one sitting on top of a nearby pine tree, across the river. It took me a little bit of time to orient my camera, so it flew to a farther tree while I was lining up, but I eventually tracked the little bird and was able to photograph it for a little while before it flew off. A little while after this, I got to see a Chaffinch, another small bird, this time orange with gray markings. This one was a little less cooperative, and it soon flew off as well, preventing me from getting a photo. Around this time, we have started hearing response calls to Martin’s fake Bluethroat, and after three or so minutes of searching, a small bird showed up in one of the nearby trees. We were in luck. I immediately got my camera out and started photographing the bird. Bluethroats are small, sparrow like birds, in shades of brown and gray for most of their body. Their chest markings, however, are anything but drab. They have primarily blue and red-orange chest markings with black accents, bright enough to be seen from long distances, and incredibly striking up close. As if that wasn’t enough, they have wonderful little white “eyebrow” markings that dialed their cuteness up to eleven. I was incredibly excited, and I probably took enough photos of this one bird to fill half of my memory card, but it was worth it. I’d wanted to see one of them for a long time, so it was great that I got to check that bird off my bucket list. Once we got back into the car, Martin offered the family a bar of Walter’s Mandler as a celebration, and we drove off to the next birding spot.

Next up, grasslands. This took place in more than one spot, unlike the forest, where we saw all the birds within a hundred feet and fifteen minutes of each other. Near the start of the trip, we stopped in a small grassy field near some marshland to look for some ducks. I didn’t have my camera out at that time, and we were joking with Martin to break the ice. Eventually, the topic of owls came up, and I made a comment about how, back home, it was nearly impossible to photograph them, and it was like they were trying to mess with me. Fast forward about five minutes, for some reason, my camera is still in the camera bag, and we go up a small hill. There’s this rustle in the bushes, followed by a muffled whooshing noise, and a short-eared owl flies out of the underbrush ahead of me, close enough that I had to have almost stepped on it before it flew. It was the closest look I’ve ever gotten at a wild owl. I got close enough to see the individual down feathers on its back. It was a beautiful owl, and while I’m sad I didn’t get to photograph it, it was still an amazing experience, and a good sign for the rest of the night. A little while later, after driving away from a small lake, I stumbled upon (no, not literally, I only almost stepped on one bird) another really interesting find. A Eurasian Golden Plover. This bird oozed elegance; it was a small, relatively thin shorebird with incredibly striking markings. It had a black-and-gold triangle pattern on its body and had a black chest that complimented the feather pattern beautifully, making it look remarkably regal. I’d heard about these birds, but I didn’t expect them to be as beautiful as they were, nor did I expect to find them on our trip, but I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest. Another great prairie bird we found was a curlew. Now, curlews weren’t uncommon in the slightest, we probably saw upwards of fifty on this trip, but this one was unique for one reason. Earlier in the trip, Martin commented only minutes before on just how rare it was to see a curlew chick because of how protective their mothers are, not to mention how short they are and their tendency to stick to the tall grass. We were in luck, though. We were just driving down a little peninsula to get a better look at some grebes when Martin pointed out the window into a field. There, in the recently mowed grass, was a mother curlew, and as we looked closer, we spotted a little fluffball walking behind her as well. We slowly opened the car windows, and I snapped several photos of the little brown ball before they both walked back into the tall grass. It was so cute! It was tiny, fluffy, and just awkward enough to be hilarious, making for one of the cutest, funniest birds on the trip, as its legs and beak were just a little too big for it, causing it to waddle around in a decidedly adorable fashion. It really was a shame when it walked back into the fields of tall grass, because it was really fun to watch.

The last habitat we checked out, as you could probably guess given Norway’s typical terrain, is wetlands. The place is full of them, both fresh and saltwater, and they come packed with some of the most exciting birds in Norway. Just after the owl, Martin and I set up a scope pointing into a bird marsh. There were plenty of fun ducks there, including widgeons, pintails, and plenty of other small waterfowl. We weren’t looking for ducks here, though. We were there for Black-Tailed Godwits, a small, relatively rare wading bird that Martin had found in the area recently. When I heard that he’d found some, I immediately perked up. I have always had a soft spot for cool wading birds, and I’d been curious about what these ones looked like for a long time, so I grabbed the scope to check them out the moment Martin was done lining it up. I spent a long time watching the godwits just walking around and eating worms from the lakebed, but we eventually moved on to the next place, a horse-racing track with a large pond set into the middle of it. The track is used once every year or so for a horse race, but otherwise, it belongs to the birds. And boy, were there a lot of them. All the duck species from before were present, but there was one notable addition, Common Shelducks. These large, colorful ducks are amazing. They manage to be cute and elegant at the same time, and have a very interesting orange, white, and green palate that makes for a unique refreshing look on a duck. We watched those for a while, but just as we were about to leave, another, even cooler bird showed up. The Northern Lapwing. If you didn’t know, lapwings are a very peculiar type of wading bird with two features that set them apart. First off, most lapwings have some sort of head ornamentation, and secondly, they often have wing spurs that are used in diving attack runs to protect their nests. So, yeah, weird birds. The Northern Lapwing fits the first of these descriptions quite well, having a beautiful crest swooping back on its head that would not be out of place on a pheasant. While they don’t have the cool exposed wing spurs, they do have one other thing to make up for it, in my opinion. The entirety of their back and wings are colored an iridescent blue green tone, making for a VERY striking bird. These birds are remarkably pretty, and I was extremely happy to see one, if more than a little confused, as I had no idea lapwings of any kind could be found anywhere other than Africa. I spent a long time watching the little bird run in and out of the bushes and was so intent on watching it that I actually failed to notice its chick, which my parents said popped out of the bushes sometime while I was focused on the adult. I was immensely happy to see a lapwing in the wild, which was something I’d wanted to see for a long time, but until now, I had no idea you could find one in Lofoten (it’s not like I’m disappointed, though).

Now, for somewhat of an oddity. In fact, it’s one of the cutest oddities you’re ever going to see. While I couldn’t mention it in one of the above sections because it’s not exactly a bird, I do feel obligated to do so nonetheless. One of the highest things on my bucket list, though I severely doubted it would show itself, was a stoat. Luckily for me, while driving between two birding spots, my dad spotted something moving in a nearby trash can. It originally looked like nothing was there, but as we waited, a little stoat poked its head out of the opening in the can. It was amazingly cute, just sitting there in the opening with its little paws on the can’s rim, poking its head up to take a look at us. I immediately opened the car door and started snapping as many photos as I could, ecstatic to finally spot one of the animals I’d wanted to see for the longest time. It may have been the only thing to take up more memory card space than the Bluethroat. And the funniest part of the whole thing is… I found a bucket list animal quite literally in a bucket. Nature has a great sense of humor sometimes.

All in all, Lofoten has a wonderful cast of wildlife, and, as my friend the stoat kindly demonstrated for you, it is quite literally everywhere, so keep your eyes open. Another benefit of being in Loftoten, specifically during the summer months, is the lighting. Lofoten, due to it being above the arctic circle, has multiple weeks where the sun doesn’t go down at all, meaning that even on a midnight wildlife tour, which is when the animals are most active, you’ll still be able to see perfectly well, and the sun’s lowest point seems perfectly aligned to provide lighting for photography. So, do yourself a favor if you go to Lofoten, make sure to enjoy the wildlife while you’re there, you’ll get to see some wonderful animals. There is some truly great wildlife up there, ranging from stoats to Bluethroats, so there’s something for everyone. Unless you like parrots, then you’re out of luck, but if you like parrots, why would you look for them in Norway of all places? Anyway, obvious lack of parrots excluded, Lofoten is a haven for pretty much any type of bird you can find, and if you go birding there, you’re unlikely to be disappointed. Good luck, and happy birding, everyone!