Finland and Arctic Norway Birdwatching Tour

Finland and Arctic Norway Birdwatching Tour
When: Sat 26 May - Sun 10 June 2012
Leaders: Chris Doughty and Harri Taavetti

Finland and Arctic Norway Birdwatching Tour
Melbourne/Melbourne (16 Days) $10,460
Single Room Supplement $680
Ground Content (ex Helsinki) $8,400

Summer in the Arctic is a truly fabulous experience; the sun never sets for months on end, fuelling the spectacular, but all too brief explosion of life that makes the Arctic summer so exciting. The regions many special birds can still be found close to their nesting sites and the first of the migrants from Siberia, notably loons, waders and skuas, will have recently arrived. The tour combines the vast taiga forests, lakes and marshes of Finnish Lapland; with the dramatic fjords, coastal tundra and uplands of Arctic Norway's unspoilt Varanger Peninsula, on the edge of the Barents Sea. These breathtaking landscapes are largely uninhabited; except for the thousands of birds which make these massive areas of undisturbed and truly inspiring natural habitats their summer home. Huge colonies of seabirds line the rugged cliffs, whilst in the forests and bogs the silence is broken only by the song of Bluethroats, Redwings, Wood and Broad-billed Sandpipers, and the eerie drumming of Jack Snipe. Amongst the areas most notable specialities are the northern forest owls and this unique tour has been specifically timed to co-inside with the height of their breeding season, when nesting activity is at its peak. Great Grey, Ural, Snowy, Northern Hawk, Tengmalm's, and Eurasian Pygmy Owls should all be busy rearing chicks. We commence the tour in the Bay of Liminka at Oulu, on the edge of the Gulf of Bothnia. Here, less than 150 kilometres from the Arctic Circle, the internationally-famous wetland reserve of Liminganlahti lies on the migratory flyway of thousands of wildfowl, cranes and waders. In the forests around Oulu we shall look for Common Cuckoo, Sedge Warbler, Northern Wheatear and Eurasian Siskin. The following evening we will visit a comfortable, purpose built baiting hide, which attracts up to a dozen Wolverines, as well as Brown Bear and the occasional pack of Wolves. Near the Russian border at Kuusamo, amidst taiga forest, lakes and bogs, we shall keep a sharp watch for Taiga Bean Goose, Hazel Grouse, Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker, Northern Hawk Owl, Red-flanked Bluetail, Siberian Tit, Siberian Jay and Little Bunting. We then travel way north of the Arctic Circle, where Norway's Varanger Peninsula offers a complete contrast; an Arctic environment of low fells, tundra, coastal marshes, bogs and craggy sea cliffs. White-tailed Eagles, Gyr Falcons and thousands of seabirds including Brunnich's Guillemot, haunt the coastal cliffs whilst on the sea there are vast flocks of Common Eider, with smaller numbers of Steller's and King Eiders. Arctic pools attract Red-throated Loons, Ruffs and pirouetting Red-necked Phalaropes. The huge expanse of tundra at nearby Batsfjord literally teams with birdlife, including Snowy Owl, Eurasian Dotterel, Rock Ptarmigan, Long-tailed Skua, Horned Lark and Snow and Lapland Buntings.