Seabourn Club Herald November 2011, V21 N3 : Page 32During this annual flight of passage, searching for the perfect summer cliff, crevice or burrow is paramount. Although site fidelity for returning migrant couples such as the Atlantic Puffins has its privileges at the breeding colonies, “squawkers rights” rule and first-come, first-roost. While the puffin and kittiwake populations take over some of the biggest chunks of real estate, the fulmars, gannets, shags, guillemots and various other species carve out their own little niches. The classic White-Tailed Eagle (but otherwise brownish) likes the good life on the island colonies as well since Europe’s largest raptor has the pick of the litter from its avian neighbors. Although seabirds have a home in every port from Bergen to Stavanger, in the northern two-thirds of the country where bird colonies are the largest, waterfront property is in high demand and the steeper, the better — islands, headlands and cliffs fill up fast. Runde Island (near Alesund), which attracts some 500,000 to 700,000 nesters, is famous for its 100,000 pairs of puffins while Røst, on the tip of the Lofoten Island chain, is home to some 2.5 million feathered residents. And then there’s Storstappen, an island community perched above the Arctic Circle in the country’s northernmost region of Finnmark, which is home to more than a million puffins. R andall Hy man STOPPING AT STORSTAPPEN There are many reasons to make port at 71 degrees north on Magerøya Island. The small picturesque town of Honningsvåg is definitely one, while the even smaller and quainter fishing village of Gjesvær, the jumping off point to reach Storstappen, has more than a million reasons. “It’s about 2,000 miles to the North Pole from here — and nothing in between,” says my bird safari tour boat guide, Roger Walsoe, as the pier at Gjesvær disappears from view. That certainly seems believable as he points out the far-off cliff of Knivskjelodden, considered Europe’s true northernmost point, jutting out into the Arctic Ocean some 9 miles in the distance. But a voyage to the Pole will have to wait. The reason I’m here is for the birds. It takes only 10 minutes to reach Storstappen’s millennia-old nesting cliffs, the largest of Gjesværstappen Nature Reserve’s four islands. The sailing is smooth, the island is close to shore and the seabird spotting is a sure thing. As the 928-foot-tall island comes into view, what I see makes my jaw drop. Fortunately, I instinctively close the gap before gazing skyward, as flying overhead are the millions of “reasons,” plus or minus a few, to come to Gjesvær. The village of Gjesvær on Magerøya Island Publication List Using a screen reader? Click Here |
