Sometimes I wake up early, around 5 am or so, and I can hear the seagulls crying in the distance. They are actually not so far away. They live along the Akerselva river, which is the river that divides Oslo east and Oslo west. Our apartment is about a five-minute walk from the river. The gulls did not live along the river earlier, but I think like most creatures, they have discovered that humans leave food about and that is the great magnet that draws them into the city. There is more food about now because there are quite a lot of newly-built apartment complexes along the river. If I close my eyes and listen to the gulls, I could imagine that I was out in a boat on the ocean, listening to them as they fly overhead. It is odd to think that they have invaded the city. I admire them, like I admire most birds. They adapt. They disappear for some years and then return when conditions are more favorable. God knows where they have gone to in the meantime. This year Oslo has seagulls, magpies, doves, pigeons and sparrows in abundance, and they are all flying about, calling to one another and looking for food to feed their families. I love watching and listening to them. Our apartment has small balconies that can be used in the case of fire, but not for much else. However, the birds love sitting there, and if we throw bread crumbs out, they are there within minutes. It has been interesting to watch the pecking order so to speak—the sparrows must wait their turn while the pigeons feast, but when the magpies arrive, the pigeons move down a rung on the ladder. The magpies rule. They are cool birds. We have watched them annoy the local neighborhood cats—pulling on their tails—and the cats take the abuse. It is seldom that we have seen a cat turn and attack a magpie. The magpies strut and hop about, calling to each other. It is interesting to listen to them ‘talk’ to each other. They shriek. The doves also call to each other, but they do not shriek like the magpies. The magpies have nested in the tree outside our bedroom window. If you are a light sleeper, you may find them a bit irritating. I am a light sleeper at times, but I do not find them irritating at all. I am glad for their presence in the city—glad for the presence of all the birds.
The pigeons are the tamest of all the city birds—they will take a piece of bread from your fingers if you offer it, and this seems to characterize them no matter where you are in the world (Trafalgar Square in London comes to mind—although feeding the pigeons there is a part of a bygone era). They are also the birds I think might one day attempt a foray into our living room. Three of them sat on the ledge outside our open living room window tonight and peered in. They are funny to watch in the wintertime—they stand outside the kitchen window ‘waiting’ for food, and a few of them have actually tapped on the glass. It is endearing. This reminds me of the swans and the Canadian geese that swim right up to our boat when we are out on the Oslo fjord in the hope of obtaining some food, which they usually get. Both of these types of birds hiss, and at times the swans have actually ‘bitten’ the boat in an effort to get our attention or to get even more food. Swans are beautiful birds. When we traveled up and down the Telemark Canal some years ago with our boat, there were many swans at nearly all the local wharfs we stopped at. When we vacationed on the island of Strømtangen some years ago, which has an old house connected to a lighthouse, we would awake in the morning to a number of swallows that sat on the edge of our bedroom window. They simply sat there and watched us as we slept. They would also fly about, swooping up and down, almost like bats, but did not fly into the room. They were also pretty amazing birds. We are not very good at identifying all of the different birds around us, so the purchase of a Norwegian bird book is in order. We’ve been talking about it for a while and hopefully we’ll get around to doing so this summer.
