Sunday morning hike

[Will York]

I live a good 300 miles north of Bergen, in Romsdal county...

Nice to see. My maternal grandmother was Norwegian and I still have relatives in Stavanger--last visited them more than 30 years ago. Thanks for those great pictures--especially the the panorama over the fjord. Beautiful.

What is the primary conifer species in those forest photos?

thx,
will

 

[RussMo]

Beautiful Pics there Gunnar S!!! Reminds me of SouthEast Alaska, and Prince William Sound area.

 

[Gunnar S]

Nice to see. My maternal grandmother was Norwegian and I still have relatives in Stavanger--last visited them more than 30 years ago. Thanks for those great pictures--especially the the panorama over the fjord. Beautiful.

What is the primary conifer species in those forest photos?

thx,
will

You should come over again :thumbup:

I've never heard the word "conifer" before, but I assume we're talking trees?
The main one is spruce, followed by pine. Leaf trees on the other hand is a total chaos, but I think the Birch is the most widespread. There's also a lot of maple, rowan, ash, alder and juniper. Hecka lot of juniper actually, but they rarely become very big.


RussMo, yeah, it's a mix of Alaska/Canada/New Zealand.
Only smaller, and not so rough during winter

 

[Will York]

Thanks, Gunnar. So the trees in this sunrise picture and around the ant hill are spruce? Beautiful forest. What kinds of wildlilfe do you see there?

 

[Gunnar S]

Thanks, Gunnar. So the trees in this sunrise picture and around the ant hill are spruce? Beautiful forest. What kinds of wildlilfe do you see there?

Yep, that's spruce. The trunks don't look like much in the midst of the forests, due to lack of light and no "need" to grow branches there.
As for wildlife, I don't know all the English words, but I'll try.
The ones we see all the time: deer, moose (we call 'em King of the forest), fox, eagle, hare and other small game.
The ones that are there all the time that we don't see very often: badgers, bobcat, plus some from the bear family that I don't know the English word for.
In addition we have stray bears and the occasional wolf.
Lots of local sheep farmers lost dozens of sheep to the bear this summer, and I've found carcasses ripped apart myself.

Of course we have all the other stuff, like chipmunks, falcons, vipers, frogs and lizards

[edit]The spruce forest is mostly home to the larger mammals though and some carnivores that climb trees (not bear, but the one I don't know the name for)[edit]


I caught this little bugger a couple years ago:

 

[Will York]

Wow, that's an impressive array of wildlife. Are you a hunter, and if so, what do you like to hunt?

Is that little critter in the last pic some kind of salamander or skink?

 

[silverdragon33]

very cool place. hope i'll be able to find some good hikes in the snow soon. nice pics

 

[rbmcmjr]

The ones that are there all the time that we don't see very often: badgers, bobcat, plus some from the bear family that I don't know the English word for.

Wolverine?

Technically a member of the weasel family.

 

[Gunnar S]

Wow, that's an impressive array of wildlife. Are you a hunter, and if so, what do you like to hunt?

Is that little critter in the last pic some kind of salamander or skink?

I'm not sure what a skink is, and a salamander is amphibious I think.
We don't have salamanders at my location.
The critters scientific name is Lacerta vivipara or "common lizard".
I don't hunt, I have in the past but I never really got the hang of it.
It's wrapped in bureaucracy here. It was fun though, and I hunted bird and small game when I did.


rbmcmjr: wolverine! Thanks, that was the name!
Weasel family, that makes sense.
Those things sure move fast! Like the bear, they take their share of sheep around here.
There's two tree climbers that are more common than the wolverine in this area though:

Looks like weasel family as well?

 

[Will York]

Thanks, Gunnar! That was very fun to hear about, and your pictures made it even more entertaining.

Stay warm!
Will

 

[rbmcmjr]

rbmcmjr: wolverine! Thanks, that was the name!
Weasel family, that makes sense.
Those things sure move fast! Like the bear, they take their share of sheep around here.
There's two tree climbers that are more common than the wolverine in this area though:

Looks like weasel family as well?

I'm pretty sure that is a Pine Marten, and yes it is a weasel variant.