A tribe of youngsters on the move.
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May 17 is National Day in Norway. Everyone gets dressed up and heads out and just has a blast. At the Palace, the king and his close family wave to the the children's parade from the Palace balcony. And the children's parade goes on for hours, with lots of flags, marching bands, and much hoopla. Many of the Norwegians dress in their bunads, which are wonderful and each unique and often with a story of their own about who sewed them and what the colors and details mean. It is always a highlight of Spring here, and some photos from the Oslo celebration follow. 
Most of the roads are closed in the central part of town, so everyone just walks down the streets.
The children's parade is here coming by a packed audience.
There is a little overlook at one point, where this couple is enjoying the view of the festivities.
Children running around the gardens in town.
There is a rule that all the children get to eat lots of ice cream and hot dogs. Here are some twins working on the ice cream end of that rule.
Young couples all dressed up are not the norm, but can be found.
While there is a lot of fun going on, this bit was an odd addition to the day.
If you aren't Norwegian, or your bunad is at the cleaners, you still get dressed up and show off.
Russ, and all that it entails, I am sorry to say that I am not expert enough to cover. But the short version is that high school seniors, before graduation, get a set of colorful bib overalls (most are red, but there are other colors), and generally go about making a lot of noise... and do those things folks at that age with no adult supervision, will do. More info can be found on this wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russefeiring So one fine Sunday morning we were walking about in Tromsø, Norway, and even from a distance noticed that the statuary in a local park had an odd appearance. Once near, it was pretty clear that the Russ folks had painted the head red during the night (which is pretty bold, as while the sun does set, it never gets dark in Tromsø in early May). So I took a photo of the statuary, with the red head.  However, just as I was taking this photo, some folks showed up who had a more professional interest in the vandalism. So I took their picture as well.  Overall, a case of vandalism by students with no adult supervision, which will likely cost serious money to repair, and unlikely anyone ever gets punished for it.
 Inside the domkirke (main church) of Tromsø, Norway.  At first glance this looks like chaos after a hurricane, yet it sifts down to a quite organized bit when you look closer, of the mid-section of a fairly large fishing boat.  The white wagtail is, in general, a ground bird. But as its name suggests, it is a twitchy brid and hard to photograph standing still. Here is another effort at photographing the bird. 
These squirrels are just so pretty. Here the squirrel is in the wind, so the ear tufts are blown back. The raised and tucked foreleg is a mystery, as it was sitting like this and not just scratching fleas.
It was raining for much of the day, and on the cold side in the lower 40s. But a lot of birds came into to feeders. Not the best conditions for taking pictures, but some results follow.  A siskin, one of the newer arrivals at the feeders.  A blue tit in the apple tree.  White wagtail on the ground, where they prefer to be.  Wood pigeon fluffed up for the cold wind.  Goldfinch at the nearly empty feeder.  The goldfinch fighting. |
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Keith Christenson Wildlife Biologist Archives
September 2021
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