Wintering birds from the North
The Winter is a perfect time of the year for birders to visit Ørland. Many arctic bird species spend the winter here. Glaucous gull, the Iceland gull are both regular visitors toghether with the common loon and the yellow-billed loon. The fields are often free of snow which attracts wintering passerines, geese and the whooper swan (which is the offical bird of the municipality). Raptors like the white-tailed eagle, the peregrine falcon and the gyrfalcon prey on the above.
Sites
Garten: By the ferry dock and by the breakwater you can often observe large amounts of seabirds in the shallow-water area which forms the outer part of Grandefjæra and the area towards Storfosen island. This is one of the best places to spot the yellow-billed loon during the Winter season.
Tarva: The whole archipelago and the surrounding shallow-water areas have many wintering bird species. The red-necked grebe and the horned grebe are common here. The islands are fairly far from land so after stormy weather you can often observe procellariiformes.
Uthaug harbour: This is a popular destination for birders during winter season. It is not uncommon to see glaucous gulls and the Iceland gull at the same time. At this site there has also been made several observations of rare gull species like Ross's gull, Ivory gull and Bonaparte's gull.