A sculpture on the north-east headland of the island Tautra. It's a rooster, a literal interpretation of a less common Norwegian word, "glohane" = "ember rooster", here taken to mean "meat roasting on a spit". (One may also suspect a second meaning, local to Trondheim: "a strong alcoholic drink".) Members of Trondhjems Seilforening (yachting club) sail past for their annual barbecue in the vicinity and raised this "seamark" for their 1998 centennial.



On the calm sea behind a few eider couples can be seen. The female duck is dark (brown), the male has a lot of white during the mating season (and the whole winter).

This island use to be an important breeding site for the (wild) eiders. There were no predators and the shallow strait towards the mainland provided plenty of the bird's food, the common mussels. In 1979 a 2½ kilometer road had been built across the strait. It's visible on the water horizon in the right half of the picture. This had two effects: The road stopped the tidal current trough the strait so that the mussels didn't thrive there anymore and foxes and badgers had free access to the eggs and chickens on the island. In 2003 some of the road stone filling was replaced by a bridge (behind the pole) and an automated gate prevents the predators from crossing the bridge. Now the mussels are back and if the gate's failure rate now will stay low, there is hope for the eiders.
(2005-04-24)

A picture showing the road more clearly.