by Theunis Piersma

As part of Bodø’s (central coastal Norway) role as Culture Capital of Europe 2024, Sytze Pruiksma (www.sytzepruiksma.com) and BirdEyes’ Theunis Piersma were invited by the Vega World Heritage Centre, on the island of Vega, as ‘artists in residence’. We, Sytze and Theunis had the privilege to experience the archipelago and shortly be part of the impressive cultural heritage of the Vega islanders: their careful tending of breeding eiders (ærfugl in Norwegian) and eider nests, with the eventual collection and processing of eider down after the chicks hatch and the extended families have left the nest. Under the wings of Rita, Vibeke and Kyrre we explored ‘mainland’ Vega but also spent two days on an offshore eider-island called Bremstein. Eider tender Vinka showed us the nests, natural but mostly man-made, and the familiar eider females that she cared for.

Back on mainland Vega we had a rainy day to establish a story. Bar-tailed godwits (lappspove in Norwegian), that we know are migrating across the Vega archipelago during northward, but especially during southward migration, to and from the tundra breeding grounds, have helped us to see how trust between birds and people can develop and how well the birds can read human intentions. If young people have to be taught now to develop reciprocal relationships with eiders, don’t the eiders themselves have to learn how to deal with people? Does their trust reflect this education, and does the trust include the reading of human intentions?