December 11th

Yet another stunning evening of Aurora (Nordlys). I stood out in the cold and photographed until my camera decided that the battery should freeze, and hence stop my photo-shoot. But I did manage to get off a couple off nice pics though.

Update on November 17th

In the evening of the 17th there was again some Auroral (Nordlys) activity in the sky, and me and my girlfriend rushed out to get a glimpse of it. Unfortunately the moon was quite bright so the pictures didnt become the best ones ever, but the scenery was awesome. White mountains and tundra lit up by moonlight, with green mist on the dark blue skye. And as the last picture shows, it was a pretty cold evening. -18 Celsius demands proper clothes. But I find it quite remarkable that I managed to get a bright moon and aurora in the same picture!

November 17th

This is Longyearbyen in winterplumage. There has been a lot of photos online lately of the Aurora (Nordlys) which has been seen on the skyline lately, but since I havent managed to get myself out there when the Aurora has been there this is the best I can do so far this season.

August 17th

A day of photographing! What a seldom treat! And when I actually managed to get a couple off good shots I am more than happy. The first bird that I encountered amde my heart jump a little to begin with, before I saw what it actually was. At first glimpse, when I could only see the head it looked like a Cackling Goose (Polargås). Given the fact that I have been here long enough to ha ve seen many strange Barnacle Geese (Hvitkinngås), I found a better position to watch from. This resulted in that I could confirm that it was in deed a juvenile Barnacle. The angle of the head when I first saw it was such that the white forehead-patch was hidden, but when it turned its head it was visible. Together with a grey back and white underside its a plain Barnacle.

When I went further out I came across a quite photogenic Arctic Fox. It showed off well for some minutes before it went on its way to find todays ration of food. As the last picture shows, it even knows that it has to look along the road before it crosses.

Other species that I manged to get some good pictures of were a Fulmar (Havhest) and a Glaucous Gull (Polarmåke) that came flying past me at Vestpynten. I got some nice pictures of female Eiders (Ærfugl) with their still downy chicks roosting on the beach on Kullkaia, and a stretching adult Purple Sandpiper (Fjæreplytt) and a roosting adult Purple Sandpiper finnished off the day.

August 11th

Today I was ringing Purple Sandpipers (Fjæreplytt) and Dunlins (Myrsnipe) again in the Advent Delta. I am attaching a couple of pictures of a young and an adult to show the different markings on the belly. I am allso attaching some photos of my emergency setup of powersupply to the speakers I am using. The two batteries that I have got were both empty, so the only way to manage to keep ringing was to use the one sat in the car. On the last picture you can see the traps that I am using.

August 10th

Again the Arctic Terns (Rødnebbterne) was my main topic for this birding trip. I wanted to get a few good pics of the chicks that had fledges by now, but again nature doesnt give you the motives you want easily. The pictures I wanted to get were of flying fledglings, but since they were reluctant to take flight I had to settle with some of sitting birds. I am not the one to force them into flying.

As the picture above shows, the terns were not to pleased to have the Arctic Skua around. But I find the skua quite a nice bird, and I had a little photo-session with that one too.

August 8th

Finally I got to do some proper photographing again. To have as many interests as I have that tend to not work together are sometimes difficult. today I went out birding with a finnish man who is probably just as bad as me when it comes to birds. We were stood next to each other photographing most of the feathered creatures that came by. We spent about four hours in the wind, and I got to show him hundreds of Fulmars (Havhest), wich he had not seen for eight years. He also got quite enthusiastic baout photographing the last remainging Little Auks (Alkekonge) that were left in the colony in Bjørndalen. I mainly focused on some Purple Sandpipers (Fjæreplytt) and Arctic Terns (Rødnebbterne).

August 7th

A new day of ringing in the delta, and now it seems that most of the local waders have left the area. I saw just a few Purple Sandpipers (Fjæreplytt), and only one Dunlin(Myrsnipe), a week ago there were at least seventy Purple Sandpipers and thirty Dunlins here. Today I only managed to catch ten new Purple Sandpipers and one wich I had ringed a week ago, but I got a little bonus in an adult male Ringed Plover (Sandlo).

August 2nd

Finally I got to take some photos again. Most of the summer I have been either ringing birds or I have been trying to find their nests and young. But tiday I finally got to sit down for a little while to photograph birds that came flying by in the delta. I took this picture of an adult Glaucous Gull (Polarmåke) just as the sun came clear of the clouds, and the effect it gave I think is quite cool.

July 22nd

Late evenings are in general a good time to see wildlife as you probably know, but not everybody are as fortunate with the wildlife as we are up here in Longyearbyen. In London I have seen Red Fox (Rødrev) in the streets, and in Oslo I have seen Badger (Grevling), but this evening an Arctic Fox (Fjellrev) came wandering in before my apartement and started sniffing at the car and was yelled at by Snowbuntings (Snøspurv) and Arctic Terns (Rødnebbterne).

Boattrip 18th July

Since I am a resident of Longyearbyen, I dont get around to do all the tourist-things that you can do around here. But when my father was up here visiting this weekend we went on a boat-trip to the other side of the main fiord, Isfjorden, to another fiord, Billefjorden. There were lots of birds to be seen, among them were Atlantic Puffin ssp. Naumanni (Lunde), Brünnick's Guillemot (Polarlomvi), Black Guillemot (Teist), Razorbill (Alke), Little Auk (Alkekonge), Fulmar (Havhest), Kittwake (Krykkje), Glaucous Gull (Polarmåke), Black-Backed Gull (Svartbak), Sabine's Gull (Sabinemåke), Ringed Plover (Sandlo) and Purple Sandpiper (Fjæreplytt).


I am adding a picture of a puffin ssp. Naumanni, which you can see have got grey cheeks, and some pictures of the normal landscape viewed from the sea here.

Atlantic Puffin ssp. Naumanni

Bilefjorden, viwed towards North

Isfjorden, viewed towards East

The birdcliff in Skansebukta, viewed towards North