May 21st

The fun birds just keep on coming, and some of them are showing off well too. On the 21st I first got the chance to photograpg a lovely couple of Long-tailed Ducks (Havelle). The male really showed off his long tail as to display why they have got their english name.

As I drove towards Bjørndalen, two little dots on a pond caught my attention. There were the first pair of Tufted Ducks (Toppand) of the season. They were not afraid of me when sat inside the car, so they gave me a good opportunity to photograph them.

When I had photographed the Tufted Ducks I drove back into town, and drove down to LOFF-huset, the viewpoint over the Adventvalley Delta, as I usually do. At first there were no special birds to be seen, but after a while I got aware of a sound that I had heard a couple of days earlier. I lifted the camera, and just managed to get a few pictures of an adult male Common Teal (Krikkand) as it flew by.

As I stood there, hoping for the Teal to come back so that I could get some better photos of it, I heard a strange, Black-headed Gull-like (Hettemåke) sound. I took up my binoculars and tried to see what bird was coming, but I was not able to see anything against the white mountains. And then, suddenly, out of nowhere came two Ivory Gulls (Ismåke). the binoculars were quickly swapped for the camera, and I managed to get a quick picture of the last bird flying past me.

I then continued my drive up the valley, towards Lomdammen and Mine 6. When I thought I had seen the birds that were of interest I turned around to go home again, and then I got to see a little gull that was sat on the wet tundra. There a Common Gull (Fiskemåke) was sitting all on its own. This was the two-year-old that I had seen earlier outside my house and in the delta.