The worlds most trusting bird?

When you see a bird, normally it will try to avoid getting close to you. Except for birds being fed in cities and chicks that havent learned yet, this is usually how it is, but not up here at the top of the World! The Red Phalarope (Polarsvømmesnipe) is a truly beautiful bird, and the fact that the female is the one who fight for males and who let the male deal With incubating and chick-rearing makes its history interesting as well. A short trip in the valley with a friend ended up in another great series of photos on this stunning species. When I walked down to the pair they were about seven meters away, and when I sat down next to the pond they were about five meters away. This is a great distance to photograph birds at, and the only problem with these birds are that they dont act like other birds. They both came swimming towards me, and I had to start to back up because they were suddenly within the three meters distance I need for my 500mm to focus. This is great to experience, and I love it every time I get to have such an encounter with such a great creature. 

Red Phalarope female

Red Phalarope male

The happy couple!

 

 

Lots of Brent Geese have allso visited the valley lately, so I had to have at least one pic of one of them. :)

 

Adult Brent Goose, subspecies hrota

 

Being out enjoying nature and wildlife together with others who are passionate about the same as me is something I truly appreciate, and when I manage to fill up their wish-list of birds I feel like I have managed to fullfill a proper task. On this trip I was out driving with a woman who works as a guide on one of the cruises around the island. I met her the day before, when she told me that the bird she really wanted to see was the King Eider (Praktærfugl). I remembered this when I drove by a couple who was feeding just next to the road, so I went to town and picked her up so she could meet them. We ended up having seen five or six pairs in the end, and the pair I have photographed here were lying just four meters away from us. And when I wanted to show her the Red Phalaropes they were really in spring-mood, of the five pairs we got to see, thre of them were prepairing the next generation of phalaropes with rapid wingbeats..... All of these colorful birds, in the midle of the Arctic, its truly amazing!

 

King Eider male

King Eider female

 

And to finish of this drive we found this male Long-tailed Duck (Havelle) next to the road. She was used to seing them in winter-plumage, so seing him in this transition-plumage was something she appreciated.

 

Long-tailed Duck male

May 19th

Even though the wind now has blown for more than two weeks without stop, there are still some birds that manage to hang on up here. Was out for a short birding-trip today, and we actually managed to see some nice birds and animals.

For me, the biggest probably wa to find one of the adult Iceland Gulls (Grønlandsmåke) again. It was not at its most helpfull when it came to photographing, but we both got OK pics of it. For Chris I think the Arctic Fox (Fjellrev) that we saw might have been the highlight of the trip. Even though it did not come in close, we at least got some nice views of it.

Since Chris is a sea-bird-watcher, he did not miind too much when I suggested to go to Vestpynten to see what would come flying by at sea. Due to the strong wind and the cold we did this in two episodes, where the secoond try was definately the best. We agreed on that there had to have been more than 1000 Fulmars (Havhest) that flew in front, over and behind us. We felt like we were actually in the way of theire fly-way. To have these Fulmars flying at arm-length away was a mighty experience. In between these there were good numbers of Kittiwakes (Krykkje) and a few Glaucous Gulls (Polarmåke).

when we ended the birding we said "Hello" to a King Eider (Praktærfugl) which was trying to court a Common Eider (Ærful) female at Gammelkaia. Maybe it is the same guy as was in the Eider-colony last year?

Today I learnt that a four-whell-drive car is nessecary when birding in the Arctic, since a white-out and snowdrifts tend to get your car stuck in the middle of nowhere. And I again learned that watching seabirds can be great fun, as long as you have the correct company! :)

Here are some pics from todays windy birding:

This is evidence that the Arctic Foxes are stil around :)

Iceland Gull, doesnt it look nice?

"Angry" eye on the Iceland Gull.

Fulmar at seven metres distance

Fulmar at three (!) metres distance!

Fulmar avoiding collision with the photographer.

Kittiwake

Glaucous Gull

Glaucous Gull

King Eider showing off!!

King Eider showing off from the other side.

Can you spot the mistake he has done?

Wind, wind and more wind!

The last two weeks or so have been terrible regarding birdwatching. I have not seen this much snow fall down in Svalbard in such a short time-period in my three years up here. When the snow was done coming down, the wind started to pick up. And it has now been blowing for more than a week non-stop. It has actually been so bad at times that I have been found talking about planting a spruce-plantation just to calm the wind down. And my little Toyota, although it has four-wheel-drive, is no match for compacted snow and huge snowdrifts, so I havent been able to get to my gull-trap to set it for a long time either. But it has to end at some point. Spring does show an appearance at some times, and then it melts like never before, with huge puddles all over.

But enogh of the negative thinking. There are some really lovely birds around now as well, although they are difficult to find when it is an effective -20 outside the car. Snowbuntings (Snøspurv) are increasing in numbers, and the males are now singing all over. The King Eiders (Praktærfugl) and the Common Eiders (Ærfugl) are displaying and are showing proper courting behaviour. The first pair of Long-tailed Ducks (Havelle) are lying in the harbour, and the Pink-footed Geese (Kortnebbgås) have started to return up here.

I managed to spot my first Greater Black-backed Gull (Svartbak) of the year the other day, teh same day as I managed to see th "Viking Gull" again. This time I got nice fight views of it at a distance together with Chris Darby. Nice to have somebody else to share this interesting bird with.

Hopefully I will be able to get som OK shots of the birds and nature in teh days to come, but in the mean time, here are some shots that I have managed to take in the wind.

Long-tailed Duck pair

Resting King Eiders

Common Eider, ssp. borealis, note the yellow bill and the "sails" on the back

June 19th

A few of the birds I saw today is allowed space on my blog today. To begin with this Arctic Tern (Rødnebbterne) is one of the many with territory in the delta at the time. I found a good place to stand, and ended up with a few OK pictures when they came flying by at short distances.

The King Eider (Praktærfugl) in Tuedammene is still giving great views, and even though teh strong sun did not suit my photography too much today, I am posting this picture. 



To see a Teal (Krikand) is allways a nice thing up here. These small dabbling ducks are more or less allways present, but they can be difficult to find.

The Red/Grey Phalaropes (Polarsvømmesnipe) that are seen nowadays are mostly females like this one. I am fairly certain that there is at least five pairs on this side of the river this year, based on the amount of females that are lying steady in different areas.



June 18th

This is y 90th blog-post, and since I did not find any more interesting birds to photograph today, I spent my time out to read flags of Purple Sandpipers (Fjæreplytt). I managed to read twelve different individuals on the tundra, and I am quite pleased with this. The first picture shows the flag-type that we are using this year, dark green with white letters (AMA). The second picture shows one of the birds that were ringed last year, and this has got a lime-colored flag with black letters (EAY).

The last picture of today is of the King Eider (Praktærfugl) -pair that is still lying in Tuedammene.

June 17th

Once again I have only got pictures of the regular species to show. Today I have got pictures of a male Long-tailed Duck (Havelle) and on of the pairs of King Eiders. I will soon have to try to get pictures either of different species, or from different angles, because I am starting to get lots of similar pictures now! Still I hope that you out there will enjoy them.



June 13th

This pair of King Eiders (Praktærfugl) have been staying in Tuedammene for quite some time, and I guess that thefemale will be lying eggs in the area pretty soon. But it is nice to have such a place where I am more or less sure of getting to see the female of this species. They are truly beautiful!

June 12th

These pictures were all taken when Eirik and I came back from the trip that was talked about in the previous blog. The King Eider (Praktærfugl) male was trying to convince the Common Eider (Ærfugl) female that the Eider male was not good enough for her. At the same time the Arctic Terns (Rødnebbterne) did not take much notice of this, and other Common Eiders were more busy keeping on their own partners.