The strange and the beautiful!

I have heard my share of comments about how strange I am due to the fact that I am passionate about birds, and that I spend as much as possible of my spare time to search for, and look at these feathered creatures. But this week I got to see, once again, one of the birds that really could be posted on any wall, and even People who are not truly into birds would go; "Thats a really cool bird". I have also gotten to see one of those who you really need to be "above averge" interested in birds to enjoy!

First, the colours of the Northern Shoveler (Skjeand) will make most perople look an extra time time at the male. But possibly the most interesting feature of the bird to most people is the strange beak. The strange shovel-shape makes it stand out among most other birds. To see a pair of these here in the High Arctic is just amazing to me. When I saw a pair of them up here last year it was 16 years since the species was seen up here the last time. Now I was once again sat together With them, and this time they were feeding only about Three meters away from me. It was a truly amazing experience!

Not the usual place to find Northern Shovelers, in a ice-covered pond on Spitzbergen, With a background of piles of coal and snow-covered Mountains. 



A truly spectacular array of colours on the back and wings of this species!

The Wind made the male display some of his feathers.

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She had an itch....

Wonderful colours in the late day sun....

I know a couple of people who are "Gull-heads". These are birders who know lots about gulls, and how to separate the different species, which is really dificult With these closely related species. As a result of these people I too have become very interested in gulls, and up here I have gotten to know a few species that People at home dont see as often as I do. The one gull that I found this week is probably a hybrid between European Herring Gull (Gråmåke) and Glaucous Gull (Polarmåke). This hybrid have actually got its own "name", Viking Gull (Vikingmåke). This individual, on top of being a hybrid, has got a wing-pattern that led me to think of Thayers Gull (Eskimomåke), wich is a real rarity in Europe. But very little black colour on top of the flight feathers, and allmost no black, just grey, on the underside of the flight feathers made me sure of my identification. If I am strange due to my interests, I am happy to be so! :)

Posing as a European Herring Gull (Gråmåke)

Showing restricted black in the primaries.

Showing the "Thayers-like" pattern in the primaries fairly well.

Before it shows the pale underside of the primaries.

Other than this I almost got hit by a Brambling (Bjørkefink) which was chased by the resident Snowbunting (Snøspurv) which took it for a competitor for the breeding rights!

May 2013, this far.

May is a wonderfull month when it comes to birds, amd here are some of the more interesting birds that I have had the pleasure of seeing this far in may.

May 11th:

The first goose of the year had arrived at Hotellneset. This was a Canadagoose, ssp. parvipes (Kanadagås, underarten parvipes). We were not expecting it to be this species, so both Vegard and I were surprised when the "Pink-footed Goose" (Kortnebbgås) showed a clear white cheek.......

May 13th:

One of the first unusual gulls that I have gotten to see this year. A Black-headed Gull (Hettemåke) spent a few days in the delta before disappearing again.

May 18th:

Another interesting gull up here in the High Arctic, a Common Gull (Fiskemåke) was seen for only one day before it had disappeared again.

May 19th:

American birds are a rare treat in Svalbard, and after the Canada Goose on the 11th of May, a sighting of a Pectoral Sandpiper (Alaskasnipe) was very nice.

And to make it even better, just next to it a Lapland Longspur (Lappspurv) was feeding at the edge of the pond.

May 20th:

Another bird from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean showed itself in Adventdalen, a Greater White-Fronted Goose, subspecies flavirostris (Tundragås, underarten flavirostris) was sitting in between a flock of Pink-Footed Geese (Kortnebbgås).

May 21st:

A total of three good birds photographed this day. The first is a Pectoral Sandpiper (Alaskasnipe) male that chased of a second male, and then kept displaying on the tundra. This is not a species that should be breeding on this side of the Atlantic, so there could be something really interesting going on here.

A Great Black-Backed Gull (Svartbak) was sleeping next to a little flock of Gaucous Gulls (Polarmåke).

 

And finally a pair of Long-Tailed Ducks (Havelle) were resting in the harbour on my way back home. 

 

 

May 22nd:

A male Tufted Duck (Toppand) was the highlight of this day.

May 23rd:

A Taiga Bean Goose (sædgås, underarten rossicus) gave great views for when sat in the car only 25 meters away from it.

May 25th:

Another sighting of the Viking Gull (Vikingmåke) was a cery nice experience. It came in to eat bread together with the Galucous Gulls (Polarmåke). This hybrid between Herring Gull (Gråmåke) and Glaucous Gull (Polarmåke) is very little described in the litterature, so pictures like these are very good to have for future ID-ing of individuals.

Looking very much like a Herring Gull.

Very little markings on right underwing and left upperwing.

Very little markings on right upperwing and left underwing.

Probable "Viking" Gull yesterday and another cr-gull today!

After having looked over the pictures of the mystery gull from yesterday, I have come to the conclusion that this is probably a "Viking" Gull, a hybrid between Herring Gull (Gråmåke) and Glaucous Gull (Polarmåke). It has been difficult to find photos of adult Viking Gulls, and of the ones that I could find none looked too much like mine. I think it is probably a second or third generation hybrid, where the original hybrid has bred with a Herring Gull, and possibly an offspring from this has bred again with another Herring Gull. The bird appeared to me as a typical Herring Gull to begin with, but when I got to see the wingtips better, there was several things that didnt fit the blueprint. The pattern both above kind of resembles that of Thayer's Gull (Eskimomåke), but pale oinkish legs and the body-shape excludes this species which should be more similar to Iceland Gull (Grønlandsmåke). Closeups of the head also show a typical Herring Gull head. Due to this, and the limited amount of black above and below the wing, along with a brownish color on the pattern on teh underwing leads me in the direction of Glaucous-genes. Although this one looks nothing like any of the individuals of this hybrid that I have seen before, or can find online, I feel pretty sure that this is how it has to have arrived into this world. I ahve also gotten this backed up by other birders. Ill paste one of the pictures into this blog as well just to illustrate my points.



Probable Viking Gull, note limited black markings on upper side of wing, and brownish tone to the faint markings on the underwing. Head, body and bill just like Herring Gull.

Today I got to see the third cr-ringed Glaucous Gull of the season. Earlier I have seen one of the ones I ringed last year, nad one that was ringed in another project here in 2007, where I am now in gharge. The one I saw today was one of mine from last year. Black with white JX021 was ringed august 22nd last year at the tip, and was seen two more times last year just where I saw it today. It was already paired up with another gull, so hopefully it will produce small balls of fluff in not too long.

Since I cant get enough of looking at these huge gulls, I keep photographing them whenever I am around them. To see such big birds playing in the air just a few metres away makes me smile, even though I cant really explain why. I wish everybody could experience more than ten white-winged gulls lfying around their head at one time to experience it. Well, enough about that, here are some of todays pictures:



Coming in to land.........



Am I able to walk on the surface?



Oooops!



Well, at least I can float on the surface!



Very feminine Glaucous Gull, it kind of resembled an Iceland Gull in the distance, but its probably just a female Glaucous.

1st of April, but no fooling!

It is so nice that the gulls are back in numbers again, even though the numbers are small still. Today I had 13 Glaucous Gulls (Polarmåke) feeding on bread in front of me, in addition to a subadult Iceland Gull (Grønlandsmåke) and a strange-looking Herring Gull (Gråmåke). I am not sure of the true nature of the species of this "Herring Gull". It felt like a HG when it was flying, but the markings both above and below the wings were very small. The markings on top of the wings consisted of very little black, with large white mirrors, and some long black tongues where I expected to see pure black. The markings on the underwing were very faint, almost pale brown and not covering a large part of the normal area. This led mythoughts into a possible hybrid glaucous x herring. I have seen a few such hybrids before, but none of them have shown a pattern similar to this. While trying to figure out the nature of this bird I came across a few pictures that fitted pretty well, but I still have my doubts about it. These pictures were of Thayer's Gull (Eskimomåke). I feel that this gull may be too large for a Thayers, but I am not the one to come with proper suggestions on this gull. If there is one thing I have learned about gulls, and Herring Gulls in particular, it has to be that gulls vary so much that you can seldom be too certain if youre not an expert. And I am clearly not one! I have allready asked a couple of people about comments regarding this gull, but feel free to comment if you have a good idea of what it is that I have seen.

Pictures of the subadult Iceland Gull:

Pictures of the difficult "Herring Gull":

Pictures of the lovely but brutal Glaucous Gulls: