August 25th

A grey and chilly day that did not give any big highlights have come to an end, but I did manage to get a few OK photos. This first one is of a Glaucous Gull (Polarmåke) with a hole through its leg. I took a photo of it to see if it had a color-ring, but got baffled when I saw that it actually had a hole straight through its leg!

I also tried to photograph some Arctic Terns (Rødnebbterne), but due to poor light I was not able to get any proper photos. These are some of the ones that I got the most satisfied with, and the second picture is of a 1cy bird. Hopefully there will be some nice weather soon so that I can get to photograph it in a better light.

August 23rd

Allthough I did not manage to get any good pictures of birds today, but when I had closed down my gull-trap, I saw that there was an amasing pre-sunset going on. Even though pictures from a camera never can be able to catch the full beauty of such an event I am pretty pleased with the outcome. The summer is definitively over here at 78 degrees North, but I am enjoying what the fall season has to offer for me. Remember that you can enlarge the pictures by clicking in them. 

August 19th

As the Brent Goose-team are focusing on where their satellite-tagged birds are during their migration, I found this little flock of eight adults just outside Longyearbyen. Wonderful birds, only sad that they did not have any chicks with them. Hopefully I will get to see some young birds before they have all left for warmer areas.

July 26th

Today I have got some pictures from the ringing-session that I did up here. The day before and this day there was a Polarbear (Isbjørn) in the fiord, and that of course made it a bit more interesting, allthough it was on the other side of the fiord. Today I caught both Purple Sandpiper (Fjæreplytt) and Dunlin (Myrsnipe), but the most fun bird to get in the traps were a young Snow Bunting (Snøspurv). This I think is the first time we have caught a Snow Bunting in the sandpiper-traps.

Purple Sandpiper

Dunlin

Dunlin

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

A short summary of young, old and strange

I have not been good enough to follow up the blog the last days, but I will try to remember it the next days.

A Long-tailed Skua (Fjelljo) made the 7th a special day, since I dont get to see these every day up here.

On the 12th I found a Red Phalarope (Polarsvømmenipe) male, wich was running around with a chick. I was hoping to ring the chick, but it disappeared in the grass and was never seen again.

On the 13th I got hand on two Dunlin (Myrsnipe) chicks. These were equipped with metal-rings and orange plastic-flags. Hopefully they will be seen in their wintering-quarters when the season is over up North.

On the 19th I got some nice photos of the Arctic Skua (Tyvjo) hunting. There were about 50 adult Glaucous Gulls (Polarnåke), one Herring Gull (Gråmåke) and lots of Kittiwakes (Krykkje) and Arctic Terns (Rødnebbterne) feeding on something being stirred up by the wind.

On the 21st I finally got some photos of a bird that I have wanted to get photos for quite a while. One of the white Barnacle Geese (Hvitkinngås). It lay in between about thirty of its fellows in a moulting-flock. On Isdammen now there are several hundreds of them, and in between there are a few Pink.footed Geese (Kortnebbgås).

June 27th, part 2

When the fox headed off I just felt the need to photograph this drake Mallard (Stokkand) which is almost into its eclipse-plumage. The nice reflection in the water also made this picture nice.

While I was photographing the Mallard, I recieved a call from Rune Edvardsen that there was an adult Sabine's Gull (Sabinemåke) further out in the fiord. Foxes and mallards I have seen lots of this year, but this beautiful gull gets my full attention when it is around.  I had seen a young bird earlier in the day, but did not manage to get any photos. But this bird was nice to us, and it showed well, before it suddenly figured that it should dissappear. And none of the three of us figured out how it had disappeared.

By some strange reason I have not got to photograph the Arcitc Skua (Tyvjo) earlier this year, but when the chance was there after the Sabine's Gull was gone, I got a few shots that shows this nice bird.

June 27th, part 1

This was a rahter good day for photographing and birdwatching. To begin with the drake Wigeon (Brunnakke) was showing well off at short distance near the dogyard.

Then, a bit later an Arcitic Fox (Fjellrev) were beeing chased by a pair of Arctic Terns (Rødnebbterne) when it tried to get an easy meal. The meal was not easy to get at all, but apparently it was worth vile for the fox since it kept on going until it had emptied out the nest, and it was licking egg-yolk off its nose. Looking rather pleased with it self.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

                                         

Todays second fox came when I had had dinner and was just out for a relatively short trip. I became aware that the Arctic Terns were rather ill-tempered near the dogyard, and I went up there to have a look. There was a fox in the middle of a better meal of eggs. It did not seem to mind that I was stood just ten metres away at the closest. The only thing that I would wish could be different was that I would have liked to get some sun, instead of the grey clouds which made my pictures become more or less black/white.