The birds are back!

The last few days have been very nice. There are actually birds up here again! To be stood in strong wind, trying to avoid being sprayed by the waves that hit onto the icy shore, while trying to photograph feeding Kittiwakes (Krykkje) is something I have been waiting for. And when the first flock of more than 50 Common Eiders (Ærfugl) are present at the same site, together with two pairs of King Eider (Praktærfugl). Lots of BLack Guilemots (Teist) are feeding all over the fiord and Brünnick's Guillemots (Polarlomvi) and Glaucous Gulls (Polarmåke) are flying around wherever I look. In town the Snow Buntings (Snøspurv) have started to sing, and the gulls have finally figured out that my trap is a good feeding area. In addition to the birds we got a visit of a Whalruss (Hvalross) one of the days, and I am not the one to let an oppostunity to photograph such an animal pass me by. Al in all it seems like spring finally have arrived in Longyearbyen, and I am now just looking forward to see all of the coming migrants and welcome them up north!

April 6th

Finally I managed to get some photos of birds up here again. The winter is very long when I cant use my camera, but the spring just feels so much better when I finally can go out and take photos of my feathered friends again. Today I managed to find 40 + Black Guillemots (Teist), 2 Brünnick's Guillemot (Polarlomvi) and four Glaucous Gulls (Polarmåke). It may not be the largest number of birds anyone have heard about, but for me this is the start of a new fantastic season on Svalbard. My gull-trap has been visited, and now I am just awaiting the color-rings that I will be using, and then ringing-season will start. From now on I will probably be posting quite regularly on the blog, so dont forget about it.

2nd April

The first bird-trip of the year was not quite a huge success regarding the number of birds that were seen. I was joined today by Knut Olsen, who is also from the very south of Norway, and the two of us could only manage to find one (1) Glaucous Gull. Exept for a couple of reindeer, the only other wildlife we managed to find today was this Arctic fox. It is my first time of getting to take photos of a white Arctic Fox on snow, so it made my day a really good one.

White colors

Who ever said that snow was only a dull white? Now that the sun has finaly arrived back up here again, and the colors it brings along makes the landscape into the most beautiful painting you will ever see. Pinks, purples, reds and oranges try to compete with the blue and the white. With the sun came the reindeers, and we have now got a reindeer trying to find food in between the snowmobiles on the outside of the house. It might sound exotic with a reindeer feeding just outide youre bedroom window, but when theire antlers grow out again the scraping sound against the wall makes my girlfriend go mad. But until the antlers have grown out, and the snow has disappeared, I will be enjoying the wonderful landscape. Hope you people out there will enjoy my pictures. > > >

Gull-ringing and other fun stuff

Now I am almost ready to start this seasons ringing, and I have to say I am very excited over the prospect of handling huge gulls, and small buntings. This season I have got three main projects going. As soon as I have got the rings which are now sendt from the mainland I will start trying to catch Glaucous Gulls (Polarmåke), and if I am lucky I might be as lucky as to get hold of one or two of the Iceland Gulls (Grønlandsmåke) that have frequented the area. There is also a good chance of catching a Herring Gull (Gråmåke), and Greater Black-backed (Svartbak), Lesser Black-backed (Sildemåke) , Common (Fiskemåke), Black-headed (Hettemåke) and Ivory Gulls (Ismåke) are all possible as well, although they are visiting in smaller numbers. I will be fitting the gulls with both metal- and color-rings so that there might be a possibility to resight the gulls and to see how they move around.



The second project will be to ring Anow Buntings (Snøspurv), this I will do by putting up a feeding-station outside my livingroom window, and I will be using a walk-in-trap. MAybe there will be a bird that has been ringed in UK or Norway amongst them?



The third project will be the ringing of small waders, where we this year will focus on two species, Dunlin (Myrsnipe) and Purple Sandpiper (Fjæreplytt). But of course all other waders or other birds that want to walk into the traps are more than welcome. I have got a ring for all the birds that visit.



Other than this I will again be trying to find as many as possible chicks to be ringed around Longyearbyen. Espescially Dunlin and Red/Grey Phalarope (Polarsvømmesnipe) will be my main target species, and I will try to find nests and chicks of Purple Sandpipers for future research-oportunities.



I am posting some of the pictures that I have posted earlier this year again so that my target species can be shown again. All I need now is the weather to get a bit better.

Red/Grey Phalarope is a bird I will be trying to find even more broods of this year.

Glaucous Gull will be one of my target species while ringing this year.

Ivory Gull is one of the famous birds of Longyearbyen.

Golden Plover is a rare breeding bird on Svalbard, and I hope to find more chicks to ring this year.

Iceland Gull is one of the species that I really hope that I can get my hands on this season.

Winter Wonderland

I once read a Calvin & Hobbes comic-book with the title: "Nothing as Silent as Snow". If they had experienced Svalbard they would have found an even quieter atmosphere. Admittedly Calvin used the silent snow for throwing snowballs, where I only use it for the pleasure of observation.

Now the dark polar-night is starting to resign, and the beautiful blue light that can only be apreciated at high latitudes is being swapped for amazing pinks, purples and oranges. Today the first rays of the sun managed to stretch their way to Hiorthfjellet on the other side of Adventfjorden, and marked the end of the never ending night for this time. With the sun the polarbears have started to come into town, and even though I havent managed to see any of them yet this year, it makes it just feel even better to be out photographing the landscape. I am posting a few pictures that I am pleased with, which are all taken within the last fourteen days. I hope that all you out there that are watching them will like the view of Svalbard in winter-plumage as much as I do.

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.