The light is returning to the Arctic!

As February now has started I am thrilled that the light is slowly coming back. Lovely blue light now lights up the snow-covered mountains around Longyearbyen, and I am starting to have high hopes for the season to come.

The ringing-season of 2013 was not the greatest in numbers, but I managed to counter-act that With quality! To a nest of Lapland Bunting (Lappspurv) in the middle of the tundra in Adventdalen was something I had wanted for a long time. That nest is the third confirmed breeding of Lapland Bunting on Svalbard. The first being a newly-fledged chick seen near the dogyard some years ago, and teh second being a nest found by some researchers this summer about two kilometers from where "my" nest was located. Unfortunately this nest got robbed, but the parent birds in "my" nest did a great job and managed to get four of five chicks on the wings. All of these chicks got a metal-band, and will hopefully either show up again in Svalbard or somewhere else.



Lappland Bunting nest July 8th 2013. Well hidden on the tundra.

 

 

 

Lapland Bunting chick July 18th 2013.

The entire brood that survived the rain and cold temperatures after they had been ringed.

No Luck in finding my other target-species on nest though...... Between five and seven Pectoral Sandpipers (Alaskasnipe) spent the entire summer in the surrounding areas all through summer, so hopefully next year I hope that I will be Lucky enough to find this magnificent wader on a nest.

Pectoral Sandpiper male, probably 2 cy. June 23rd Adventdalen.

During the autumn and the winter re-sightings of our waders ringed up here have steadily come in. The Purple Sandpipers (Fjæreplytt) still spend their winters around the North Sea and the coasts of Sweden, Finland and Germany. But the most interesting re-sighting this winter came from Banc d`arguin in Mauretania. There one of the Dunlins (Myrsnipe) that was flagg-tagged last year was seen. Over 6300 km to the South!!!!

Im now eagerly awaiting the start of a New season up here, but first the birds need to come back.

Dancing in the sky......

Finally I managed to pull myself outdoors with the camera to photograph the Aurora dancing over the sky this winter. Not many are as fortunate as to have their home draped in snow and Aurora! With these pictures I wish all of you out there a happy new year with natures own fireworks. Hope you like it.

One of the EISCAT-radars lit up by car and Aurora.

Not often I see this much life and color in the Aurora up here.

Longyearbyen draped in snow and Aurora!

24/12 2012 Kenya, the cats!

The big cats of Africa are often the what is displayed on the TV-screen, and ever since I got told I was going to be on a safari I was very excited about the fact that I was to see some of them with my own eyes!

 

 

On Christmas Eve we headed out in pursuit of wildlife yet another time, and this was to be the best day when focusing on cats at least. At this point I knew what the lions would do when we found them, they would be sleeping their way through the day after a night of hunting.

 

 

Lion/Løve



 

When we found this family of Cheetahs they were just as active as the lions. The three cubs were lying in the shadow of a shrub in the middle of the savanna and did not bother about being stressed by the cars with tourists that came along to have a look. After a while the mother figured that she also would like some time in front of all the cameras, and came in to lie down in front of her cubs.

 

Cheetah/Gepard, cubs/unger

Legg til bildetekst

 

The happy Family

 

 

When Our guide started smiling extra wide (he allways smiled) we understood that there was something good coming up. Then he told us that another car had found a mother Leopard with cub! And I have to say that this big cat is one of the most beautifull animals I have seen. We drove up on the opposite side of where the other cars were parked to get a better view. And the sight that we got was really worth being sat there for about an hour!

 



 

Leopard, female

After a short while a tiny tail suddenly appeared.....

Leopard and a tiny tail....

 We drove around the mother and cub to get better views. And to be allowed to watch the interaction between mother and cub at this close range was truly amazing! The cub was crawling around on and around its mother to get to the best place for a rest.

Leopard mother and cub.

After a little while when the cub had gone in and out of the den a few times we atsrted to Wonder if there were more than one cub. It seemed like the cub was able to move very quickly from one side of the den to the other. But all of a sudden there were two cubs outside playing with mother.

Leopard mother with two cubs.

Mother is great to climb onto.....

....because she is the softest spot around to have a rest at!

23/12 2012 Kenya

As we were heading to the MAsai MAra on this day, my hopes were very high to see something interesting. And the morning started off With some great birds around the breakfast table at the Sunbird Lodge.

African Citril/Olivenirisk

Beglafect's Weaver/Bergvever

Beglafect's Weaver/Bergvever

Fischer's Lovebird/Rødhodet dvergpapegøye

Fischer's Lovebird/Rødhodet dvergpapegøye

Great Blue-Eared Starling/Blåøreglansstær

Red-Winged Starling, male/Rødvingestær, hann



Red-Winged Starling, female + male/Rødvingestær, hunn + hann

Rufous Sparrow/Masaispurv

Rufous Sparrow/Masaispurv

Speckled Pigeon/Spragledue

Laughing Dove/Palmedue

Superb Starling/Praktstær

After a bgood breakfast With this great Company we went on, and after a dew hours in the car we entered the Masai Mara. After having dropped Our luggage in the lodge we drove out onto the Plains, and we were not disappointed even though we only had short time before darkness came.

Cape Buffalo + Yellow-Billed Oxpecker/Kafferbøffel + Gulnebboksehakker

Cheetah/Gepard

Cheetah/Gepard

Cheetah/Gepard

Lion/Løve

Lion/Løve

One should think that "The King of Beasts" would act like one, but this is how the first male Lion we encountered acted teh entire time we were watching him and his pride.

Lion/Løve

Lion/Løve

"Masai"-Giraffe/"Masai" Giraff

And at last, the bird of the day for me, the Secretary Bird. Suddenly this long-legged bird just appeared out of the grass and walked next to us. This is one of the birds I really wanted to see while in Africa, and what great views it gave me!



Secretary Bird/Sekretærfugl

Secretary Bird/Sekretærfugl

Secretary Bird/Sekretærfugl