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Svalbard part 22 |
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2 August 2003: Today we had a day off. First we went to the airport to say goodbye to friends who used the helicopter to go do some fieldwork. Afterwards we went bird watching near the airport. It was a wonderful day with a lot of sunshine. When we arrived at a small pool we discovered a baby Arctic Tern. 
Baby Arctic TernIt looked like a little fluffy ball with an orange beak and 2 legs attached. It was great to see a baby tern like this because we had heard that they were scarce and hard to find because of the predation by the Arctic Foxes. 
Baby Arctic TernThe adult Arctic Terns attacked us constantly to defend their young. While we were cycling on the road we got some hits on our head from the aggressive parents. They would also scream very loudly when they were just above our heads and that made it quite scary. 
Arctic tern An extra bonus was the beautiful male Grey Phalarope that came looking for food just ahead of us. He didn't mind us being so close to him at all and started to feed only a couple of meters away from us. 
Grey Phalarope (male)We saw many nice species like: Arctic Skua's, Flumars, Glaucous Gulls, Snow Buntings, Black Guillemots, puffins etc. |
Brunnich's Guillemot Next we decided to go on towards Bjorndalen. During the cycling we were continuously attacked by the aggressive Arctic Terns. Then we suddenly discovered something unfamiliar on the beach. It was a brunnich's guillemot! Normally you only see them high on the bird cliffs or swimming but this one was sitting on the beach. When we walked towards it, it took off and swam away. 
Brunnich's Guillemot But we were lucky, the Brunnich's Guillemot made a short circle to climb on the beach 10 meters further away. This time we crawled on our belly towards it to take some pictures. In this way we could come closer and closer. The bird was brushing his feathers and didn't mind us at all this time. At one point we were less than 3 meters away from this beautiful bird! 
Brunnich's Guillemot The Brunnich's Guillemot is a real arctic bird. They breed in large colonies on the steep cliffs above the sea (near Bjorndalen for example). They lay one egg which is shaped like a pear so it doesn't roll off the rocks very easily. Before the young are able to fly they jump off the cliffs and soar towards the water. In the water they are accompanied by their parents and together they swim to the open sea. Finally we reached Bjorndalen. Here we saw many Black Guillemots in the sea. After we enjoyed the landscape and the silence in Bjorndalen we cycled home again. A very good day indeed! |
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