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Svalbard part 3 |
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16 June 2003: Monday: Today we're going to do a safety course. We have to learn shooting because of the danger of polar bears. Normally polar bears live on the edge of the ice in the sea. But sometimes they go searching for food on land, most of the time they can find this food where the people are. These polar bears are very dangerous, which is why you are obligated to wear a gun of the heaviest caliber outside of the village. The shooting is going very well. You get an enormous kick back by shooting such a heavy gun. The noise it makes when firing it is very loud next to your head! This afternoon we went for a walk in Adventdalen, carrying the gun with us. Advertdalen is also one of our research fields. The area is a wonderful tundra landscape.  The Tundra landscape of Adventdalen After dinner we climbed the hill directly behind our house. Thousands of Little Auk are breeding on top of the hill. The climb was higher and steeper than we expected but we finally reached the top through all the snow. Unfortunately it had become cloudy, so we will have to wait to take the nice pictures another time. But aside from that, it was very wonderful being among all the little auks! |
 Common Eiders on the land of Isdammen 17 June 2003: Today we had to do research work all day long. We put the UV lamps above our fields and turned them on. On our way to the fields I took some pictures of Eiders resting on the shore of the half frozen Isdammen lake. The eiders breeding on the mainland of Svalbard are pressured by predators like the Arctic Fox which steal their eggs. Almost all the eiders around Longyearbyen are breeding near the dog cages. The foxes leave the eiders alone because they are afraid of the barking dogs. There was also an Ivory Gull flying around the dog cages trying to get at the dog's leftover food. |
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