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Svalbard part 7 |
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24 June 2003: On our way to our fieldwork area, we stopped at a nest of a Pink-Footed Goose. We very carefully walked around the nest without disturbing the goose to take some pictures. Pink-footed Geese can chase away Arctic foxes, not many birds can do that! But only the male goose can do that. If the male is not around to defend her, the female may die. The weather is still not the greatest. It's been cloudy for almost a week now.  Pink-footed Goose on a nest After we had started our fieldwork in Adventalen, a couple of reindeer came to visit. One of them was a male with beautiful big antlers.  The male reindeer near our research fields. We heard from our roommate that there were baby reindeer not very far away from our house, but they are very shy, which is contrary to the behavior of the male reindeer which aren't shy at all. Near our house, we discovered a skull with antlers on it. This appeared because the snow that covered it was melting. Unfortunately, taking home antlers is not allowed.  This male reindeer came to inspect us! |
 Female Eider breeding (look at the fluff!) 25 June 2003: Today we did fieldwork again, on our way to the research fields we discovered that we forgot the bag with our research tools. I got out of the car to watch birds and Ruben drove back to get the bag. I wanted to carefully check out the Eider colony near the dog cages. I would estimate the colony at 30 pairs of Eiders. There were Glaucous Gulls and Arctic Skuas flying above the colony. A wonderful sight! Arctic Skuas which came to close to the shore were immediately attacked by breeding Arctic terns. There was a pair of King Eiders swimming in a corner of Isdammen and there were Dunlins and Purple sandpipers on the mud-flat.  Ivory Gull (ringed on his left leg!) On our way back, we saw the Ivory Gull again near the dog cages. We see him almost every time we pass that area. The ivory Gull was very fitful this time. First he flew around searching for food and finally he began to wash himself and have a drink of water.  The Ivory gull takes a big gulp. |
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