Svalbard 2: Adventdalen

September 8, 2016 · Filed under animals, travels · Tagged Adventdalen, birds of Longyearbyen, Longyearbyen

Our first views from the air revealed a spectacular landscape of black, glacier capped mountains.  We landed in the main “city” Longyearbyen (pop. 2,900+), an old whaling port and until recently a center for mining high quality coal, although that output has been reduced due to the low price of coal.  We linked up with our friend, got the car, unloaded at our hotel and the three of us set off on the main road along the coast of Adventfjorden, one of the 30 miles of road on the island of Spitsbergen.  We were advised to stay within the “Polar Bear Free Zone” but we went somewhat afield because we had the car for protection.  While the bird list for this area is not a long one, we were rewarded by intimate views large numbers of birds unusual for Connecticut, like these nesting Barnacle Geese.

Nesting pair of Barnacle Geese.  Svalbard Barnacle Geese are known to winter between Scotland and England.

Common Eider Ducks are an every day sight at our Maine cottage but here hundreds nested around the sled dog pens (safer from Arctic foxes).

You had to be careful where you parked!

Not a great place to rest

My life bird for the day was a Rock Ptarmigan, still in winter plumage.  We saw others over the time we were there, all in varying stages of molting.  This was the classic beauty.

A very cooperative Rock Ptarmigan, and yes, among rocks.

There were also an Ivory Gull, Glaucous Gulls, Red-necked and Red Phalaropes, lots of Pink-footed Geese, a pair of King Eiders, nesting Red-throated Loons and lots of Purple Sandpipers (these apparently the subject of a study as nearly all were banded), Dunlins, Common Ringed Plovers, Black-bellied Plovers,  Black-legged Kittiwakes, Long-tailed Ducks, Arctic Terns, hundreds of Dovekies, Black Guillemots, Parasitic Jaegers, Northern Fulmars, Eurasian Green-winged Teal and the ubiquitous Snow Buntings.  We found it well worth the extra days and expense for the rich birding experience we enjoyed.

Longyearbyen and the harbor from the hills above Adventfjorden.