ivory gull

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Norwegian Life Birds

I had three target lifers for my Scandinavian summer adventures: barnacle goose, dovekie (little auk), and ivory gull.

The hardest to get was the ivory gull which was only to be found on the pack ice sometimes in the company of polar bears.

Perhaps the easiest was the barnacle goose and dovekie. I had four geese in the harbor near the Munch Museum in Oslo. I saw many more in Longyearbyen in Svalbard.

Barnacle goose family in Longyearbyen.

Dovekie or as it’s known in Europe, little auk, was also plentiful around the southern and eastern side of Spitsbergen. I saw many from the decks of the Plancius.

Little auk in its icy summer habitat.

So what’s in a name? Common names vary in different regions and in different languages. For instance Phalaropus fulicarius is known as the red phalarope in North America but on the other side of the Atlantic it is the grey phalarope. Our guide didn’t even know this, falsely claiming that the common name had been changed.

One of the dubious common bird names is barnacle goose. You would think this goose eats barnacles. Nope. The name comes from Medieval times when it was thought that the goose came from goose-necked barnacles. The bird was even considered a fish so it could be eaten on religious holidays such as Lent. Such were the times when folklore trumped scientific learning.

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High Arctic Dreams

“I felt a calmness birds can bring to people; and, quieted, I sensed here the outlines of the oldest mysteries: the nature and extent of space, the fall of light from the heavens, the pooling of time in the present, as if it were water.”

― Barry López, Arctic Dreams

Since my birding adventures in Iceland last summer, I have wanted to return to the Nordic Region and explore the High Arctic.

The avian fauna would be similar but who wouldn’t want more looks at the stunning king eider, fulmars at eye level, or hearing the constant din of a thousand-strong kittiwake colony?

The major avian draw for traveling to the High Arctic is Pagophila eburnea, the “the ice-loving ivory-colored gull”. This would be an incredible lifer and the major totem for any birder visiting the top of the world.

I would be traveling to the Norwegian island archipelago of Svalbard (also known as Spitsbergen) in late June. Ivory gulls nests from June to July in eastern Svalbard and I would be taking a seven day cruise with Oceanwide Expeditions aboard the ice-rated m/v (Merchant Vessel) Plancius. It was not only the birds that I was looking forward to seeing in the lands and waters of Svalbard.

I was also looking forward to seeing the large mammal that the ivory gull is often associated with, the animal that the Norwegians call the Ice Bear. To the rest of the world, the world’s largest bear is called the polar bear. Ivory gulls often follow polar bears because their main food source on the ice are ringed seals and once the bear has finished with it’s kill (they mainly eat the blubber), there is plenty left for the Arctic’s all-white gull.

Some cetaceans on my wishlist are the white whale (also known as the beluga whale), minke whale and fin whale.

I was also hoping to see some pinnepeds for the first time. They included: walrus and harp, ringed, and bearded seals.