SVALBARD (SPITSBERGEN): IVORY GULL SPECIAL – including Little Auk, Red Phalarope and Walrus

PRICE INFORMATION

Birdquest Inclusions: Our tour prices include transportation, accommodations and meals.

We also include all tipping for accommodation/restaurant staff and boat staff.

Deposit: 20% of the total tour price. Our office will let you know what deposit amount is due, in order to confirm your booking, following receipt of your online booking form.

TO BOOK THIS TOUR: Click here (you will need the tour dates)

Note: While twin-bedded rooms are available, double beds are not available at our hotel.

The single supplement will not apply if you indicate on booking that you prefer to share a room and there is a room-mate of the same sex available.

This tour is priced in Euros. Amounts shown in other currencies are indicative.

SVALBARD: IVORY GULL BIRDING TOUR: DETAILED ITINERARY

Svalbard: Ivory Gull Special: Day 1

If the weather is good, the flight to Longyearbyen will be a spectacular introduction. First one crosses the mountains, lakes and fjords of Norway and then the even more impressive mountains of Spitsbergen, which stretch far away into the distance. This will be just a foretaste of the magic to come.

Our Svalbard: Ivory Gull Special birding tour begins at Longyearbyen airport at around midday.

(Most flights into Longyearbyen originate from Oslo. The tour start is designed to coincide with the arrival of morning flights from that city.)

We will spend the next four nights in Longyearbyen. This afternoon, we will start our exploration of the surrounding area.

Svalbard: Ivory Gull Special: Days 2-3

Longyearbyen is the only place on the island of Spitsbergen or in the whole of Svalbard that qualifies for the term ‘town’, although it is very small. Originally established to serve the Norwegian coal mines, which still exist but are now unused, the town now serves as the administrative centre for the islands and has a growing tourist business, as well as a university. The gaily painted wooden houses and the small but modern shopping centre look strangely out of place amidst the looming, snow-covered fells and the waters of the Isfjord.

At the edge of town, everyone likes to admire one of the world’s most unusual and charismatic road signs – a red triangular warning sign with a Polar Bear silhouette and the wording ‘applies to all Svalbard’. Although Polar Bears are usually wary of humans, and they are very rare wanderers around Longyearbyen at this time of year, there have been exceptions over the years. In consequence, hikers and kayakers are expected to carry a flare gun and/or a rifle to deter a bear if it ever proves necessary.

We should see your first Snow Buntings in the town itself, and we can also expect to come across cooing Common Eiders, Long-tailed Ducks in their beautiful summer plumage, Common Ringed Plover, Dunlin and some very tame Purple Sandpipers, while Arctic Terns will be constant companions. Glaucous Gulls are the common large gulls here, but occasionally they are joined by a vagrant Iceland Gull or one of Spitsbergen’s few resident Great Black-backed Gulls.

At this time of year, the much-wanted Ivory Gull is regular around Longyearbyen. We would like to say that seeing one is pretty certain, but to be realistic, the chances of a sighting (which could be very close) are better than 80%. Svalbard is surely the most reliable place to see this unusual bird, which is very hard to get to grips with in other accessible areas in its range.

Common Eiders are numerous in the area, and we should be able to locate some King Eiders, admiring the very smart males in breeding plumage.

Out in the tundra, Red-throated Loons (or Red-throated Divers) and lovely Red (or Grey) Phalaropes haunt the pools. Both Barnacle and Pink-footed Geese breed in the area, and Parasitic Jaegers (or Arctic Skuas) are quite common. If we are lucky, we will come across a Pomarine Jaeger (or Pomarine Skua) on migration. Rock Ptarmigans prefer the rocky slopes, even occurring in Longyearbyen itself.

Arctic Foxes are regularly encountered and are rather fearless. They will be in their brown and cream summer pelage at this time of year. The curious ‘pygmy’ Svalbard form of the Reindeer, which has short legs that make it appear almost wild goat-like, as well as a rather goggle-eyed look, can also be found in the area. It has adapted to Svalbard’s very harsh winter climate and sparse food resources.

Arctic plants are numerous and diverse, including various saxifrages, arctic buttercups, Mountain Avens, White Arctic Bell Heather and Moss and Polar Campions, amongst others. Spitsbergen’s only widespread ‘tree’, the mat-like Polar Willow, is everywhere.

Around Longyearbyen and indeed around much of Spitsbergen, the many boulder slopes provide countless crevices for nesting Little Auks (or Dovekies). We will be able to work our way cautiously to the edge of a colony. At this time of year, it is still early in the breeding cycle, and the birds are visiting their burrows to lay eggs and gathering to socialise. As we gaze across the slope, we will be able to see lots of little white and black birds clustered on the boulders and by carefully creeping up on these splendid little alcids, we should be able to get stunning views from very close range. Flocks of birds are constantly coming and going at the colony, and just hearing the maniacal cackling of the birds is something special in itself. Every so often, a Glaucous Gull (or more rarely a Great Skua) patrols the slopes, creating a frenzy of activity as the birds take to the air, the flocks curving across the sky before gradually settling again. Indeed, the whole experience is absolutely marvellous for anyone who loves birds, and is of course unique to the High Arctic. A very different experience all round from seeing a solitary Little Auk in winter bobbing distantly on the water off some headland, or whirring past at extreme range!

During our visit, weather permitting, we will travel by boat across the wide and scenically spectacular Isfjord to Borebukta, a large bay on the northern side. During the crossing, there will be plenty of Little Auks around as well as Thick-billed Murres (or Brünnich’s Guillemot), Atlantic Puffins, dark morph Northern Fulmars and Black-legged Kittiwakes.

At Borebukta, we should get some wonderful views of Walruses, either from a beach where they often haul out or from the boat. Walruses generally feed in shallow water, and we may encounter one or two hauled out on slabs of ice, particularly if there is still too much ice onshore for them to haul out easily on the beach. Seeing a large male Walrus at close range is truly impressive, especially when one can count every bristle on that amazing face! We should also see these bizarre creatures in the water, watching them roll around or rear their heads up to see what is happening, squinting along those huge tusks. Conditions allowing, we should be able to make a landing at a favoured haulouts where these strange creatures look for all the world like a heap of gigantic brown slugs as they sleep away during the ‘heat’ of a summer’s day while wallowing in decomposing kelp! If a new arrival turns up, there may be a brief kafuffle as the newcomer shuffles its way into the midst of the heap, causing some rearing up and tusk stabbing, not to mention some outraged bellowing!

We will also visit the nearby and spectacular Borebreen glacier, which descends for 22 kilometres (17 miles) from the wild interior mountains of northwest Spitsbergen. The white, grey and blue ice formations at the front of the glacier are truly impressive, and at this time of year, an Ivory Gull or a Sabine’s Gull in breeding plumage could turn up. Bearded Seals are regularly seen on the ice floes, and even a Polar Bear sighting is a slim possibility, although nowadays regulations are so strict in Svalbard that approaches by boats within 500 metres are not allowed!

Svalbard: Ivory Gull Special: Day 4

After some final birding in Svalbard, we will head for the airport, where our tour ends around midday.

(The tour end is designed to coincide with the departure of the afternoon flight to Oslo. If you prefer, you could take a morning flight to Oslo. You would miss some birding this morning, but more likely than not, no extra bird species would be missed.)