One Gyr Falcon, 38 dogs and 100,000 Little Auks – Birding East Greenland by dogsled (1 Viewer)

Jos Stratford said:

Truly stunning, I would suppose that this not only equates to a trip report with the most words per species (all most apt though), but also to a trip resulting in the most dosh per species too, yep?

Click to expand...

It may well be. Greenland is NOT the place to rack up a big trip list. After two trips there I think my Greenland list is about the same length as my Nairobi Airport car park list. But I plan to return to this area again (and again) - ideally interspersed with trips to sensible birding locations like South Africa and Argentina .

Bird list:

1. Pink-footed Goose: noted widely on migration but 153 seen migrating north into Jameson Land in two hours on 19 May while I was waiting at Nerlerit Inaat airport.
2. Barnacle Goose: more common than Pink-foot, seen at several sites and 835 passed Nerlerit Inaat in two hours on 19 May.
3. King Eider: three drakes and two females in polynya 4 km east of Kap Swainson
4. Gyr Falcon: a magnificent white adult was in Ittoqqortoormiit on 18 May, reacting aggressively to the numerous Ravens
5. European Golden Plover: two birds near Kalkdal on Liverpool Land in apparent breeding habitat
6. Purple Sandpiper: one in hot spring area at Kap Tobin
7. Glaucous Gull: common along coast and at Ittoqqortoormiit
8. Black Guillemot: one in tiny polynya in Horsens Fjord and five in polynya 4 km east of Kap Swainson
9. Little Auk: absolute highlight of the trip for me. Simply vast numbers in colony at Kap Høegh, tens if not hundreds of thousands. Birds arrived at colony at around 10 p.m. and left again to feed by mid-morning, having to fly a long way to find open water. I climbed to top of island (300m) and could not see any open water, just ice stretching as far as the eye could see east. Also passed gigantic colonies on Raffles Island and Kap Hodgson.
10. Raven: common and ubiquitous. One of very few birds to remain in area all winter.
11. Meadow Pipit: single bird scratching around between mountainous snowdrifts in Ittoqqortoormiit on 13 May.
12. Northern Wheatear: Single male at Kap Swainson on 17 May
13. Snow Bunting: common in most areas, the first migrant passerine to return.
14. Lapland Longspur: single females at Kap Swainson and Ittoqqortoormiit

Mammals:
Arctic Fox: Two seen and more heard at Kap Høegh
Ringed Seal: Several seen in Scoresby Sund, Hurry Inlet and along outer coast
Arctic Hare: Easy to see at Kap Hope, Kalkdal and Kap Høegh
(Musk Ox - dung and footprints seen in Kalkdal)

A wonderful report to a place I'll probably never go, but the insight made for a great escape from the reality of my morning commute.

Cheers
Mike

Just to finish off, I uploaded a video of the Little Auk colony at Kap Høegh. It was the first video I've ever taken so you might get motion sickness, and I couldn't manoeuvre very well in the steep, snow-covered boulder field but it gives you an impression of the sights and sounds of a Little Auk colony.
http://vimeo.com/47963556

E

Yep, stunning. Presumably these Little Auks are not breeding that early in the season, most seem to be settling into the snow.

Jos Stratford said:

Yep, stunning. Presumably these Little Auks are not breeding that early in the season, most seem to be settling into the snow.

Click to expand...

Correct, they were just checking out the breeding colony, renewing acquaintances, strengthening bonds and squabbling with rivals. One of Greenlandic guides said that the first birds turn up around 4 May every year, and these birds all left the colony to feed during the day (taken on 17 May). I imagine it would have been a couple more weeks before they started breeding there.

Great video, thanks for sharing.

Wow, incredible, thanks for sharing.

Great report... just watched "Springwatch guide to seabirds" on The BBC.... shame there were no Little Auks, fab birds! Lovely photos too.... *sigh....

wow - amazing video!!

Absolutely brilliant report. Thanks very much!

Thank you for sharing your video.

Thanks Dave and Dave

As a postscript to this trip report I was birding with a Danish biologist in Iceland last week who knows Greenland very well. He expressed surprise that I didn't see any Polar Bears in the area as it was one of the best areas he'd been to for bears - he saw 13 Polar Bears on a day at the mouth of the fjord on his last trip :C admittedly from the air.

He also said my "100,000 Little Auks" was a bit conservative as up to 5 million pairs breed on this stretch of coast.