Wildlife Photographic Journals

Inside the Circle Day 6 - Arctics in the Arctic

Encouraged by my previous success from checking out one of the side tracks off the main coast road, I decided I would take some time on the morning of day 6 to investigate some more. From the map there looked to be a promising track that lead up to two upland lakes and before I knew the trusty hire car was bumping along an unmade road. As I pulled up next to the lakes the sun but in a rare appearance. The lake looked fairly devoid of bird life with the exception of a pair of Long-tailed duck circling around in the center and way out of camera range.

A unfamiliar bird song drift up the track from a silhouette of a bird sat of an overhead wire. It took a while to work out what it was but finally I caught a brief better view of a Bluethroat. I spent a long time to get a photograph of the bird but complete failed in my mission. The bird was covering a wide area, occasionally singing from the top of a low bush but nowhere regularly of close to where I was expectantly waiting. Instead I consoled myself with a very obliging Willow Warbler in some low scrub.

It is odd how some years you seem to end up with lots of photos of a particular species which you have struggled with previously. This year I seem to have end up with a large number of photos of Willow Warbler.
The morning quickly passed in to afternoon as I explored another track but with no success. By this time I was close to Vadso and remembered the Arctic Tern colony I had found on the first day out in Norway. It seemed appropriate that I should photograph some Arctics in the Arctic. As I walked along to the tern colony, a Red Throated Pipit with a beak full of insects for its hidden brood, appeared on the fence post. It was good to get another new species on to the camera.

Typically the sun disappeared and the light took a turn for the worse as I reached the edge of the tern colony, carefully watching my step for any eggs or young on the ground. I love Arctic Terns which are such graceful birds and great fun to photograph.

I decided I would do some flight photos despite the light not being ideal.

This was my favourite photo of this mini session.

On the way back to the car I decided to check out some Red-necked Phalarope at a pond. It seems that a day was not going to pass without the daily phalarope photo.

While sat in a reed bed photographing the spinning waders there wa a rustling to my left side and a Wood Sandpiper popped in to view at close range.

This was a welcome bonus, as its a species I have not photographed before, at the end of a relatively unproductive day. However, a quieter day and more relaxing day was needed in advance of what was likely to be a hectic following day which was to start with a trip out to the seabird colonies on the Island of Hornoya.