It’s a strange time for all of us. We’re all spending much more time at home as usual and it might still take some time before we can go again on an expedition far away. Normally around this time of year, it’s time to prepare for the upcoming Arctic season.  During the Antarctic season, I tried to give an overview of all the bird species that we encounter during trips to the frozen continent. Even though this series is far from finished, I like to pick up the series on the Arctic birds again. What birds can be found on trips to Spitsbergen? When the Arctic season is over, we’ll get back to Antarctica.

This is where we left it last season:

Geese and ducks
King Eider
Common Eider
Long-tailed Duck
Pink-footed Goose
Brent Goose
Barnacle Goose

Gulls, terns and skuas
Long-tailed Skua
Pomarine Skua
Great Skua
Arctic Skua
Arctic Tern
Ivory Gull
Sabine’s Gull
Glaucous Gull
Black-legged Kittiwake

Auks
Thick-billed Murre (Brünnich’s Guillemot)
Little Auk (Dovekie)
Black Guillemot
Atlantic Puffin

Red-throated Diver

Waders
Purple Sandpiper