Arctic Skua (Parasitic Jaeger)

Svalbard Day 2

During a walk this afternoon we came across an Arctic Skua on a nest. Very exciting to see one.

Today we had two local walks. For the first one we took a track along to see the church taking care to stay within the safe zone away from any possible Polar Bears (How lucky we are that the bears can read the signs too!). We made many stops to take more photos of Reindeer, a Ringed Plover, Snow Bunting, Brent and Pink Footed Geese. After lunch we wandered down to the estuary but it was very windy and there weren’t many birds around so we headed to the cafe for coffee and cake. See extras.

A few interesting things we found out today:
The water on Svalbard comes from a lake via pipes and into ´boiling’ houses where it is boiled then cooled to provide drinking water. Any food waste is ground up in the sink then disposed of in the sea. Other waste is shipped off and the recycling containers are heavily sealed so the Polar Bears can’t get in them. Alcohol is restricted and residents have a monthly quota. Visitors can buy alcohol when they show their flight tickets.

Longest day…..sun at midnight is very bizarre. Good job we have blackout curtains or we would never sleep.

Update: our bags arrived last night.