A Saga of ice and snow: Svalbard in late Winter

[janzin]

5 hours ago, vikramghanekar said:

1. Free drinks for 1 night ;-) 

They offered us 2 extra days on the ship. But that meant changing flights and everything, which was not possible for me and most other co-passengers.  One couple other than Jami and Theo (trip leaders) stayed on the boat as they were doing one more trip with a different group on a small sailboat (Arctica II) after couple of days. But not sure if they went out in search of bears. 

Ha, yes we also got free drinks for one night after the 2nd time we got suited up and waited in vain in the cold for the zodiacs. 

[janzin]

Bears 1 and 2...again!

 

As I mentioned, we had to head back down south due to the ice heading down from the north, so for the next several days we explored just about every accessible fjord on the way down. On top of bears, our primary goal was Ivory Gull, as we'd heard one had been seen in a particular fjord from another ship; but unfortunately we never found a single one...not for lack of trying.

 

But on day 6, back in the same general area where we saw Frost and the cub the first time, we spotted them again!  We first spotted them around 3 in the afternoon and while distant, we FINALLY were able to get into the zodiacs and follow them for awhile, but they remained distant, and while we were watching them, a helicopter flew overhead and spooked them and they headed off into the hills.

 

 

The guides were confident though that the bears would stay in the area because they had spotted a reindeer kill which they might return to.  Around 10:00 that evening we spotted them again--back on the kill! and we headed off again in the zodiacs.

 

 

 Needless to say, many many photos ensued...although the light was fairly low (and getting lower by the minute.)

 

This first batch is not for the squeamish, but, actually a lot less gruesome than most African kills as there really wasn't much left of this reindeer except skin and bones.

 

Frost, of course, is wearing her GPS collar. The cub is unbearably cute (no pun intended

 

 

 

Peek-a-boo!!

 

 

Don't play with your food!

 

 

Awwwww....

 

 

The cub started dragging some parts down the slope.

 

Losing my dinner here...

 

 

I think there's a hair in my mouth.

 

 

Then it started slip-sliding down the hill...it sure seemed to just be having fun!

 

 

How far down is it?

 

 

Let me just take this leg somewhere safe...

 

 

There was a hole in the ice that the cub was exploring.

 

 

Mom comes to investigate too. Awwww!

 

 

Finally, the pair started moving off the kill area, but we weren't done yet. More to come...

 

[Treepol]

The cub is super cute!

[Atdahl]

Great series of bear shots.  Despite all the mishaps on your trip I bet the one encounter made up for it all.  

[Atravelynn]

Unbearably cute indeed!  Hope the cub makes it to adulthood.

[pomkiwi]

Great sequence and pleased you got some closer views. We never got to see a cub but we did have some bear interaction briefly. 

[janzin]

Just a few more photos from this bear experience.  If you thought the others were cute...get a load of this cuteness!  The cub and mom settled down together and the cub started nursing.  Light was really fading so these were the last of my photos, most at ISO 9000-10,000.

 

 

 

OMG unbearable cuteness!!! So sweet, motherly love.

 

 

Our zodiac decided we'd seen enough, the light was going, and our toes and fingers were frozen and so we happily headed back to the ship.  But, the other zodiac stayed out a bit longer and they got to see an Arctic fox come down to try and steal some of the kill! ...but sadly we missed that. Oh well, I never did see more than a glimpse of a fox this trip.

 

Goodbye to Frost and her cub, hope you both remain safe!

 

 

Needless to say we all were very elated as we were welcomed back aboard the Freya with delicious freshly made hot chocolate (with lots of whipped cream) made by Anna!

 

(Stay tuned, still another bear to come...probably my favorite one.)

Edited June 14, 2022 by janzin

[Kitsafari]

late to the report but awesome shots of Frost and the cub! so glad you had great viewings first of the young male and then mum and cub. and beautiful images of the landscape too. 

[michael-ibk]

A Polar Bear sighting to end all Polar Bear sightings - fantastic!

[shazdwn]

Super cute but what a teaser - can’t wait for what is to come 😄

[Soukous]

Thanks for an informative and enjoyable TR Janet. Despite the polar bears and the walruses, my favourite images are of the Ptarmigan. 

 

That was a brave decision to take a new and untried (by you) camera with you - although I guess you did have the Z7ii as fallback. 

I'm getting the impression that you like the Z9 

[janzin]

1 hour ago, Soukous said:

Thanks for an informative and enjoyable TR Janet. Despite the polar bears and the walruses, my favourite images are of the Ptarmigan. 

Thanks, in some ways my favorites are also the Ptarmigan. At least, I think they are technically the best (so far and I had so much fun shooting them. And the Z9 handled them very well.

That was a brave decision to take a new and untried (by you) camera with you - although I guess you did have the Z7ii as fallback. 

I'm getting the impression that you like the Z9 

Indeed, I am loving the Z9 although I am still learning...the learning curve for the AF is steep.  I figured it was a pretty "safe" choice for this particular trip as I knew the wildlife would generally be out in the open...no trees, no grasses or bushes to obscure things. Nothing moving very fast.  BUT, I am now taking it to Kenya and I am a bit more nervous about how I will manage with it there.  Obviously it is capable of handling anything but will I know enough of what I'm doing when there's a running cheetah or a leopard hiding in the bush.  I guess my feeling is that, given that I've already been to the Mara twice before and have many excellent photos, this trip can be a bit of an experiment.  We have a lot of days...four days at each of three camps... and I hope to have opportunities to try something new and learn more about the camera. I just hope I don't kick myself over missed shots!

 

[Soukous]

10 minutes ago, janzin said:

I just hope I don't kick myself over missed shots!

 

I'm sure you won't. With that much time in each camp you'll get second chances. 

 

BTW, one of the reasons I love your TR is because I'll never go to Svalbard myself - way too cold, too many clothes to put on and too much eating & sleeping.  although I am very tempted by Alaska.

 

[janzin]

Birds

 

Well, I was going to add a post with photos of other birds BUT as it turns out I really don't have any. We saw a total of 11 species of birds on this entire trip, not counting those at the airport in Oslo.  Three lifers.

 

DUCKS, GEESE, AND WATERFOWL
King Eider              
Common Eider            

PHEASANTS, GROUSE, AND ALLIES
Rock Ptarmigan     LIFER    

AUKS, MURRES, AND PUFFINS
Dovekie     (The IOU call it Little Auk) LIFER     
Thick-billed Murre  (the IOU calls it Brünnich's guillemot)
Black Guillemot  

GULLS, TERNS, AND SKIMMERS
Black-legged Kittiwake  
Iceland Gull            
Glaucous Gull           

SHEARWATERS AND PETRELS
Northern Fulmar    LIFER    

LONGSPURS AND SNOW BUNTINGS
Snow Bunting            

 

So the only additional bird photos I have are lots and lots of shots of Northern Fulmars, as they followed the boat all the time and when we were really bored, and the weather was nice, we'd go out on deck and practice our birds in flight. But no one really wants to see dozens of shots of them, so here's just one of my best.

 

No, he doesn't have a runny nose; that is salt water expelled from a special gland these birds have above their beak (they are in a group called "tubenoses" for obvious reasons.) They drink sea water and need to expel the excess salt.

 

 

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by janzin

[Galana]

5 hours ago, Soukous said:

BTW, one of the reasons I love your TR is because I'll never go to Svalbard myself - way too cold, too many clothes to put on

I think I subscribe to that philosophy too. (In my later more mature years although I coped with Ladakh so it may be the boating bit or the cost.)

So double thanks from me too for sharing your experiences. 

[janzin]

1 minute ago, Galana said:

I think I subscribe to that philosophy too. (In my later more mature years although I coped with Ladakh so it may be the boating bit or the cost.)

So double thanks from me too for sharing your experiences. 

Yes you did go to Ladakh so what's the excuse? As much as I would love to see Snow Leopard, that's exactly why Ladakh isn't in the cards---too cold, too many clothes, too high altitude! And too little reward I think, as the leopards are nearly always so so very distant.

[janzin]

One more bear encounter to post.

 

We still had a couple of days after we spent time with Frost and the cub, so it was decided we'd actually start to head a bit north again, still of course in search of bears.  I don't believe we saw much during that day as I have few photos, but that evening we anchored in the fast ice in Dicksonfjorden, one fjord just north of where Longyearbyen is.

 

 

At 5 a.m. Svein came running through the hall knocking on the doors...BEAR OUTSIDE!

 

I don't know whether I had a premonition or what, but that night I'd gone to sleep wearing my merino base-layers instead of my pj's, in the hopes of a middle-of-the-night bear. So I literally jumped out of bed and threw nothing on but my shoes and my parka, grabbed my camera (which is always at the ready, and ran outside (which way! which way! I saw a door ajar and ran out.)

 

This is what I saw--right in front of me!

 

 

OMG OMG he was so close, this is barely cropped from a full frame camera at 700mm.

 

There was no one out yet except for me and Oddgeir. Oddgeir was laying on his stomach shooting through a hole in the deck but there was only that one low vantage point.

 

But mine was fine.

 

 

The bear just calmly started to saunter past the ship. I kept shooting!

 

They stick out their tongues to help get a scent, perhaps he smelled us humans on the ship...or was hunting for a seal.

 

 

 

 

Yes, Polar Bears do have tails, most of the time they are well hidden but you can see it here which is why I like this shot.

 

 

He stopped to look at us.  Where was everyone else?  Other people were slowly getting out on deck but for whatever reason it seemed they were all slow and for most of this time I think only Oddgeir and I and perhaps Svein were shooting.

 

 

 

 

The bear eventually turned away from the ship and headed out over the ice.

 

 

Right into the sun, which made for some interesting back light.

 

 

 

Well, WOW that was absolutely my favorite encounter of the trip. True, it was short (about 8 minutes beginning to end) but SO close, BEAUTIFUL light, and it seemed so serendipitous, so unexpected! And no zodiacs needed

 

That's pretty much the end...we had one more day of sailing around but we didn't see much of note, but that was fine. We were happy! (Or at least most of us were. Some people who were late to the gate felt that Svein didn't make it clear enough that the bear was RIGHT THERE and they needed to get out as fast as possible, so they were a bit miffed.)

 

I'll post one last entry regarding suggested clothing and gear.

 

 

 

Edited June 15, 2022 by janzin

[Kitsafari]

spectacular! everything came together for the perfect shot!

[shazdwn]

Wow what a way to end, such awesome bear sighting and light.  Just goes to prove that you have to move fast in situations like that. 

[pomkiwi]

Lovely last sighting. Especially like the backlighting.

[Atdahl]

Spectacular is right!

[Galana]

For those last shots I could be convinced to try this.

I slept in minus 22 at 4000 metres but it was DRY. (I am actually wearing the same outers here so it must be the wet 'clutter' that is off putting.) Even when yachting I never wear outers. Sending for details when I get home. How about you Martin? @Soukous?

[Soukous]

1 hour ago, Galana said:

For those last shots I could be convinced to try this.

I slept in minus 22 at 4000 metres but it was DRY. (I am actually wearing the same outers here so it must be the wet 'clutter' that is off putting.) Even when yachting I never wear outers. Sending for details when I get home. How about you Martin? @Soukous?

 

Unlikely. Too much clutter and not enough activity or freedom to roam. 

I'm very happy to enjoy @janzin's photos & TR and the others too. Think of all the money I saved. 

[Galana]

48 minutes ago, Soukous said:

Think of all the money I saved. 

It does not work like that with wildlife viewing. I find no savings. We just 'waste' it doing something else. Ellies, Tigers, Jaguars or Gorillas. Ain't no pockets in a Shroud.

[MPS]

Hi Janet,

Thanks a lot for this truly fabulous report which I am sure will help us a lot when we will board MS Freya in three weeks from now. As we will be carrying the same camera, may I ask which of the many focus modes of the Z9 worked best for you for the polar bears?