An incredible day for wildlife viewing

• Tom Arnbom
• 11 years ago
• Categories: From the field
• Tags: laptev sea, polar bears, walrus

Muskox, near Laptev Sea. © Tom Arnbom / WWF-Canon

I do not know where to start. Today, at more than 74.5 latitude, we have experienced more Arctic wildlife than most people do in a lifetime:

• more than 600 walruses
• five polar bears
• three snowy owls
• muskox
• reindeer
• stoat
• siberian lemming
• red-necked stint
• thick-billed murre
• snow bunting
• arctic tern
• pomarine and long-tailed skuas
• and to our surprise, breeding Sabine’s Gull.

Walrus haulout, Laptev Sea. © Tom Arnbom / WWF-Canon

On top of that we sampled DNA from polar bear, walrus and arctic wolf (the last from scat).

Tomorrow we will move 50 kilometer south to a sand spit with more than 400 walruses. We do not know how we can top this, but I guess something unexpected could still happen.

– Tom