14 July: Fridtjof at Austfjorden

The map displays Fridtjofs movement over the last week, where he has been quite mobile along the west coast of Austfjorden, and also visitied Vestfjorden and Wijdefjorden. Last observations on 13 July was on the shoreline below Gråkammen. Map reproduced with permission from Norwegian Polar Institute using TopoSvalbard

13 July: Ebbe heads north to moult

11 July Ebbe moved north to Nordaustlandet - and it is now 100% sure he failed to breed and is on moult migration.

12 July: Steve in Woodfjorden

This picture reveals the movements of Steve over the last week - where he spent the first five days in Halvdandalen below Kronprinshøgda and the last two days a bit further south at the coastline below Burowtoppen. Map reproduced with permission from Norwegian Polar Institute using TopoSvalbard

9 July: Loff "at home"

If one can talk about a home for a Brent Goose it must be where Loff has been in Nordaustlandet since 4 July. He is located in the surroundings of Ringgåsvatnet, northeast of Ringgåsdalen. Ringgås is the norwegian name for Brent Goose. Map reproduced with permission from Norwegian Polar Institute using TopoSvalbard

9 July: Steve and Fridtjof both on moultmigration to Svalbard

In the morning of 4 July Steve left Greenland and flew to Woodfjorden in North Spitsbergen (upper map). As suggested previously it is now evident that he and his mate failed to breed this year. Fridtjof likewise - after visiting several potential breeding sites in Greenland from Île-de-France in south to Kilen in north, likewise flew over the Greenland Sea in the afternoon of 4 July. He is now on the westcoast of Austfjorden, also on North Spitsbergen (lower map).

3 July: Niels most site-faithful bird

In contrast to Steve and Ebbe, Niels is still very site-faithful, and thus might be attending a female sitting on a nest. Over the last week he has only been away from Dishogdene a single afternoon on 27 June, indicated by the three dots at Arrheniusfjellet and Blankhatten. Map reproduced with permission from Norwegian Polar Institute using TopoSvalbard

3 July: Ebbe might also have failed breeding?

Ebbe is still located west of Lomfjorden. The image gives his locations over the last week. Looking more into the data from June reveals that he after a period from 8-29 June, where he primarily were located at the nunatak Manhøgda, after 29 June moved permanently down to the valley. This might indicate that he also failed breeding, unless he only attends his female during nighttime when the GPS-reciecer is off. Map reproduced with permission from Norwegian Polar Institute using TopoSvalbard

3 July: Loff moved to Nordaustlandet

This picture summarises the movements of Loff since he left Edgeøya on 15 June, attempted a flight to Greenland on 22-23 June, moved back to Svalbard and Sassendalen on 28 June  - and now have moved north to the northcoast of Nordaustlandet - probably some of the harshest environments on the Svalbard archipelago.

3 July: Steve abandoned Kilen?

Steve has been very site-faithful and localised on the foothills of the Kilen mountains 12-25 June, but since then he visited Nakkehoved north of Kilen twice (26 and 30 June), and 2-3 July he had moved south to Amdrup Land. Unless males occasionally go on longer flights for suitable feeding sites while their mates are attending the nests, the increased mobility within this fairly short time-frame suggests a breeding failure. The female would need about 5 days to lay the clutch and 22 days to incubate it, and with a median hatch-date around 7 July as we now it from studies in Svalbard (see Madsen, J., Bregnballe, T. & Mehlum, F. 1989: Study of the breeding ecology and behaviour of the Svalbard population of Light-bellied Brent Goose Branta bernicla hrota. Polar Reserach 7, pages 1-21).