Seabirds Online Course
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Section: Feather Structure and Behavioral Patterns in Seabirds
Lesson: The following pattern of feather structure in relation to feeding habits/behavior emerges
Seabirds.
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Introduction
I undertook my first long sea voyage between June 21 and July 1, 1965 from Tromsø, Norway, to Spitzbergen-Svalbard (only Spitzbergen used from now onward), and back. Tromsø city is 350 km north of the Arctic Circle and the southern tip of Spitzbergen is 660 km from the North Cape. Bear Island is halfway between Spitzbergen and the N-Norway. My destination for a 1 week stay was Kapp Linné at the entrance of Isforden, the second largest fjord in Spitzbergen. It lies on the west side of the archipelago, which is about midway between Norway and the North Pole. Kapp Linné’s coordinates are 78°03′44.7″ N and 13°37′04.0″ E and it is named after the Swedish botanist Carl von Linné. This site used to be the location of Isfjord radio and weather station, which operated from 1933 until 1999 when it was automated and depopulated. During my visit, however, the station still had eight staff members who proved to be extremely helpful and knowledgeable concerning the birdlife and the polar bears. Nowadays, parts of Kapp Linné are a bird sanctuary, which may not be visited between May 15 and August 15.


Material and methods
During the slow steamboat trip, all seabirds that were sighted around the vessel were recorded during 15-minutes/each hours. The bird count was mainly undertaken by myself but during my short breaks for rest and refreshments the observations were undertaken by four of my fellow birdwatchers: E. Kotanen, J. Salokoski, P. Susiluoto, and O. Toivonen. According to the captain, the average speed of the boat was 11 nautical miles/hour (NM = nautical mile = 1852 m), which was used to calculate the distances for the seabird observations (Table 1). To avoid any confusion, it is important to note that Table 1 lists only birds within the 15-minute observation periods/hour during the sea trip from Tromsø to Kapp Linné in Spitzbergen. Seabird species seen in Kapp Linné during the last week of June 1965 are listed in Table 2.
Occurrence of seabirds on steamship trip from Tromsø, Norway to Kapp Linné, Spitzbergen June 21–24, 1965.
Seabird records from Kapp Linné and nearby bird mountain and bird island, Spitzbergen from June 24–28, 1965.
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