www.arcticstation.nl

select keyword  

[home]  [weblog]  [science]  [people]  [station]  [ny-ålesund]  [sightings]  [sitemap]  [nederlands]

more pages with this keyword at the end of this page  klik hier voor nederlands

base-jumping barnacle goose goslings falling from cliff just two days old

25 July 2013
My former student Arjen Drost has taken marvelous pictures capturing the jump of goslings of cliff breeding barnacle geese. These three picture are taken from his website www.natureview.nl.
To the right you see the gosling jumping from the cliff.
Sixty years ago, barnacle goose were known as a cliff-nesting goose species on Spitsbergen and Greenland. Nesting on a cliff, they were nesting away from predators. However after hatch, the goose family had to move to the feeding meadows and this was a risky operation. There was an old clip from Greenland, but this year there is new material showing the risk of the goslings jumping from the clip. Pictures from Arjen Drost and a video from Animal Planet show the dramatic jump.

Since 1943, there has been a dramatic increase in goose numbers on Spitsbergen. A 150 times increase due to better food in winter and conservation measures like a hunting ban and nature reserves. To accommodate this population increase, barnacle geese started breeding on small islands. These islands were most often not visited by polar foxes and breeding was safe. Also in Kongsfjorden, the islands in the fjord were populated with barnacle geese since 1982 and the nesting numbers increased to 680 in 2013.

In recent years, thanks to a study of Jouke Prop, we learned that the it was only a few decades that islands were safe for nesting as a new predator appearred on stage: the polar bear. In summer, it had disappeared from the west coast of Spitsbergen due to heavy hunting. But since 2000, it has become a regular visitor again. We are still unable to distinguish between three different causes. The hunting ban since 1968 might have supported a population increase. Or the bears might have become less shy for people and tourists. Or the bears are stuck on land because the ice is moving further away in summer. Despite all stories about climate change and scientific and public attention for the fate of polar bears,local scientists are unable to make statements about the importance of each of these three hypothesis.

Nevertheless, at this moment most barnacle geese on Spitsbergen are nesting on small island and at least these birds escape the danger of base-jumping. However cliff nesting is not always safe against polar bears as shown here.


This video might need your permission to run ActiveX. To start the video click on the picture.



And in the BBC series LIFE the jump is even more spectacular. Do start the video below.


Problems viewing? Try this.




pages with keyword history

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20230701, 12:56
hut on island storholmen

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20211230, 12:00
info websites

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20211124, 12:00
we need you

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20200614, 20:00
Ny-Ålesund history

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20200324, 12:00
national maritime museum

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20191101, 15:00
history of Ny-Ålesund station

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20190808, 12:00
Archaeology at Zeeuwse Uytkyk
 

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20190714, 1600
historic faeces

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20190807, 18:00
Ytre Norskøya day 1

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20190705, 09:31
renovation

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20180713, 10:57
lance

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20160602, 11:56
whaler

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20160308, 16:00
Fifty years Dutch polar research

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20160815, 15:00
bears interested in archeologists
 

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20150504, 14:00
Dutch mining professor as advisor

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20150504, 15:00
Re-location of whalers

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20140715, 09:30
water taxi

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20140715, 23:45
ground penetrating radar

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20140715, 23:00
surface archeology

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20130728, 19:30
100 year old warehouse

science

click on the picture for more details
shown
above
20130725, 12:00
base-jumping goslings
 

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20130703, 15:30
camp mansfield

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20130628, 15:00
renovation

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20130617, 11:00
clothes from whalers

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20130128, 20:00
Netherlands on Edgeøya

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20120813, 14:00
storholmen hut

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20120724, 19:45
tame bear

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20120704, 18:30
Hollendarhaugen
 

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20120704, 18:30
Hollendarhaugen

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20120306, 13:30
mining history on spitsbergen

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20110724, 20:00
marble quarry re-discovered

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20090703, 14:00
bore holes

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20090626, 19:00
rediscovered art

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20070709, 11:42
cultural heritage

weblog

click on the picture for more details
20060806, 1100
Strijbos
 

[home]  [weblog]  [science]  [people]  [station]  [ny-ålesund]  [sightings]  [sitemap]  [nederlands]

click on a picture for more information



select a new keyword

choose a keyword from the list in this box: 

[360 video]  [aquaria]  [archaeology]  [arctic fox]  [arctic tern]  [arcticexplorer.nl]  [artist]  [atmospheric research]  [aurora borealis]  [barnacle goose]  [birdhealth]  [catching]  [cemetery]  [common eider]  [dogs]  [eemshaven]  [expedition]  [faeces]  [fish]  [geolocator]  [geology]  [geopolitics]  [glaciers]  [glaucous gull]  [global warming]  [gps-collar]  [grouse]  [guillemot]  [history]  [houses]  [imprinting]  [insects]  [instructions]  [kittiwake]  [landscape]  [limnology]  [moult]  [nest checking]  [netherlands]  [new species]  [party]  [people]  [pink-footed goose]  [plankton]  [plants]  [podcast]  [polar bear]  [pollution]  [postmaster]  [press]  [publication]  [reindeer]  [ring reading]  [rocket]  [safety]  [science]  [seal]  [skua]  [snow]  [snowbunting]  [space research]  [station]  [streetview]  [sustainability]  [teaching]  [tourism]  [town]  [unusual birds]  [veterans]  [video]  [visitors]  [waders]  [whale]  [wildlife camera]  [young polar scientist