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Tag: birds

“The sled dog Balto and his friends”

On 11th Mar 202411th Mar 2024 By JoanaIn Adventure, Biology, Travel1 Comment

Hello, and welcome back to Bio On The Rocks. I have now been in Svalbard for over two months, and my first course at UNIS, "Arctic Environmental Management", is coming to an end. One element of the assessment for this course is to work in groups on an environmentally relevant topic in Svalbard, conduct interviews …

Continue reading “The sled dog Balto and his friends”

“The sails are set!”

On 7th Jan 202419th Jan 2024 By JoanaIn Personal, TravelLeave a comment

Welcome to Bio On The Rocks, the place where I document my “travels” into the fascinating worlds of the Arctic and nature. In this first blog post, I would like to tell you why Svalbard is more than just an exciting travel destination for me. My passion for animals dates back to my early childhood. …

Continue reading “The sails are set!”

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arctic avalanche biodiversity biogeosciences Biology birds climatechange communication emergency environment expedition fish foodweb Geology glacier hazards HelmerHanssen ice longyearbyen ocean polar polarbear polarday reindeer safety seaice snow svalbard unis zooplankton

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☀️🏔️Summer has arrived in the Arctic – and with it, the birds. ✨ Just a little reminder 🙃mindset shifts to take the fear out of your next scientific decision I spotted my first oystercatchers on Helgoland and was beyond excited! 🐦 Rick had already seen some in Scotland and showed me pictures — I was honestly a bit jealous. They don’t migrate to Svalbard, so I couldn’t find them up there. But as it turns out, they are everywhere in Bremerhaven too, even nesting on top of tall buildings! Such charming little birds! 🩵 🧊Field trip to Hiddensee – hunting for glacial treasures 🪨 Explore. That’s the whole point. 🌍 🤔Still thinking about which natural science path is right for you?
 Today I was at Pohlesee – a small lake near Berlin, connected to the Wannsee – for a workshop 📖. I had dragged my big telephoto lens across Germany 📷 and was this close to admitting it had been for nothing.
But then… this absolute legend of a grey heron showed up. Calm, collected, and posing like it had done this a hundred times before 🐦. Just when it started to rain … he got a little unmotivated. ✨April was a month spent mostly @awiexpedition Institute 🧪 – working on Arctic microfossils from my sediment core samples and learning from every pipette and protocol. But this post isn’t about thesis life or labwork. It’s about the living beings I shared the most time with – and the most beautiful moments.

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