Leaving the bird ponds near Longyearbyen airport we headed back through town, passing a grazing Svalbard reindeer near the High School and headed for a pond beyond the dog yards where a Red-throated Diver was on a nest. This was beyond the safe town limits so required the presence of an armed guide in the unlikely event of a Polar Bear appearance. Stopping briefly we used the bus as cover to get some images without disturbing the bird on her nest. This was another exciting sighting for me as I have never before seen Divers/Loons.

The coloration of the Red-throated diver provided excellent camouflage and highlighted the value of a local guide to maximise the opportunities available in the limited timeframe we had.

Heading back toward town I saw a single King Eider from the bus before we stopped near the dog yards where there is a good nesting colony of Common Eider. Presumably the presence and sound of the dogs is a good early warning signal and some protection against Arctic fox predation.

As with many duck there is marked sexual dimorphism in plumage with males being colourful and quite obvious. In contrast the female have beautifully patterned brown plumage that makes them quite inconspicouous when sitting tight on a nest.

A small pond gave opportunities for flight images as the ducks came into land.

The Eiders were quite relaxed and this enabled the opportunity to move around and get some quite close images with fairly clean backgrounds.

In addition to the Eiders there were good numbers of Barnacle geese which gave some nice opportunities in flight against the distant mountains and fiord background .

The dog yards are a convenient location for bird photography as there are many subjects and they are an easy walk from town and within the safe zone. We would visit them again during a couple of free opportunities during the trip.

Photos with Nikon Z9 and Nikkor Z 800mm f6.3 VR S