Blurry fox

I set up the TrapCam by a stone overlooking the river at Zackenberg, hoping I would catch a gyr falcon. I have observed the young gyr falcon using this and other stones as resting perches. Rather than capturing a falcon, I got this young arctic fox. The light level was rather low resulting in a long shutter speed and blurred movement, but I still think it has a good mood. Besides, movement blur is sooo trendy now!

Photo facts: August 21st 2013, Nikon D700, 17-35mm at 19mm, f/11, 1/15s, ISO 3200, Trailmaster 550 IR release, homemade Pelican case housing.

From the archives - today 6 years ago

2007-08-29 Playing arctic foxes

From the archives - today 6 years ago

2007-08-24 Playful arctic foxes. These young foxes are either from different dens or a smaller female and a larger male.

From the archives - today 6 years ago

2007-08-07 Arctic fox-trot...

From the archives - today 6 years ago

2007-07-28 Playfighting young arctic foxes. 

From the archives - today 6 years ago

2007-07-18 Arctic fox. The group of pups from den 1 went exploring and hung out a while by den 8.

From the archives - today 6 years ago

2007-07-11 Arctic fox pup and camera trap on the den. Camera traps were used this year by a project trying to asses the variety of prey items taken back to the fox dens.

From the archives - today 6 years ago

2007-07-07 Arctic fox pups playing on the den. One of my favorite shots of pups by the den taken in the low light a few hours before midnight.

From the archives - today 6 years ago

2007-07-05 Curious arctic fox. This arctic fox came to check me out as I was having lunch. I did not give it anything as it is forbidden to feed the animals in the national park. Besides, we are trying to study the ecosystem as unaffected by us as possible.

Photographic resolutions

I will be spending another long field season in Greenland this year and although there is plenty of field work, I will get a lot of photo oportunities. So what will I photograph? Well, I am open for what might come up but it can be good to make a plan too. So here goes:

Photo resolutions for Zackenberg 2013

My aim is to

1. use more fill light - flash and reflectors
2. do more macro - plants and insects
3. use less extreme wide angle - carry a 50mm, 55mm or 105mm macro
4. photograph all guests of the work station in a work situation
5. do more panos/soundscapes
6. record more sound in general - for slide shows or even a small radio program perhaps
7. record more video - for slide shows
8. try star trails
9. do much more photo trapping
10. do more birds
11. spend more time with the foxes

I will go through them in more detail in upcoming posts.

Wireless remote controlled pan and tilt gimbal

I did not have much luck with the intended purpose for the RoboCam last year. The musk oxen did not like it. They seemed terrified, so I only tried it once. I am in Greenland to observe the natural behaviour of the musk oxen after all - and not to disturb them... Although the foxes did not seem to mind too much, I will not bring the robot for this upcoming season. Instead I have ordered a remote controlled pan and tilt gimbal head from ServoCity. I plan on using it at the fox dens for close up wide-angle shots with relatively shallow depth of field. I got inspired by some really nice leopard shots taken in Zimanga Private Reserve in South Africa. I also want to remotely control the zoom by using a lens gear belt and a gear on a servo. I do have a 8/9 channel radio remote control on order from Hobby King but it seems to take forever to get delivered... I have not given up on using the robot for wildlife shots but I have got some other plans for remote controlled photography. I have acquired a toy quadcopter and is learning the principles of flying it with intentions of one day getting a big model capable of carrying a good DSLR.

First day in the field in Zackenberg after the summer break

August 17th 2012 was my first day in the field after having been home for a summer break. I went to the other side of the Zackenberg river. I had to take some lake samples and I was joined by Tenna and Birgitte who also had business by the lakes.

After taking my samples, I left the others by the lakes to go back towards the trapping station and on the way check on some fox dens. At den number 1 there was one juvenile fox. Naturally, I took some photos with the newly acquired Nikon D4 and the 200-400/4 lens. I had not yet fine tuned the autofocus of the combination, but I did get some sharp shots nevertheless.

During the season we did not check this den as often as we liked to due to the difficulty of getting to the other side. We only observed a maximum of 3 young but a quick look at the analysis of the images taken with a camera trap placed here showed that there were actually a minimum of 5 young in this den earlier. It is likely that most of them had died by this stage.

Our camera traps are often turned over by musk oxen. I suspect they use them for scratching. Above is an image of their tracks.

Blue and white fox pups

I am editing photos from the first part of my field season while taking a break from field work. I just wanted to share this from fox den 17 where you can easily see the difference between the two colour forms. I hope there are still some blue foxes around when I go back in about two and a half weeks.

RoboCam at the fox den

Last week I took the RoboCam to the nearest fox den for a test! I had had the TrapCam placed there a few days with fairly good results. As I got there, no fox pups were up and I was worried that they were not at the den at all. We have started to see the wander around quite a lot and also very far from the dens. On a few occasions they have been seen at different musk ox carcasses. As I was still assembling the robot a fox pup stuck its head out of one of holes. The robot is far from silent. The squeeky sounds of the dusty wheel bearings and perhaps the whirring of the servos seemed to be a problem. The fox did not like it and went down into the den again. I was probably not patient enough and made advances too fast. Then another fox appeared. I took it more steady and drove the robot slowly. This one did not seem to care much about this new visitor! At one stage it lay down to rest and I drove the robot really close. In other years I have sometimes approached the fox pups to about a meter after habituating them for a month or so. I realised how difficult it was now to get a nice composition with the robot without being able to tilt, swing or roll (the camera is not always level). So I thought perhaps I can just sneak up slowly and silently and do some shots handheld. I managed to get to within 70 cm. The fox was in a deep trance like sleep it seemed - but still looking at me with a half eye once in a while. Suddenly it woke up fully and seemed surprised that I was this close! It seemed to be thinking what to do before it slowly rose and walked away. A third fox came up and started to hunt for spiders and other small critters. I followed it a bit with the robot and it did not seem to bother it at all. I am surprised how little getting used to the robot some of them needed. Now I am on my way back to Denmark for a break. I look forward to use the RoboCam again when I get back to Greenland in August. Then I will also try my luck with the musk oxen.

Blue foxes and lots of lemmings

We see them everyday - not the blue foxes but the lemmings! They are northern collared lemmings and they seem to have had a good winter! Under the thick layer of snow they have bred and multiplied and are now being caught by predators like the long-tailed skua and the arctic fox. The arctic foxes are really doing well and all 5 of the 5 breeding dens are active and with many pups (at least two with 7 or more). When I was seeing some of the pups the first time at our highest placed den, I thought that some of them might be of the dark colour form also know as "blue fox". White arctic fox pups are very dark and uniformly coloured brown when they are very small and first emerge from the den holes in late spring but they soon turn lighter on the underside, inside the ears and around the eyes - much like the adult white fox's summer coat. Although I only got a glimpse the first time, a few of the pups were definitely NOT lighter anywhere. Last time I went to the den my suspicion was confirmed. It was now very clear that there were two different colour forms. I got some rather nice photos where the difference was easy to see and then a dark adult showed up with the mouth full of lemmings! It took a little detour to the den as it discovered me close by. I took a few photos of it too before I left. Sadly, this den is rather far away and high up on a slope so I cannot visit it often, but other dens are closer by and I look much forward to follow the pups for the next short while and again after I return from a break.

Small foxes in the big park

Some of the first wildlife I saw when returning to Zackenberg this spring was two foxes in most of their winter fur still. They hung around the station quite a lot and barked at each other apparently in some territorial demarcation. I suspect that they could be the two young sibling foxes that also frequented the station last fall. Now in May they no longer had close contact but they were very aware of each other and when one went away the other followed in a distance of about a few hundred meters. As we came into June the foxes we saw had shed more and more of their winter fur. On our checks of the activity on the known fox dens I saw an adult fox on only one occasion but I heard muffled barks from the dens and found remains of several musk ox calves. No pups were confirmed before my departure even on the images on the 4 camera traps with interval timers we had set up. I have got notice of pup confirmation now though, and I look much forward to check on them when I return in July.

Steep hills

I will soon be heading for the steep hills of Northeast Greenland.
Up there I will not have access to my e-mail address but snail mail will reach me @

Lars Holst Hansen
ZERO c/o Norlandair
Akureyri Airport
P.O.Box 400
IS-602 Akureyri
Island

I can also be contacted electronically via our satellite phone and http://messaging.iridium.com/ using the number; 881641464327

Return to Zackenberg

After an extended break in Denmark I am now back in Northeast Greenland. My father went to hospital with a rare disease, cerebral vaskulitis, but he is now in treatment, is back home and is improving quickly.
As we arrived, we had a warm period but it has cooled down considerably and we have had a bit of snow a few times. The station has been frequented by one of the local fox pups. At the den I have observed and photographed probably this pub and one of its siblings and they are getting bigger and their white winter fur is growing fast. One day a dark morphed (blue fox) juvenile showed up by the terrasse. We only got two glimpses of it and it was actually chased a little by one of local white foxes. Otherwise we have had the pleasure of a small herd of musk oxen, including a calf, between the buildings. They tend to like the nutrient enriched grass near the houses... If one keeps close to the houses it is possible to get much closer to them than out in the open field. I have done quite a few close ups. Bird life is getting scarcer with most of the waders now gone. On days with relatively clear weather hundreds of pink footed and barnacle geese are seen migrating.
The glaucous gulls are still hanging around and the snow buntings are seen in massive flocks of up till 50. It is an interesting time to be here and I look forward to experience it all.