Qaanaaq

Qaanaaq is something completely else than Thule. Eventhough the two places arent that far from each other the difference is huge. In Thule you can get everything - in Qaanaaq you can't. But when in Qaanaaq you really get the greenlandic feel. After a long day of surveying we landed in Qaanaaq late in the afternoon. We asked Hans from the only hotel in town to come pick us up which he kindly did. Halfway on our way from the airport to the village the road had been washed away, this had happened in only 20 minutes, so we had to wait over an hour for it be fixed.  

4/8 The local stadium in Qaanaaq. Just imagine the new Ronaldo learning his tricks here. At least the view is nice!

4/8 Our Twin-Otter in the airport in Qaanaaq. Compared with the Partenavia we use for aerial surveys in Denmark a Twin-Otter is huge. This is one of the planes used for transport of food to the various Sirius Huts. The plane can make the propellors go the "wrong" way enabling it to take of and land on very short runways. Our two pilots are taking a short break before another long flight.

Snow Bunting is the most common bird (>100 birds seen) within the village with smaller numbers of Arctic Redpoll and Raven also present. One day we even had two Lapland Buntings, a scarce bird this far north (Salomonsen 1967). Fulmars and Kittiwakes are very common with fewer Arctic Terns and Glaucous Gulls. Black Guillemot, Bruennichs Guillemot and Little Auk are all common with the latter seen in thousands. 

Several groups of Harp Seals were seen hunting fish just outside the village. The local hunters don't shoot them as they cannot sell the fur anymore.   

4/8 Harp Seals are great to watch. This group was hunting fish just outside of Qaanaaq with the gulls getting the leftovers. 

4/8 Harp Seals are often seen in tight groups consisting of many animals. They often swim with their belly up giving them a very whitish appearance. Actually they are so lively in the water that inexperienced observers might mistake them for dolphins.

4/8 Double-Dark Fulmar in Qaanaaq. I saw 5-10 of these very dark Fulmars in Qaanaaq with the majority of the birds there being "normal" or "single dark". In some weather conditions these DD Fulmars looked almost completely dark - tricky birds if seen poorly on a grey day on a sea watch....

RDN