June Week 2

14th June

Today I was given the pleasure of tramping through Footprint Lake with three other lucky people. The survey got off to a great start with a male Spectacled Eider, another flyby Long-tailed Jaeger with 2 Pomarines and then a scarcity for the area in the form of a Short-billed Dowitcher. Further on we finally found our goal 4 male and 2 female Steller’s Eider (a relief considering this has been the hotspot). For the last quarter of the walk we actually found dry tundra, which made the walking easier. The survey ended with 3 Ruddy Turnstones and 2 Killdeer on the edge of Middle Salt Lagoon.


Spectacled Eider

13th June

An early morning look along the beach got a Common Eider and 2 Red-throated Loons on a small area of open water were the Middle Salt Lagoon empties into the sea. Next a Killdeer flew past, not a bird I expected to see up here.

Today’s plot was adjacent to Freshwater Lake and the terrain was much more ideal for waterfowl. Starting off there were a pair of Pacific Loons on the lake with Arctic Tern flying overhead shortly followed by a Red-necked Grebe (scarce bird this far north). We were soon seeing birds along the plot with totals of 1 Spectacled and 20 King Eiders, 4 Yellow-billed Loons flew over, a Peregrine and then a distant lifer flew past, Long-tailed Jaeger (finally seen one!). Nests found today were two Semipalmated Sandpipers and a Dunlin.


King Eider

Returning back to the house one of the trappers (Fox control) had seen a Ruff so after our evening meal we headed out along Gaswell Road and turned off towards the landfill were we located the fine white male in all is splendour on an open marshy area. Also noted along the road was a pair of Steller’s Eiders.

12th June

Today was the start of foot surveys on a cloudy cool day. The team is split up into 3 groups of roughly four people and are given a plot that will be checked for any Steller’s and Spectacled Eiders along with any possible predators such as Snowy Owl, Jaegers, Glaucous Gull, Raven or Foxes. The plots vary in size and shape and seem to range between 8 and 16km of walking over the wet tundra.

The plot got of to a good start with a single Baird’s Sandpiper but the best bird was an adult male Snowy Owl that perched on small mounds. This year owls are very scarce due to the lack of food so I was pleased to get one on the first survey plot. Whilst walking around its inevitable to bump into the odd nest or so, I managed a Greater White-fronted Goose, Long-billed Dowitcher and a Lapland Longspur.


Snowy Owl

11th June

Most of the day was spent with final training for the foot surveys with just the return of the Yellow-billed Loon being noted along with a flock of 60 Common Eiders migrating over the sea ice.

10th June

A morning jolly up Gaswell Road started off with a Gadwall, followed by 7 Pomarine Jaegers and 2 Black Brant with Eiders noted as follows 8 Steller’s, 4 Spectacled and a King.


Steller’s Eider

An evening trip added a Peregrine to the list as the fog started to roll in.

9th June

The only birding today was a trip down to Freshwater Lake on the south side of Barrow. Birds noted were a pair of Steller’s Eider, 4 King Eiders, 4 Arctic Terns and 6 Parasitic Jaegers.


Red Phalarope

8th June

A cloudy calm day with warm temperatures of 5 degrees Celsius. An early morning walk around the built up area of Narl produced Hoary and Common Redpolls. Then at noon another short walk found a cracking Varied Thrush hopping around on the tundra edge, the bird showed distantly and must have been a spring overshoot. Heading south I came to Middle Salt Lagoon with its narrow stretch of open water around the border. Nearly instantly I picked up a loon cruising along, picking up my binoculars I found myself staring at a smashing adult Yellow-billed Loon.


Yellow-billed Loon

Anyway back to work! The afternoon passed quickly and once after our evening meal a couple of us headed out to admire the loon some more, he had moved around to the over side but once there it showed well, along the road between two lakes were Semipalmated Sandpipers, Lapland Longspur and then a small passerine moved on the waters edge. This bird was only the second I have ever seen with the last being back on Fair Isle last autumn. It was an Arctic Warbler and was also seen in similar circumstances with no trees anywhere near. This bird is however a regular visitor further south in Alaska.


Arctic Warbler

Arriving back at the house as a group were off for a drive so I jumped in, we headed out along Gaswell Road seeing a total of 16 Steller’s Eiders mainly in Footprint Lake. Further on we found a group of 4 Buff-breasted Sandpipers displaying by the road. On our return back midnight passed as the evening sun continued to shine from high in the sky. (in actual fact the lowest point is about 01:30 hours)