Not a very exciting day as it mainly involved packing! We did however get out in the morning for a very quick nest search for an hour seeing just the usual American Golden Plovers, Long-billed Dowitchers, Semipalmated and Pectoral Sandpipers, Red Phalaropes and Lapland Longspur. On the way back to Narl we came across a female Snowy owl feeding on prey relatively close to the road. Tomorrow I leave Barrow heading to Anchorage for a week touring around before heading back to Ontario for a weeks holiday with the family so not sure if I will be able to keep up with postings (more of the same then!).
13th July
This morning Ben and myself were on a small loop (8km) revisiting 5 nests trying to reduce the number of active nests. Within the first few metres we could see a family of swans on the lake in front with 4 cygnets and as predicted the nest soon revealed 4 egg membranes. Next we carried onto a hatched White-front passing several young Semipalmated Sandpipers and Dunlin on the way that were close to fledging. Next was our last Pintail nest but sadly it had failed. Looking out over a open Elson Lagoon with very little ice in view produced a group of 7 Yellow-billed Loons, 40 Common Eider and a flock of 20 Thick-billed Murres flew past.
Tundra Swan
The Slough held three families of Black Brant. It was now after lunch and we were heading back to the road finishing off with a successful and a failed White-front nest. Heading back to the car I bumped into a new bird for our Barrow list, a spring overshoot in the form of a Hermit Thrush bringing the groups tally to 76 species. The rest of the afternoon was spent starting to back up some gear ready for our departure on Wednesday.
12th July
Record breaking temperatures today on a sunny day with light south easterly winds. This was our final day of nest searching and once again the area turned up no nest, not even any failed or finished nests But there was a Lemming. Early afternoon and we were off to revisit a few nests. Heading inland along Gaswell Road from the coast the temperature outside started to increase, arriving at our various locations the temperature peaked at a whopping 23 degrees Celsius!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This surely can’t be Barrow? Heading out on our 7km walk heading south into the wind was quiet pleasant, as for the nests all 3 White-fronts had hatched as had the Tundra Swan. Not too surprising there was a family of swans on the neighbouring lake along with another family on the next lake as well. In the distance there were 4 Sandhill Cranes calling from the Tundra. Now it was time for the hike back to the road, turning around and heading with the breeze meant that the mosquitoes that followed us all the way down seized their chance with a mass attack, thankfully I had a head net!
11th July
The week had passed and it was our day off once again. A morning walk around the back of Narl found two disturbing discoveries with both my Redpoll nest being destroyed. But on the bright the resident Semipalmated Sandpipers had brought in a Baird’s Sandpiper onto an area off rough ground. 
Baird’s Sandpiper
Over lunch three of us headed to the south side of Barrow for a seawatch. Compared with last time the ice sat a little further out with no sea viewable beyond which meant all the birds were showing slightly closer. The main highlights noted were 1 male Spectacled Eider, 3 Red-necked Grebes, 4 Red-breasted Merganser and whilst glancing down to the shore a gull was spotted walking down the waters edge feeding. Straight away the black wing tips stood out ruling out yet another Glaucous, closer inspection noted the following features, short stubby deep pink legs and then its eye was dark. These two features lead me towards the id of a Thayer’s Gull rather than a Herring. 
Thayer’s Gull
After the seawatch we got the ATV’s and took a cruise down the point where the sea had opened up massively from my last visit. Birds were plentiful with a Pelagic Cormorant being new, arriving at the carcass we couldn’t see any bears but a thorough scan of the gulls found what looks like a good 2 calendar year Glaucous-winged Gull. Hopefully I will become more familiar with these next week.
Glaucous-winged Gull
As the evening drew in we headed back south where we came across a female Harlequin Duck swimming along the shore. Listed below is some birds noted on the sea throughout the day:
Thick-billed Murre (500+)
Black Guillemot (16+)
King Eider (20+)
Common Eider (210+)
White-billed Loon (6)
Long-tailed Duck (c.1000)
Sabine’s Gull (30+)
Black-legged Kittiwake (60+)
Pomarine Jaeger (5)
Long-tailed Jaeger (2)
10th July
Rain returned and remained just as long. Mid afternoon came and we headed out in the drizzle to revisit a few nests that had to be checked. Dave and myself first visited a failed Brant nest followed by a still active nest. Continuing through the fog we arrived at the King Eider camera nest where she was still present so the battery and memory card was changed. Moving on we came across a female Snowy Owl before reaching our last Brant nest that had successfully hatched out 4 eggs. Finishing our 5km walk we arrived back at the road.
9th July
The day was put on hold as rain set in right through to 15:00hrs. As the rain stopped we managed to get out and cover a reasonable area to the northwest of footprint lake, as recent trends continue we found no nests but did see a Peregrine, Buff-breasted and 8 Western Sandpipers.
8th July
Today we were out nest searching again this time in the area around the gas works buildings with numerous electric wires all over the place. For all our efforts we failed to find any nests but enjoyed the numerous wader babies including Dunlin, Red Phalarope, Pectoral and Semipalmated Sandpipers. But the best find by far were two pairs of legs, both from Snowy Owls and both yielding bands. Good news for the day came from a camera nest that revealed the Spectacled Eider had hatched here eggs and walked off with here 5 ducklings at 14:00hrs. SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Semipalmated Sandpiper
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