June Week 4

30th June

A much warmer day today with brief periods of fine drizzle first thing. We spent the morning nest searching finding very little for our efforts, just 5 female King Eiders. After dinner Ben and myself broke off again to revisit some nests as follows, failed Pintail and Brant Goose, active Tundra Swan then a failed and active White-fronted Goose. We then had a dilemma, which way around the largest lake in the Barrow area do we go to our final nest. Right probably the slightly shorter way? Or left the slightly longer way exploring new country with the slight chance of not being able to get around?

You guessed it, we headed left around the mostly frozen lake, once on the southern edge the water opened out with 40 Arctic Terns feeding over the surface continuing on we decided to cut across the bay in our hip boots as there was visible vegetation (therefore shallow right?). We were halfway across as the uneven ice floor along with increased depth meant we could go no further! Maybe the 3 pairs of Pacific Loons should have indicated deep water. Thankfully however just a further 20m down we found a passable route across. Reaching the other side we found a large flooded marshy area with at least four Sabine’s Gulls flying around including birds harassing Glaucous Gulls as they passed. A few minutes later we spotted a bird on a nest, we had to investigate closer and as we did over they came warning us off their eggs.

We moved back to the north ticking off the final active goose nest before spotting my first 2 White-fronted goslings out on the ice in the lake. Minutes later I was shocked to be watching a pair of Barn Swallows fly past, they apparently only just reach the far south of the state so why on earth are the all the way up here. Finally after a 20km hike we arrived back at the car and headed home for a late evening meal.

29th June

The sun was out once again so I got out of bed earlier and had a walk around the back of Narl seeing all the residents with the addition of the Lesser Yellowlegs and a Varied Thrush. Cutting through the buildings to the coast and on the narrow ice free band of water that runs up the beach were three birds, immediately identifying them as a new bird for my North American list, a bird that I’m familiar with from back at home. The Black Guillemots moved along the coast playing. Scanning out over the sea ice lots of black dots could be seen that were in fact Ringed Seals.


Black Guillemot

A trip south of Barrow checking two nests, a failed Pintail and active White-front also produced a flock of 8 King Eiders on the sea ice as 4 Pomarine Jaegers flew over. Once after dinner three of us headed out for some nest searching picking up 3 new White-fronted Geese nests and a Glaucous Gull nest. The team size decreased down to eight people today as the first volunteers start departing.

28th June

A day consistently switching between sunshine and fog. The whole group comprising of 8 people nest searched the south and west sides of Footprint lake. Getting off to a cracking start with a Green-winged Teal nest in the first ten minutes hopes for a successful day were high but as the next 14km unfolded all were could muster was a single White-fronted Goose nest. Very little notable birds were seen with a Pomarine Jaeger being the best except for a flock of 100 Red Phalaropes (mostly females) already preparing for their journey south!

Three of us remained to search an area just to the south seeing a group of 4 female King Eiders. On the way home we spotted a male Snowy Owl sat on the snow fence.


King Eider

27th June

The day started off bright and sunny and since it was our day off Ben and I went for a cruise on the ATV’s down Gaswell Road in search of some photographic objects. First not photographable was a distant white blob across Footprint Lake in the form of a Snowy Owl. The roadside verge held the usual American Golden Plovers, Pectoral & Semipalmated Sandpipers, Long-billed Dowitcher, Red Phalaropes and Lapland Longspurs. Halfway down Gaswell we found on a small pool an immature male King Eider (first immature eider seen). A short walk near the landfill revealed a distant male Spectacled Eider lost in the haze.


Red Phalarope


Long-billed Dowitcher

Back in town and a festival was taking place in celebration of a successful whale hunt earlier in the spring. There was a variety of food being passed around but I chickened out of the fermented whale meat in blood however I did try the smallest piece of raw skin and blubber. (once!) Also had some caribou stew that was horrendously fatty but I missed the goose soup. We returned at night for the blanket toss where the sealskin from the successful whale catching boat is used to thrust someone into the air. In historic times this technique was used to search for whales once out on the sea ice.







‘Midnight sun’ well 01:00 hrs actually as this is the lowest point!

26th June

Back south of the Landfill searching an area filled with pools on yet another cloudy day. Nests were once again hard to find with the only active nests being 2 White-fronted Geese however we did find a failed nest of both Spectacled and King Eider. Also present were 4 Western & 4 Buff-breasted Sandpipers and the first fledged Lapland Longspurs, the evening approached as the skies cleared, on the finale stretch of our survey we noted a nesting Red-throated Loon with a group of 3 approachable Spectacled Eiders (1 male) on the same pond.


Spectacled Eider

On return to the house a walk around in the evening sun was rewarded with fledged Snow Buntings, the finding of a sitting Hoary (Arctic) Redpoll, Green-winged Teal and a Lesser Yellowlegs.


Hoary Redpoll

25th June

I was time to start doing some nest searching today. We headed out to the landfill and searched areas close to the road. We just found a single nest of note belonging to a Pintail. Birds recorded included 1m & 4f Spectacled Eider, the white Ruff and a flyover Yellow-billed Loon.


Ruff

After dinner I switched groups moving over to Freshwater Lake where we found just a single new White-fronted Goose nest. A small pool held a pair of King Eiders along with 4 female Spectacled.

24th June

The day got off to a slightly late start due to snow flurries but by noon Ben and myself were off to check 17 nests on a lengthy walk along the Beaufort Sea. First was a failed Pintail with an active Brant Goose nest next and whilst on route we found 3 Long-billed Dowitcher nests. As we continued we ticked off the White-fronted Geese along with 2 Pintail and a Tundra Swan nest but the Long-tailed Duck had failed.

Highlights from the walk were a Western Sandpiper and a pair of Long-tailed Jaegers along with the first baby Lapland Longspurs hatching out.


Western Sandpiper

23rd June

The weather remains cool with a consistent northeasterly wind and foggy conditions. The day for three of us was not spent nest searching but revisiting some waterfowl nests found during the foot surveys. In the mourning the plan was to visit a Long-tailed Duck, Spectacled and King Eider nest with a camera each to monitor them. Arriving at the Long-tailed Duck nest in the southeast end of the recording area an Arctic Fox was spotted patrolling the tundra a hundred metres away. There was no sign of the female but the eggs were covered up so we placed the camera in place and left. Moving on we arrived at an empty Spectacled nest followed by the same story at the King nest. (This was soon to become a common outcome for most duck nests)

After dinner we visited 7 nests, an active Tundra Swan, failed King Eider, failed Long-tailed Duck and 2 active White-fronted Goose nests out of 4. Whilst on our walk around the east side of Freshwater Lake we also saw 5 Spectacled and 16 King Eiders of which females are starting to out number the males, never a good sign. A flock of 13 Snow Geese flew over as did a Pomarine Jaeger and we came across 3 Dunlin nests.


Tundra Swan

22nd June

Today involved very little birding as the priority was training for the nest searching that will commence tomorrow. The main aim of the nest searching is to thoroughly check areas that either eiders were seen in during the foot surveys or areas where steller’s nested last year.