Chicks to Juveniles and gone

The shorebirds fly from South America, China, and other exotic places, then quickly rebuild fat reserves, court mates and find suitable breeding territories, mate, lay eggs, incubate for about 20 days, brood their young, fledge their young, and then both independent young and parents restock fat supplies to head south, all in less than two months. So, its the end of July, and all the nests have hatched. The chicks have grown to juveniles, and can now fly. The plots are empty of the familiar displays and sounds of pissed-off birds, and even the staging areas are rapidly dwindling in numbers. Out over the ocean, we can see flocks of grey juvenile phalaropes head west, and out of the Arctic.

And so too are the shorebird biologists migrating. Our maximum crew of 11 has dwindled to only 3, and we leave in a couple days. Not much to do, just pack up the station, and wait for the flights.

I'm incredibly sensitive to life now: to its sounds, behaviour, plumage, the threats and boons of weather. Its a wholesome experience, being a biologist, being with life at its most honest and simple. I'll miss the birds and chicks.

Polar bear swim

We haven't yet a confirmation about the temperature of the water, but there is still some sea ice out on the Barrow spit. For a precious Corona in a “dry” town (i.e., no booze on sale), Nathan managed to swim in the Arctic ocean for 11 and half minutes. This canuck whimped out at about 4 minutes. Damn cold! Nonetheless, it was great to finally discard our fleece and rain pants for some shorts and play some chilly beach football and frisby. Our next project is erect a tarp sauna, for our future polar bear swims.

The brief warmth is terrible though (high of 22 degrees): mosquitos, sweating while hiking, then freezing when sticking a needle in a baby chicks' jugular... the arctic is a harsh mistress.

Chick banding has begun!

For the last couple of weeks, work has consisted of ninja-style nest finding, 8 hours daily on the cold tundra. Now, the shorebird eggs are hatching, so we’re on a race to band the birds, measuring them, sampling blood, etc. Its unbelievably cool! Same plots, same flat wet scenary, but now we’re handling cute little chicks, puff balls with giant legs, sneaking around the tussocks from swooping jaegers and gulls. We do it round the clock, returning to nests in the evenings, checking the hatching progress to nab ‘em before they run to far from the nests.

Otherwise, life goes on pleasantly among the crew. We’re a good group, no major dramas, quarrels (minus one broken heart). Lets you forget all about the fall, and whatever the heck I’ll do.

 Today is also Canada Day. Among the Americans, I’m instead looking forward instead to the 4^th of July and their wacky North Slope festivities: races, nailing competitions, beauty pagents, and perhaps our first polar bear swim! The ice broke up, but it’s the cold wind that’ll burn the most. If there were trees in the tundra, we might make a beach bonfire.

 And now for an interesting shorebird fact: shorebirds spend 70% of their life migrating! 15% of there time they are on the breeding grounds, finding their mate, building a suitable nest and finding a territory, incubating eggs, and protecting the hatchlings for a couple weeks until they themselves can make the 5000 km journey to the wintering grounds, wherever in the world that might be

Happy Solstice!

If you hop over seven hedges and put seven flowers under your pillow on the Solstice, then you will have prophetic dreams... or so say the swedes. Well, there are not exactly seven species of wild flowers out on the tundra right now.

The Inupiat people don't celebrate the Solstice per se, but it is coincident with the main Nalukataq, the Whaling festival here the captains and crew of successful spring whaling expeditions distribute whale blubber (muktuq) and fermented whale meat to the community (now if you're wondering how they can they hunt whales, there are quotas for subsistence communities, and these people do have about 50% of their food subsistence). Plus, there are some neat festivities, like a... rope toss thingie, like a trampoline, apparently traditionally used to through whale watchers up into the air to sight blows for hunting.

Anyway, feeling a bit down as I was just blown off on a date with a cute shore bird researcher. Oh well, short time anyway.

Sweat dreams!

Chick banding

About to have a needle is his jugglar

More pictures from Barrow Alaska, banding and sampling shorebirds for the fish and wildlife service

Tundra swim

I saw a bearded seal! On the ice by the whale carcasses!

The photo is of a king eider.

And in case whoever you are who's actually reading this is getting bored of lists of arctic fauna, something exciting happened to me today: I feel in an arctic river, well actually a melt water vernal stream, but by golly I was upto my navel, waders filled with zero degree water. So, that was inevitable I guess. Dammit, the tundra is ever changing, melting in dangerous random patches that consume unwarry tundra monkeys. Jimbo had his radio off so I had to tough it out in the windy chill, sopping wet for another 4 hours. Yeah, I'm a tough mutha, I know.

Oh, and I successfully found my first nest today too! Two dunlin nests. Whew, I was afraid I had some sort of birder's impediment, but it looks like I can outwit these groundnesting birds after all.

to the spit for polar bears

what do we do on our day off? Why, the same thing we do on our working days: walk the tundra, looking for birds! And for treasure burried under the snow, like Caribou racks. Tonight we'll drive out to the spit, Point Barrow, which divides the Chukchi Sea and the Beaufort Sea, to look for polar bears.

And, here's a bird list:
Shorebirds:
Dunlins, Bairds Sandpiper, Semi-Palminated Sandpiper, White-Rumped Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Rednecked Phalarope, Red Phalarope, Ruddy Turnstone, American Golden Plover, Semi-Palminated Plover.

Ducks, Geese, Eiders and Seaducks:
Northern Pintail, Snow Goose, Lesser White-Fronted Goose, Brant, Tundra Swan, Stellar Eider, Spectacled Eider, Common Eider, Long-Tailed Duck (Old Squaw), Pacific Loon.

Gulls, Terns, Jaegers:
Glaucous Gull, Herring Gull (vagrant), Pomarine Jaeger, Long-Tailed Jaeger, Parasitic Jaeger, Arctic Tern.

Passerines:
Lapland Longspurs, Snow Bunting, Redpoll sp., Varied Thrush, Robin, Wilson's Warbler, Olive-Sided Flycatcher, American Tree Sparrow, White-Crown Sparrow.

Raptors:
Snowy Owl, Shorteared Owl