Return to the Arctic

It's hard to believe that I'm already back in the Arctic, after a few short weeks back at Manomet. It's wonderful to be here again on the coast, this time looking for staging shorebirds, as they get ready for their long migration south.  Our trip to Fairbanks went smoothly, and after a day of gun safety and bear safety training, we flew to Kaktovik, a small village on the Arctic Ocean coastline.  The Fish and Wildlife Service has a bunkhouse there, which we used to collect our gear and prepare for our long coastal boat trip.

On our first day, we got up in the morning in Fairbanks, and flew to Kaktovik, and went out the same day to start our survey work.  We completed the first of many river deltas, called the Jago River, one of the largest deltas on the coastline.  It was a long day of surveying across the mudflats, and we saw many more birds this year than in past visits.  Our day ended with a beautiful sunset, which was followed by another sunny day, a very rare event on the Artic coastline, where the fog is a constant companion.  

Today, we surveyed two more river deltas -- the Niguanak and the Angun -- and just made our second camp in the Beauford Lagoon.  It looks like the weather is starting to change, but we're hoping that the winds will stay calm enough to complete several more surveys over the next few days.  We're very fortunate to have such a competent boatman in our partner, Steve, from Fish and Wildlife Service, because navigating the treacherous waters along the coast is a challenge not for the faint of heart.  

We're now headed east towards Demarcation Bay, which is the border with Canada, and hope to finish this part of the survey over the next five days, before we return to Kaktovik, and them prepare to survey the western half of the Arctic Refuge coastline.  We'll keep you updated with regular postings and more podcasts from the Arctic Shorebird Project soon.  Thanks for checking in!