Bears, Boats, and Birds: Every Day Is an Adventure in the Arctic!

Replacements! Replacing the spark plugs on our replacement engine, before flying it out to the Canning River Delta to replace the engine on our inflatable boat.

We have returned to Kaktovik after completing our surveys on all the river deltas on the western side of the Arctic Refuge coastal plain!  Along the way, we have had our share of arctic adventures.  Every day we set out to accomplish our research mission of finding the most important places for shorebirds along this unexplored coast, but before we can make progress we have to overcome whatever obstacles appear. 

After we completed the survey on the Canning river delta mudflats, we returned toward our camp site by boat. 

The Okpilak river delta from the air on my way out to the Canning. This is typical of the extensive mudflats where the shorebirds congregate to feed. We surveyed the entire delta the next day, and found good numbers of birds on many areas.

Along the way, we noticed a grizzly bear making his way up the river, and assumed he was tracking the large group of caribou farther upstream.  As we drew alongside, he stood up on all fours, which is a classic posture for a curious bear encountering something new.  Normally, a bear will run off once he realizes he is looking at people.  This bear had different ideas!  He ran into the river towards us, and when he realized we were moving past in the boat, he went back to shoreline and then ran along the shore paralleling us, before trying again to swim out toward us.  This is a very aggressive behavior for a bear, and caused us some concern.  We stopped taking pictures, and got out the gun.  As he continued toward us, I shot a cracker shell, which is like a firecracker inside a shotgun shell, in his path in the river in front of him.  When it exploded, he turned around, which was encouraging, but then went back to shore, laid down, and went to sleep!  Eventually he moved off up the river, but we took extra precautions around camp that night! 

The next day we completed all of the remaining river delta surveys between the Canning river and Kaktovik, as you can see on the Spot Adventures map.  The distances are somewhat deceiving on the map – on the arctic ocean, heading into a stiff wind and bouncing over waves for hours at a time the miles pass more slowly.  We made good progress, but along the way it became clear that all was not well with our boat.  It had been difficult to get the boat up on step, which is the term for rising up onto the water surface as it moves forward and gets up to speed.  This sometimes happens when there is too much weight in the boat, and we realized that we were taking on more water than the often wet ride on the bumpy arctic ocean would account for.  After many hours heading into the wind and taking on water, we decided we should pull the boat out of the water when we got back to Kaktovik, so that we could do a thorough inspection. 

Loading the replacement engine into the US Fish and Wildlife Service Plane, piloted by Dave Sowards, with help from Ryan Burner, for the flight out to the Canning.

We got safely back, and took the boat out of the water at about 10PM last night, and by midnight had deflated the boat, taken apart the floorboards, and discovered a tear in the fabric of the bottom of the boat, and several more starting along the rear seams.  The boat had taken on enough water below the floor to affect its performance, and it drained for a long time as we recruited help from a group of botanists staying at the bunkhouse to move the boat into the garage where it could dry.  After many tough miles along the ocean over several years of survey work, it was time for the boat to get some TLC. 

Steve Kendall, our Fish and Wildlife Service partner who leads the coastal survey, unloading the 200 lb. engine at the Canning river camp, with help from Luke DiCicco, who is working with the Fish and Wildlife Service this summer and was an amazing help on the first half of the coastal survey.

Today we are patching the boat with a special repair kit designed for rubber boats, and are optimistic about having it ready to return to service by tomorrow. 

Despite these challenges, we are actually on schedule with our survey.  The weather was extremely cooperative, which made a huge difference and allowed us to travel between the river deltas even with the boat not performing well.  We found impressive numbers of birds again at several of the deltas, mostly Semipalmated Sandpiper juveniles fattening up for their trip to South America.  The highlight of the surveys for me was seeing two flights of 35 and 55 Golden-Plovers heading south in small v-formations, starting off on the first leg of their remarkable journey, first to the Canadian Maritimes, and then south across the Atlantic Ocean and on to Argentina. 

We trailored the boat up to the bunkhouse garage, and deflated it so that we could remove the floorboards, expose the tears in the floor and along the transom, and dry and repair the boat. The patches seem to be holding, only four more to do this afternoon, and we hope to be underway again soon!

The fog has come in very thick today, which is more normal for this time of year, and the other crews working by airplane or helicopter are grounded for now.  But if the wind stays moderate we should be underway again soon, as we can navigate in the fog and keep working even when conditions are tough.  Thanks for your interest in our project, and for following us on our journey along the Arctic Ocean!  I hope to post my next podcast from the field heading east toward Canada sometime in the next few days.