No, still making with the puns and pushing my 'aren't Muskoxen awesome' agenda. But take heart - the Nome portion of my trip is winding down.
Yesterday, in tundra shrubs, Richard located a pair of Arctic Warblers - LIFER! I looked and looked but the birds only allotted us fleeting glances for quite a while. I was honestly wondering if I would not count the species at all, when finally, one of the two tiny warblers perched its adorable bum in a tree on thee the hillside.
Not the flashiest birdie out thereon the tundra...
The photographers among us shot a zillion pix of the little guy. The bird then seemed to decide to give us an additional view so as to assure it be recorded properly for prosperity. The more drab birds have to use every angle available.
Arctic Warbler
A tad drab as warblers go, yes, but for me, as exciting as they get.
Throughout the day we stopped at bridges over rivers, and one such stop included excellent gawks at a busy little American Dipper. I've seen Dippers before but this particular bird was going out of its way to show us basic Dipper behavior. It busied itself pulling its food from under the stream waters - grubs that looked both juicy in appearance and barf invoking.
One stop along the way gave me my second view ever of Rock Ptarmigan. My last view of the species was ages ago on Attu island and that was of a flock winging its way as far away from birders as possible.
Richard declared this bird a male
I think it had to do with the dusky sort of plumage it had
Just about to put some distance between itself and a truck full of happy birders
It was a particularly nice day for Red-necked Phalaropes, for which the lighting and the sparkling water on which they floated made for nice shots.
No idea why the water looks like it was oil painted & magical in this photo
And the mirror effects for this little girl was amazing
She's chattering to herself about how amazing she looks
After hearing Wilson's snipes calling all week it was nice to have sit still for a photo
This little Western Sandpiper could be ID because we could see the little cheverons dotting its chest.
Pacific Golden Plover
The Plover was half way through with its molt
Yellow Warbler
Long-tailed Jaeger
The Long-tailed Jaeger showing off its pointed tailfeathers
Several groups of muskoxen popped up throughout the day. Each and every group of the hairy beasts thrilled me down to my toes. They are so large and prehistoric looking I would have been unsurprised to se a sabertooth sneaking up on them.
OK. I guess I finally got in enough photos of muskoxen to satisfy me. Tomorrow is Sunday and we are leaving in the late afternoon. I wish I could maneuver another week up here. Maybe next year.
No - not done with the puns yet. And Nome may be where the heart is, but it is also where the interesting lifers are, particularly those with long distance flight stats. We started the day where the road crossed by a fogged in estuary of sorts where gulls and terns accumulated. We looked for Aleutian Terns that migrate as far as 44K miles, from north to south pole.
A different tern... Arctic terns and one flashy, black hooded Sabine's Gull.
A Parasitic Jaeger did a fly-by
Took a while but we finally spotted a small group of - LIFER FER ME - Aleutian Terns sitting on a gravel bar. They are the three birds in the foreground with the white area just above their bills.
Fun fact: Aleutian terns do not defend their nests, they just fly away when trouble hits. It's theorized Aleutians nest among Arctics because Arctics vigorously defend their nests, and Aleutians may benefit by nesting alongside their feistier cousins.
So what? We can always try our nesting luck again next year.
After a bit we headed out, traveling east, our eyes open for spotting critters, winged & unwinged. On the unwinged sort, we found a cow moose with a calf. Everyone saw the calf but me. It's there but its below the tops of the scrub.
Moose in the Mist
I wasn't too bothered by the fog really - that is, until a rare opportunity popped up on the Bering Sea. A flock of full-on breeding plumaged Red Phalarope! I mean, Jiminy Christmas! I sometimes see these fascinating teeny-wienie birds way the hell out on the Pacific Ocean. So on this extremely rare occasion, we saw them in a fairly large group with the weather too foggy for clear pix. RATS! Oh well. The females are colorful, with rust feathering and yellow bills. Hey, just enjoy.
Red Phalaropes: Just imagining this had been taken on a sunny morning makes my head ache!
Oh, and this Lapland Longspur, a species I last saw in the year 2000.
Male Lapland Longspur surveying his kingdom
Common Eider out for a swim - here's to seeing Spectacled, King and Stellar's Eiders this week too,
Then, HERE COMES THE SUN!
Two Laplanders!
Pacific Loons, one on nest, the other on patrol
Common Redpoll, looking all blushed and stuff
But enough peripheral birdies and such. We were after lifers (for 'moi') after all. We headed up into the foothills. Our target birdie - the Northern Wheatear - another long distance flyer that gives the Aleutian Tern a run for the birdseed. Richard took us to an area where the Northern Wheatears are known to hang. We looked and looked, and finding some obvious birders along the roadway, we asked if they had spotted the Wheatears. There were satisfied nods, Minutes later I was happily shooting a zillion photos of this fellow.
Make Northern Wheatear looking kind of like a Mockingbird, but sooo much cooler!
Richard looking all happy that we got our bird!
Honestly, never in a zillion years thought I'd ever get to see a Northern Wheatear.
You mean Lil' ole me? Aw shucks M'am...
With the big Bird of the day, there was nothing left but for us to sit on our laurels and enjoy all the other creatures.
Lapland Hopping Lessons
I dun good,
Lovely Tundra Swan
Late in the afternoon we walked along a wooden boardwalk, and what popped out from under it? This sleepy, scratchy & weary looking Red Fox. Not my best sighting or the best fox poses, but better than the old poke in the eye.
There's no place like Nome; yeah, I’m working the puns this week. Get used to it. Where was I? This is day two of my Alaska trip. We were up early, seeking sustenance at a cute little local restaurant, Pingo Bakery & Seafood House.
If you think they look cranky before coffee, you ought to have seen me
My Breakfast 'Womlet'
The Pingo is good because it is too small a dining room for the other much larger birding or photography tour groups. That means no competition for seating, being waited on or whatnot for our small group of five. I had the 'Womlet' which is half of a seafood omelet along with a Belgium waffle and fresh fruit. The omelet part of it was interesting, containing halibut, red king crab, brown rice and a little soy sauce. Much more savory than my normal breakfast fare, but it was tasty.
Yes, that was a hefty meal, but at least I managed to not give in - this morning - to the rack of crispy & fresh pastries made right at the Pingo.
Loved the red crab designs on the baskets
And I also restrained myself from buying or bartering for any of the interesting looking baskets on display.
After breakfast we hit the local Subway sandwich shop to buy our lunches, then we hit the road.
The first fun bird of the day was this Stick-nosed Chicken (Wilson's Snipe) we spotted on a phone line.
Our big goal for the day was to drive north to Coffee Hill, to hike around searching for one of the main target birds, the Bristle-thighed Curlew. Along the way we frequently stopped to check out what birds were singing or nesting, both of the above or doing their own thing.
Northern Water Thrush
At every stop there were hosts of little birdies, all singing their feathery bums off. Northern Water Thrushes trilled, Yellow Warblers and scads of Grey Cheeked Thrushes were flinging themselves into the air and winging it for fun of it all. Every stop I could hear the weird winnowing calls of the Stick-nosed... I mean, of the Wilson's Snipes, which uttering their traditional 'I'M HOT STUFF, COME NEST WITH ME!' calls.
Enough snow cold & ice there for ya Skippy?
A bridge stop
Where dem birbs at? Everywhere, I assure you.
Loved seeing Willow Ptarmigan mid-molt. They are snowy white in the winter and this bird is on it's way into molting into its brown summer plumage. I've only ever seen them before in brown summer plumage.
Surely this is a red-necked Chicken? Naw, it's a beautiful Willow Ptarmigan
I was in the center back seat, staring at the scenery for birds as we drove along. I caught a glimpse of a ducky sort of bird on the hillside. I shouted out to Rich and stopping, he backed up the car until the bird was in sight. We stared - a shore bird, but wth was it?
Then Rich called out,
'Bristle-thighed Curlew!'
Parked, we jumped out of the truck and headed uphill on the spongy and damp tundra. By the time we were atop the first hillock, the Curlew had meandered quite a distance, and what with the shrubbery I didn't quite get the once-in-a-lifetime photo of my 'Lifer' bird. Still, I was happy, and received back slaps n' pats from the guys for having spotted this bird that you pretty much have to go to Nome to see in North America.
That's as close as I got to a 'full body' shot of my Lifer bird. Alas, not close enough to see even a hint of it's bristled thighs (the sight of which is damned near to being birdie porn).
As the bird receded into the distance, Rich gave me a big ole' high five, saying, "I'm going to buy you a beer. You saved us three hours of trekking over Coffee Hill, searching for a Bristle-thighed Curlew."
Beer? Who needs a stupid beer?! My reward was not having to climb up hill over over dale looking for curlews! WHOOO HOOOO!
Yeah, the rest of the day was gravy. I was ecstatic when we spotted a lone male Musk Ox, galumphing along the roadway.
Does that beast have a tail.. .er... never mind...
By no means was that the final musk ox encounter of the day. When we stopped for lunch, I noticed fluff on the branches of shrubbery... holy crap... could that be Qiviut?! Qiviut is undercoat of muskoxen - a prized fiber. It is picked by tribal women for spinning into yarn and knitting up cool scarves and such. I nearly lost my XXX seeing the fiber, right there in front of my amazed eyes. In 1997 on my first trip to Alaska I had paid $30/oz for raw qiviut. Here was 'gold' you could spin, almost literally growing on trees!
I asked Rich to take my picture, something that I don't often find joy in, but this was an event worth commemorating for prosperity. Don't 'cha think I look the teensiest bit like I belong in the arctic?
As I picked a small bagful of qiviut, a big old herd of Muskoxen, with several adorbs calves appeared on a distant hillside. And as the day progressed I lost count of the number of Muskoxen seen.
There were playful calves in most of the herds spotted
But birds! So many species I don't see more than once in a decade.
Pacific Golden Plover in full on breeding duds
Arctic Tern - long wings and tail for long distance migration
Male Blackpoll Warbler that sang and put on a little show
American Tree Sparrow not in a tree
But wait! That's not all. Richard found us the kind of bird that birders dream of viewing... the Bluethroat!
And sadly, that is NOT my photograph. The Bluethroat - which flies in from Eurasia - landed itself on shrubbery and didn't hang around long enough for impressive photos to be taken. Oh well. You don't want to see my photo of the bird. No really - you don't.
Of the equally valuable non-birdie sort, this Snowshoe Hare has shed mostly shed its white winter coat
Saw loads of other birds of course, but the little devils didn't necessarily get close enouh or still enough for photos. Ah! The week isn't over yet so there is a lot to look forward to. The best 'thing' of the day were the Muskoxen. I've long wanted to see the magnificent critters and now I've seen dozens and the week is young.
