There’s No Place Like Nome

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.