At breakfast I sat with the Viteks and Kevin, enjoying Black Scoters and swans out the window (Tundra Swans, not Black Swans...). After a bathroom break we headed down the Council Road once again, with the aim of making it to the spruce forest at the end. Unfortunately with the change of weather (the wind really picked up) we lost the mob of shorebirds but picked up the usual suspects for the new crew: Aleutian Tern, the common shorebirds, nesting loons, etc. At one stop along the bay we had some new shorebirds: a Red Knot, a Surfbird, and another Sanderling (which, if you don't know what to look for, can look rather like a Red-necked Stint in breeding plumage). We stopped at the quarry and got great looks at the Peregrine, and refound the Black Turnstone for the group down the road. Emperor Geese had been reported, but we just had Brant, and were also entertained by an Arctic Fox chasing a Red Fox away from its territory! Also a first for the guys in Nome (but given the habitat you would think would be expected) was an Osprey!
Back on the Council Road, we check the Bering Sea for goodies...
Kevin hunts for Black Turnstone... Looks like he found them!
Black Turnstones Arctic Foxes
Arctic Tern; the same bird taken with the camera's telephoto (left) and through Kevin's scope (right)
Past the lagoon the habitat became typical upland tundra, and we had lunch at a turnoff with the usual warblers and sparrows singing, but most of us ate in the van because of the wind! A little further down we checked a giant crag with what used to be a Golden Eagle nest, but had been taken over by a Gyrfalcon! We went over a high pass that reminded some of us of Mount Evans, then dipped down again into a patch of spruce forest, where we had Butterbutts and Blackpolls singing, as well as Varied Thrushes. A little coaxing caused a Pine Grosbeak to start singing, but we could never pull him out. Just out of Council we had a mama Moose with a calf that the gang estimated couldn't have been more than an hour old! She was pushing him to keep up with her, too; the poor little guy was panting (I could identify)! We also enjoyed (sadistically, I guess) a Raven being harassed by a pair of Whimbrel and a pair of jaegers! (Something tells me a little bird was involved, too, but I can't remember...)
Solomon River (I think...) Long-billed Dowitcher
Harlequin Ducks Tundra flower... The guys prepare a picnic lunch while the
rest of us try and stay out of the wind...
John and Nancy Griffin Judy, Pat (hidden), and Sue Ruth and Ray hide behind the
van...
A couple of old mines along the river
More views of the river
The guys find a Gyrfalcon nest! (Look hard for mama's head...)
Skookum Pass American Golden Plovers
(female at left)
We keep a discreet distance from Kevin's van so that We make it to the spruce forest!
we're not inundated by dust!
Kevin and Marshall "troll" for forest birds
Fox River
We stumble upon a mama Moose and her newborn calf!
We turned around at Council, seeing as there was no way we could get up into the forest without a hike and perhaps trespassing, but on the way back through the little spruce patch Kevin discovered a flock of White-winged Crossbills! So we enjoyed crippling views of them, along with a Common Redpoll that joined the fray. Going over the pass everyone was bemoaning the fact that we hadn't seen any ptarmigan, when someone spotted a brown blob on top of a rise that I thought was said ptarmigan, but when it took off was obviously a shorebird! The guys thought Baird's at first, and everyone except Alan and myself hiked up the hill--they turned out to be Surfbirds! (The only reason I didn't go was because I felt Kevin's cold coming on, and with the wind chill I didn't think it was smart...) Marshall got some crippling shots, too!
We happen upon a flock of young White-winged Crossbills; they use their bills to wedge apart the cones for the seeds!
Back at the wetlands things were still quiet--we got roadside looks at perched Bank Swallows staying out of the gale, and the Short-eared Owl put on a nice show, but I was ready to crash; we had dinner at the pizza place again, and everyone had a laugh trying to decipher one of my notes (funny that the next morning it was clear as a bell: American Wigeon!).
Bank Swallows hiding from the wind Lapland Longspur Short-eared Owl
Kevin returned the Nyquil I had loaned him (Marshall had bought him some of his own), so after we got back I crashed and didn't get up till Ruth called me around 10:30 the next morning (the new crew was doing the Kougarok Road that day, so it was a good excuse to spend the day in bed) to offer to pick up something for me from Fat Freddie's, which had I been thinking should have been soup, but they suggested salad and that tasted great! Later they made an excursion to Subway (which really hit the spot), and Ruth called later after the gang got back: unfortunately they couldn't find the curlew, but two other birding groups had gone up there before them, so that stands to reason.