Fairbanks

I left camp on a Department of Natural Resources chopper that was ferrying in the Fish and Game guys who will be sharing camp for three weeks banding ducks. The chopper was a Bell 212 “Huey” , the twin engine version of the classic Vietnam war workhorse. I was thrilled to fly in it. I had to wear a Nomex flight suit. The chopper was used by the DNR's forest fire service and in addition to the pilot the bird arrived with a fire service person who was assigned to the chopper to coordinate fire fighting operations should the machine be called in to fight a fire. The fire service guy was an ex-Navy SEAL who now DJ's parties in Thailand in his off-season. That guy's life is sure dull!

When I touched down in Fairbanks I was struck by the noise, we landed right in town on a busy street. I hadn't heard a car in three months. Remote tundra and boreal forest is extremely quite. You can hear the wing beats of a warbler while inside your tent, a flock of shovelers bombing in to land sounds like a B-52. I was in such culture shock upon landing it was hilarious. I took a cab from the DNR offices to where I would be staying in Ester, just west of Fairbanks. I was staying with Judie Gumm and her husband Richard. Judie has a successful business making nature themed jewelry, you most likely have seen her work in catalogs. The Gumms put me up in their cabin on the grounds of their place in Ester, which also includes a store and workshop.

Ester in a cool little dirt road town nestled in woods on the side of Ester Dome just a few miles out of Fairbanks. Ester is know for the Golden Eagle Saloon, which lets you grill your own hamburgers and steak on a grill. Richard lent me a mountain bike and after the first time I slept in a bed and took a shower in three months I headed into town to get my gear and and help Florian (the manager of the Avian Influenza lab) load up a resupply for camp.

The next day I headed into town to get a sleeping bag and tent for my trip to Denali. I was successful in both missions. I also stopped by Cramer's Fields and the Alaska Bird Observatory and took in some birding. Cramers Fields in a farm mananged fro migratory waterfowl and cranes. Many sandhill cranes were feeding as I passed by. Behind ABO's closed visitor center I found my first two life birds of the trip, Townsend's Warbler and Hammond's Flycatcher coming into their water drip. It is so hot and dry in interior AK that it made sense to find these birds there. Later I met up with a local birder, James and we tried to find some birds around Fairbanks. August is a bad time to find birds in town as James apologized for numerous times. I just enjoyed his company and the freedom to watch non duck birds.
I birded with James the next day and went to see the culminating performance of the Fairbanks Summer Festival. This is two weeks of music, dance and art classes taught by staff brought in from around the world. Fairbanks has a brutal winter to say the least and its location as access point for remote Alaska and having a large University brings in a large temporary and transient population. I get the impression that residents recognize this and have gotten pretty creative in their ways of dealing with it, Fairbanks just has a cool vibe, I wish I had more time to spend there but Denali was calling.

Oh as for spruce grouse, a hen and her chicks were seen in the Gumm's year while I was out birding with James!