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!

Delta Dawn

A few weeks ago my boss' PhD advisor came to visit the camp for two days. Really great guy, he brought his 6 year old daughter for her first field experience. It was a blast having them out. That little girl was a trip. She loved playing with Delta, my boss' dog and expert nest searcher. when she was asked who she was going to miss most, she exclaimed emphatically and with out hesitation, "Delta!".

As I spend my last few hours in camp making arrangements for my travels about Alaska and packing up my kit, I wonder who I'll miss most. It's a toss up between Jolene the moose, Ryan and Delta. But Delta is hard to beat.

Molting Shoveler

We have been doing molting drives the last few days. These are much like duckling drives except we are going for adult birds during the time they are flightless during molting. We caught 108 birds in one two drives two days ago. I got to band an entire drive's worth, about 50 birds! Yesterday I got to band my first blue-winged teal. We also had a duckling goldeneye that got caught in the drive, I banded him too!

Loons

The last week or so at least 70 common loons have been in front of camp on the lake. Sometimes just beyond our boats. Sometimes they are so loud in the morning they wake me up. Stupid loud loons! Makes me want to throw something at them! (Jokie!) Actually there isn't a sweeter sound. Two Pacific Loons were with them a week ago, unfortunately they didn't come to close to shore that time.

The wind is blowing fierce, hence I have time to post. We can only do our bait trap rounds (twice a day) and do no drive trapping. The wind blows the duckings and our kayaks all over. However the bait trap rounds can take 2 to 4 hours depending on how many birds we catch each and how far out and apart from each other our traps are. We move them often.

Few days left in camp on to Denali

Wild Iris

I have only a few days left in camp. I'll be flying out to Fairbanks on the 30th or 31st. I'll spend a few days around Fairbanks then off to Denali for two nights and to Anchorage. A very nice birder and local artist has offered to let me stay in her cabin near town. What an amazing offer and it goes to show what a strong community the birding community is! I've certainly hosted my share of travellers in my day but now I got to come up with some more traditional accommodations to repay the non punk birders! I'm not sure how many birders would want to stay in my punk house in the anarchist enclave, however we do have a roof top garden and a moon bounce in the back yard. My Aunt does have a house in Cape May and that is how I've been keeping up the more traditionally adult birder accommodation karma up.

I plan to rent a bicycle while I'm in Fairbanks and try to see a spruce grouse.

I doubt I'll be able to post much until I get back to Philly, and my camera is at home so unless, like out here, other people take pictures then I'll have to do just text posts.

Oh, I heard new info on the bear, it was drinking their beer! No wonder they shot it. Amazing!
I learned today that Alaskans don't lock thier cabins in the bush to let people who get into trouble access to shelter, water and food. Also it is common to leave bung wrenches on fuel drums to help out folks who are stranded without fuel.

I'm so exhausted from catching ducks all day, we work till midnight or two sometime even three then back at in the morning. I'm teetering on the brink of exhaustion and barely get enough sleep to function. Haven't had a day off in almost three months Can't wait to just kick it.

The Family

The funny thing about the family is that we have caught at least three hens with them. We have no idea who the real mother is. We should take them on Jerry Springer and do a DNA test.

Bait Trapping

Recaptured Mallard Hen, this one has a reward band.

While we still are brood driving we have started bait trapping. Bait trapping consists of a welded wire fence loop that has the open end for a funnel. The top is covered with deer fencing. The trap is zip-tied to rebar and stuck in a cleared area of mud or shallow water. Barley and corn is spread around the outside of the trap and through the funnel and inside. Eventually once the birds know about the trap only the funnel and inside is baited. The birds can't seem to find the way out, like a fish trap. We roll up to the trap and open a section of the top and fish the birds out with a dip net.

Currently we are catching mostly ducklings and occasionally the attending hen. We are beginning to catch molting males.

We have been catch the same eight mallard duckings for the last three weeks. They are in the same trap at least once a day. We refer to them as "the family".