Field Journal: Days 1 & 2

Days remaining: 5 weeks, 6 days
New bird count: 18

In order to recount my field work, I've put together my messy field journal into something consumable, and deliver it in chunks.

Day 1: Thursday June 3rd
New birds: yellow wagtail, willow ptarmigan, bar-tailed godwit, emperor goose

I flew out to our field camp at Kanarymiut (pronounced Kanagyak, yeah I don’t know either) with a very auspicious start – while trying to catch the ropes on the float plane, I took a step too far into the river and flooded my hip waders. Since my gear was fortunately packed, I was able to squeeze out of my wet pants and socks, and slip on a new set. My waders were still quite damp, so I arrived at Kanarymiut while wet. On top of that, it was my first flight in a small plane, the our de Havilland Beaver, and I was nervous and dry-mouthed the entire flight. I didn’t even try to dig out my camera to take any pictures.

Even after I arrived, I was still feeling quite stressed and lonely, since everyone else at camp (Jenn, Tasha, Dennis and Kim) were part of two boat crews. While they packed their food and gear for the boat trip, I tried to get a handle on the camp itself and what was involved.
So what is involved in this project is conducting nesting surveys for all the large birds on YK-Delta, mostly waterfowl, gulls, loons and cranes. We also did shorebird and songbird nests as they were found, but we didn’t actively search for them. There are 85 plots, half mile by quarter mile, randomly assigned over the study area each year. We attempt to get as many done as possible, typically somewhere around 80 plots. We work in pairs or trios and walk transects across the plot, which generally weren’t transects at all, but a weaving around the ponds and sloughs. Although the plots don’t seem that large, the walking usually adds up to four or five miles. With the walking and recording nesting information, it takes about five hours to complete a plot.

As for the field camp, Kanarymiut consists of a main cabin, smaller bunkhouse, tool shed, sauna (which is no longer functional) and an outhouse. The camp itself was quite nice, with running water (although it wasn’t drinkable), a decent shower, a kitchen including freezer, fridge and large pantry. What ended up happening is that I became camp chef, especially after the one burrito night I did.

Day 2: Friday June 4th
New birds: black scoter, parasitic jaeger

Today was a very productive day cleaning up around camp and setting up. For example, we set up the outhouse, which had been knocked over last fall in a storm surge. We also set up the trash burning barrels, and helped our pilot, George, set up his tent. This day had the best weather we saw the entire time we were out there, and between chores we lounged on the boardwalks in T-shirts and tank tops. In the afternoon, Julian (the leader of the entire project), Chris and Tim, the first camp crew, showed up.