Field Journal: Days 6 & 7

Days remaining: 4 weeks, 4 days

Day 6: Tuesday June 8th
Plot 21, W 164.94899, N 61.16929

My second plot. This one had a bit more variety, and since I didn't fall in the mud right at the beginning and had a handle on nest finding and identification, the plot was much more enjoyable. Today I saw a number of white-fronted geese right up front. They have a habit of staying on the nest until you're nearly on top them. A number of times the geese would scare me as they flushed, causing a cascade of sounds starting with wings flapping, me screaming, and then the geese crying. This caused much amusement among my field partners.Today we actually had some emperor geese nests. Spencer actually found one with 9 eggs in it and two right outside the nest. Emperor geese have a habit of dumping eggs in other birds nests. We found emperor geese nests with oodles of eggs, and once an emperor egg in a swan nest. Not only did we find emperor geese nests, but we also saw a tundra swan nest, a sandhill crane nest, and a number of dunlin nests.

This was the day I developed blisters. I normally never develop blisters, but with the boot issues and the intense hiking, I had blisters on the backs of both of my heels and one on one of my toes. This was quite miserable.

Day 7: Wednesday June 9th
New birds: common eider, spectacled eider
Plot 31, W 164.99324, N 61.15269

This day started out less than spectacular. I had some very odd dreams (one of which where I where I discovered a way to visit all my friends and visit my bar and have a dream beer) and we were stuck at camp until nearly noon due to fog. Our plot today was a fairly easy one. One of our team of three was able to get a second plot done.

Nothing out of the ordinary occurred on the plot. Even though the jumpy geese were still making me squeak, I was able to sneak up on a white-front (the pictures of which you can see above). And thanks to Kelly, I was able to get these photos of an emperor goose sitting on her nest. He called Spencer and I over, and we walked as a trio towards her, stopping every two steps and frantically taking pictures.
This was also Kelly's 25th birthday. As if celebrating his birthday out at Kanarymiut wasn't enough, I made burritos (with all the expected fixing), and then I made the most decadent brownies I have ever seen. I used box brownie mix (it is field camp, after all) and then put in 25 Reese's peanut butter cups, and then topped it with chocolate frosting. This truly cemented my standing as camp cook, and officially named Kanarymuit as "Fat Camp."