Ah, The North Slope

Once again I find myself back on Alaska's North Slope. I have returned for another shorebird season on the Colville River Delta. We flew in on May 18th, but the birds beat us back. Geese are here in large numbers, but Brant are conspicuously absent.

We have had our work cut out for us. After successfully setting up our base camp, I ventured into the tundra to see what was around. I scored my lifer Northern Wheatear, a bird a bit out of range.

Here is the set-up:

Starting with nothing:

Ending with a nicely set-up camp:

The Wheatear, quite a looker:

Today, I ventured even further south, hoping to sight more lost birds. I did not.

So far, I've re-sighted two of our Ruddy Turnstones that we banded last year. Here is one of them.

Now that we've got camp set up and most of our field gear organized, we are waiting on the birds. New arrivals should be showing themselves daily. It sure is nice seeing the transition this far north!