This is going to be a somewhat long post, so get comfy. The last three days have been exciting. I found the first Western Sandpiper nest on our plots. Most years they don't even nest here, but this seems to be a great year for them. They love to nest in dry areas and their eggs are fairly dark compared to the other shorebirds. Here is a picture of the nest I found.


You always hear researchers saying how Jaegers will hit you if you get too close. I never expected to get hit, but as I was doing some nest searching, I got too close to a nest and was attacked by the nesting pair of Pomarine Jaegers. They started dive bombing me, and then as I came closer to the nest, started flying behind me and running straight into my head from the back. It was painful and cool at the same time, but got old quickly. 

I previously posted pictures of a Ruff that was found a few days ago. While out yesterday doing nest searching in one of our plots, I saw a distant bird and it turned out to be a Ruff as well. It was in a close area to where the other bird was, so I assumed it was the same one. As I got closer, I realized there were many obvious differences. The bill on this second bird is pink, as well as its legs, while the other bird had bright orange legs and dark bill. The new Ruff is a adult breeding male as well, and its "ruff" is mostly orange and black, while the other bird is all black. It also has blue around the bald face. What bizarre birds!  I got some very bad pictures through the binoculars at a pretty far distance. They should do well to show there are two birds for records sake. Here are a few pictures.

I also had to do a few nest checks to make sure the nests we previously found were still active, and one happened to be a Long-billed Dowitcher nest. They tend to really stick to their nest until you are very close. This one did not want to get off it's nest!

The tundra no longer has ice or snow on it, which makes walking easier. Flowers are starting to come out, and I saw my first butterfly yesterday. I have no idea what it was, it went zipping by, but they should start coming out if the weather stays nice. Here are a few scenic shots I took.

We took today, June 21st, off of work instead of Sunday. Today is the first Whale Festival and we spent some time there. It was really a privilege to be able to attend this event and experience the culture first hand. They are very generous with their food and hand out many helpings of duck, goose and caribou soup, which was delicious! They also hand out whale meat, served many different ways. Here is the first whale I tried; raw whale skin and fat fermented in blood. It was........ interesting.

Before the festival began, the inupiat people gathered in a circle and said a prayer.

Here is what the setup looked like. You were to sit in a numbered area and if you wanted the food they were passing out at the time, you raise your hand and cheer!

As you can see, it was a beautiful day! I didn't even need a winter coat or hat or gloves! They let visitors have meat from the tail of the whale. The other whale meat is handed out to the families for them to survive on for the summer. Here is the whale tail.


Here is a picture of the native people cutting the whale tail for the visitors. We got some too!

They also came around with Whale Soup. This was boiled whale blubber in a broth. We didn't try this though.

It really is a totally different way of living up here. I think we are going out for a swim on the icy ocean tonight, and hopefully participating in the dancing and blanket toss of the festival later! I really feel lucky to get to experience all of this. Hopefully another update soon!

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