The field season is wrapping up, but I am still here until August 10th. Two of our six plots are finished, the others should be done in a few days. Shorebirds are gathering in post-breeding flocks and stocking up on food. I was out birding today and saw hundreds of Pectoral Sandpipers, hopefully a Sharp-tailed soon. I heard a weird call and looked up to see a Godwit flying over me. It was quite a ways up, but had no black on its undersides, making me think Bar-tailed. The book says Bar-tailed flight call is less high pitched than Hudsonian, and the call I heard was not very high pitched at all. I plan to see more Bar-tailed Godwits as the late summer turns to fall and birds are moving a little more.

I also found a dead Steller's Eider on a nest today. The eggs were torn up, and a pair of vicious Jaegers were dive bombing me as I was in the area. I blame them!

I'll have some pictures posted in my next entry, or maybe the one after. I'm getting pretty lazy as the season winds down and I finally have time to relax. Also, check out the seawatching data on the Barrow home page! I plan to do more seawatching too. Tomorrow is my day off, my first in weeks, so I plan to bird... a lot.

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