Just when I thought it was starting to warm up, rain, wind and cold struck. Yesterday it was beautiful, sunny and warm. Today was rainy and cold. At least my rain gear finally got tested. The ice is still breaking up on the ocean, but the pack ice is in, and another Polar Bear was seen from town today. This time, I was in the field and didn't get to see it. A few days ago I posted that our crew was doing a "polar swim" in the ocean. With it being mostly ice, it was hard to find a place to swim. We found a little place, not more than 3 feet deep, just deep enough to lay down in to get wet. Here is a picture of me after a very quick dip.

I'll have to try it again when there isn't any ice!

As for the bird stuff the past few days, it has been quite exciting. I found a Merlin a couple days ago, and a Red-tailed Hawk yesterday. I heard from the other shorebird crew that a Swainson's Hawk has been seen the past 2 days, and I might go check it out tonight. They also said they had Horned Lark really early in the season, a Mountain Bluebird a few days ago, and are up to 3 Ruffs on their plots. The Ruffs are now gone, but sound like different birds than the ones I saw. Another very good bird I saw today was a White-throated Sparrow. I guess I didn't realize how unusual of a bird it is for Alaska, let alone Barrow. I did not get the best looks, but saw it twice and came up with White-throated Sparrow both times. I told some other people about it and hopefully they will see it too. Today, I saw my first Yellow-billed Loon fly by me. Many more of those to come as soon as the ice is gone on the ocean.

There are plenty of Jaegers nesting this summer, and they sure let you know it. I got hit in the head again today by a Pomarine pair.

On another note, my camera memory card "corrupted" and won't let me upload my images to my computer. I had some awesome Western Sandpiper and Parasitic Jaeger pictures, but looks like I won't be seeing them any time soon. I'll try to get another one very soon, as it is vagrant passerine season here right now!

As you may have noticed, I stopped putting the number of days on my post and links. I'm tired of trying to keep up with how many days I have been here, so now just the dates will be posted. If you want to try to figure out the days, go right ahead.

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