"More birds than you can easily believe possible." |
13 Jun 08 - Ulric's Camp and Chevak We did a pre-breakfast walk north into a different area of the wetlands surrounding the camp to pretty decent birding. Reasonably approachable Spectacled Eider and Emperor Goose. The early light was very nice. The sheer numbers of birds was once again amazing. Calls and songs everywhere; it was difficult not to get too close to nests and put birds up. After breakfast, we broke camp and headed back to Chevak with a brief detour into Hooper Bay. We picked up a surprise Common Eider along the way, but the Bay itself was pretty quiet. After lunch at Ulric's Mom's house, we did some light birding around the village and saw the sights. A few villagers brought by some very nice crafts; not quite on a par with the folks in Gambell, but still very nice. I picked up two ivory pieces for Nancy's birthday. By the way, Ulric's mother is a gracious, delightful lady, reminding me strongly of the Moravian church folks in Bethel in the 1950's. Despite preparing for fish camp, she found time to chat. I think Ulric may owe a lot of his charm to his mother. The old runway, and especially the taller brush on the far side of it, was again quite good birding, with Hoary Redpoll, Yellow Warbler, Wilson's Warbler and White-crowned Sparrow fairly common.
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