The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

8 - Orono Weekly Times 1937 - 2012 · Celebrating 75 Years Wednesday, October 31, 2012 905-983-5605 jmr.naturepix@rogers.com North, to Alaska Photo's and Story By: Jim Richards the famed Northern Fur Seal, brown-coated Arctic Fox, Reindeer and about 2 million seabirds, which was our main quest. In St. Paul, we stayed at the King Eider Hotel, a dormlike facility with meals provided by the T r i d e n t Seafood factory n e a r b y. T h e weather w a s Tuffed Puffin I continue to be asked about my birding trip to Alaska last year, so thought I would provide a brief synopsis here. On 31 May, I left with Mark and George Peck of the Ornithology Dept., Royal Ontario Museum for a well planned bird photograp h y adventure i n Alaska, and we returned home on June 18. From our base in Anchorage, we left in a turbo prop on June 2 for St. Paul Island in the Pribilof Islands. The four volcanic islands in this group are located in the Bering Sea, about 300 miles off the west coast of Alaska and 500 miles from Siberia. The population of 530 people on St. Paul is mainly Aleut natives and the main industry is snow crab and halibut fisheries. The islands are home to generally foggy, wet, cold and windy, and sometimes it got worse! In spite of this, with the help of a great local guide we managed to visit all of the main seabird colonies and were able to photograph all of the sought after species such as; Northern Fulmar, Pelagic Cormorant, Red-faced Cormorant, Black-legged Kittiwake, Red-legged Red-throated Loon Kittiwake, Common Murre, Thick-billed Murre, Parakeet Auklet, Least Auklet, Crested Auklet, Tufted Puffin and Horned Puffin. In addition, I was able to see and photograph several other new species (for me) such as Steller's Eider, Pacific Wren, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Marbled Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit, Rock Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Blackheaded Gull, Glaucouswinged Gull and Graycrowned Rosy-Finch. A flight back to Anchorage on June 6, then a flight out on June 7 in a Cessna for Bethel, then on to Chevak on the coast. We were met there by the Mayor (Ulrich Roan) who also oper- stores and trading ates a fishing camp posts predomiin the Yukonnant among Kushokwin a few Delta. He hotels, took us restauand all rants our supchurchplies to es and the camp grocery in his stores. boat. This marshland, a Gray Crowned Rosy F r o m o u r sea of grass, is Finch hotel undoubtedly the largest wetland in the world, (the Nugget Inn), we spent the and is home to a diversified next 7 days exploring the and abundance of birdlife; a rugged terrain accessed by virtual waterfowl factory! only 3 main roads leading out Sleeping in a tent (not since of the town site. Nests (and birds) seen and the 1960's) on the frozen ground was a new experience photographed here included for me, and I can't say I Red-throated Loon, Pacific enjoyed it. However, the com- Loon, American Wigeon, position of breeding birds off- Common Eider, Red-breasted Merganser, Northern Harrier, set any hardships. Hawk, We found many nests of Rough-legged the following species new Peregrine Falcon, Willow to me, like; Emperor Ptarmigan, Rock Ptarmigan, Gray-cheeked Goose, Spectacled Eider, Whimbrel, Orange-crowned Bar-tailed Godwit, Black Thrush, Turnstone, Western Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Sandpiper, Mew Gull and Fox Sparrow, and Hoary Yellow Wagtail, and were able Redpoll, as well as a few new to photograph eggs and adults species for me such as Pacific of each. As well, we found Golden-Plover, Wandering Bristle-thighed numerous of nests of the fol- Tattler, lowing species that I had Curlew, Aleutian Tern, Arctic encountered here at home and Warbler, Bluethroat, and in the Canadian Arctic in the Northern Wheatear. Finally, back in past; Tundra Swan, Greater White-fronted Goose, Brant, Anchorage for a full day of Green-winged Teal, Cackling birding on the 17th, I was able Goose, Northern Pintail, to add one more bird to my Northern Shoveler, Greater life-list, an American Dipper Scaup, King Eider, Long- in the rocks along a river not tailed Duck, Sandhill Crane, far from Sarah Palins' house. Semipalmated Plover, No, we didn't stop in for tea! Semipalmated Sandpiper, We left for home on the 18th; Least Sandpiper, Dunlin, Red- our 15th flight! In all, we recorded 122 necked Phalarope, Red Phalarope, Parasitic Jaeger, species of which 47 were phoLong-tailed Jaeger, Glaucous tographed, including the nests Gull, Sabine's Gull, Arctic and eggs of 24 species. I was Tern, Savannah Sparrow and able to add 23 species to my life-list on this very rewarding Lapland Longspur . We enjoyed cool but clear and memorable trip. I was only home for a weather in the Y-K Delta, and on June 10 we returned to week; long enough to downAnchorage. Early the next load photos, recharge batteries morning, we flew north to (including my body) re-pack, Nome. Nome is primarily a and it was off to Cambridge mining town. It is rough by Bay, Victoria Island, Nunavut our standards here, and is in the Arctic for 3 weeks. It right out of a movie set with was a great summer! an abundance of bars, liquor