Alaska at Last!

I AM IN ALASKA!!!

I am currently sitting outside at the Sourdough Campground in Tok, Alaska, enjoying a Gray Jay in the tree next to me! I think he wants a snack, but unfortunately, I have nothing with me. I did enjoy Caribou chili in a homemade sourdough bread bowl for dinner! Here's a picture of a Gray Jay that I saw this morning...

We arrived in Alaska yesterday afternoon and stayed at a campground in the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge. There weren't many birds around but we learned that there was a very late (major) snow storm in mid-May that occurred once many of the birds had arrived or while they were still arriving. It likely killed a lot of passerines and waterfowl that were coming in had no place to land because all of the lakes were still totally frozen. Surveys that will occur later this summer will be able to show the real damage from the storm.

In addition, when we arrived in Alaska, we were informed that there were fires in the area. Climate change has been causing increased fires in Alaska. Hotter and drier conditions make lightening storms deadly. There are currently 90 fires burning in Alaska. Thankfully, we haven't come across any yet, but we did see smoke settling in a valley where a fire had been burning.

In the hotter weather yesterday, I swam in Deadman Lake! The water was super clear and it didn't seem at all like I was swimming in a lake. Here's a picture of the lake:

Whitehorse, Yukon (The REAL Best Place on Earth)

Today we spent the whole day in Whitehorse, Yukon. I woke up this morning around 2:45 and it was STILL light outside!! It never got dark last night, if I wasn't so tired, I may have stayed out to enjoy it! This morning, we birded in the campground to start, but the birds were not out singing or moving. We walked around and explored downtown Whitehorse. I am not usually a fan of cities at all, but I love this city!! I really feel like I could fit in happily here. We went to Alpine Bakery, which is mostly organic foods and snacks. I got an amazingly delicious chocolate walnut roll. Afterwards, we drove around looking for a place called the Fish Ladder. We got there in time to watch a fish filleting and grilling demonstration! I tried a really tasty Arctic Char with spruce maple seasoning! If you are interested in a new flavor for you fish, try adding spruce tips, maple syrup, grainy mustard, and salt/pepper to taste. I also squeezed some lemon juice onto mine... and I think I could have eaten about 3 whole fish, it was so good!

Whitehorse, Yukon

While we waited at the Fish Ladder for the Yukon Birding Club, a porcupine showed up outside!! It was so cute, and since it wandered in behind a fence, I was able to be about 2 feet away from it! We met up with the YBC and entomologist Syd Cannings for a field trip to a local pond to look for birds and damselflies. It was a TON of fun!! I ran around catching dragonflies for a while, saw my lifer Gray Jays and Olive-sided Flycatcher, caught a Wood Frog, spotted a White-winged Scoter (a year bird for Margaret), saw a Red Fox, got some great contacts for coming back up here to do some research, learned a lot about local plants and insects, met some really cool people, and overall, just had an AWESOME time!! One really interesting thing I learned is that most of the birds in this area are Eastern birds (Myrtle Warbler, instead of Audubon's, Yellow-shafted Flicker, instead of red, Slate-colored Junco, instead of Oregon, etc.) This is because of the way the glaciers receded. As the moved down, they still blocked the western species from expanding their territories, but the eastern species were able to expand westward from the north. By the time the glaciers were gone, the eastern species had already taken over the area so the westerns couldn't move in! Other areas near here to the south have all of the normal western species, but up here, they get a lot of the same birds we see in Ohio! Cool, right!?

Syd Cannings teaching the YBC about Damselflies

Me properly holding a live dragonfly so I could examine it better!

Green Bog Orchid

YBC catching insects in a local pond

After we left the YBC field trip, we went back in Whitehorse and explored the S.S. Klondike and found some Mew Gulls and Arctic Terns!

S. S. Klondike

What an awesome day!! Tomorrow (Sunday) we are heading to Alaska and probably won't have internet for a few days. I will post again as soon as I can! Until then, check out some of my trip photos on my facebook page!