Nome - II

The morning came earlier than I wanted it to. The birds singing outside our window just wasn’t enough to offset the lack of sleep. We had a cereal, muffin, bread type breakfast with plenty of coffee. We went in two vehicles east out the same road we had traveled yesterday afternoon. We enjoyed a good assortment of ducks, geese, and shorebirds. Good birds included Surfbird, forty-plus Bar-tailed Godwits, a few Pacific Golden-Plovers, a couple of the large race of Cackling Goose, a Red Knot, and several Long-tailed Jaegers (photo). A single Emperor Goose was new as was a male Willow Ptarmigan alongside the road (photo). A group of Sabine’s Gulls was much closer than those of the previous evening and the small group of Bank Swallows was a catch-up bird for John. We saw the remnants of a failed railroad project initiated during the height of the gold rush. Further out the Council Road we were shown a Gyrfalcon nest with one adult brooding a fluffy white chick. On the way back to Nome we passed a couple of birding groups who had seen the Arctic Warbler an hour or so earlier. This was a bird that our guide had found on a scouting trip and that we would see tomorrow. But since it had been just seen, we decided to try for it now. When we got there, it was singing, so we piled out of the van and searched for it at the tops of the willows. While searching, a Bluethroat male displayed in front of us (web photo). We did find the warbler and eventually everyone got to see it through the scopes. We came back directly to dinner at a multi-national restaurant where our group ordered baked halibut, eggplant parmesan, shrimp tempura, and pizza. Stops at the gas station, where gas was $4.50/gal, and the grocery preceded our return to the B&B. The reading of the list was very rewarding since we had such a good day. The five new birds bring the year’s list to 616.