Jack’s weather report:
It’s 1:00 a.m. in Barrow on July 3, 2007 and the sun is sitting low over the Arctic Ocean.
Current temp: 38 °C, although it seems warmer. It actually got up to 44 °F earlier this evening.
Winds: out of the east, southeast at 11 kt (13 mph)
I just got back in from being out with Nathan Coutsoubus. He is with the shorebird group here at BASC. He took me out on his evening to do list which included:
- Visiting a Phalarope nest and banding the chicks we found there.
Phalarope nest with three chicks.
Nathan is banding the chick's leg with a metallic ring.
- Checking on the nests of several other birds to see the progress of the egg incubation.
We were looking for "stars" and "pips". Stars are places on the egg where cracking is visible indicating the chick is trying to come out and pips are where a tiny piece of the outer shell has actually come off, showing the inner membrane.
Checking the progress o incubation.
- Trying to catch and band one of the adults of two nests. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful.
We also found a new nest where we measured the length and width of the eggs we found there and used a floating technique to determine the possible hatch date.
Checking on the temperature probe at another nest.
Can you find the nest in the above picture? It is about half-way between Nathan's right hand and the glove you see n the upper left of this picture. It's kind of one of those "Where's Waldo" kind of deals.
It was all quite fascinating to be a part of and watch. Nathan loves his work and you can tell by his enthusiasm and willingness to share his knowledge with you. He kind of took me under his wing