Nome Alaska
Monday morning, I boarded a plane and flew from Anchorage to Nome. Our 90 minute flight covered the distance considerably faster than the participants of the Iditarod Sled dog race. The taxi to town was a large shared van with a flat rate of $10. Four of us, all going to the Aurora Inn, piled in. Besides being one of two inns in town, the Aurora Inn is also the place to rent cars in town. I started chatting with Kevin, a 70 year old from New Zealand. He told me he was planning on prospecting for two months, “but possibly more if it goes well.”
In addition to Kevin, there were two birders, Andy Markel (left) and Jason Horn (right). The two of them are in the final stages of a Big Month, trying to see as many birds as possible in the US during the month of May. As of Monday night the 26th, they had seen 693 species in 35 states in 26 days. This month they have seen more birds in the US than anyone else has seen all year. They had just 6 hours in Nome before taking off on a flight to St. Lawrence Island which is about 200 miles west by southwest from Nome. They invited me to tag along in my vehicle and join them as they did some speed birding east of Nome. I happily took them up on the offer since they clearly new both Nome and birds far, far better than me. At our first two stops, just outside of town, they quickly rattled off the birds they were seeing and hearing, pointing them out to me. When either one found a more unusual bird in their scope, they would call the other to look and offer me a look as well.
As they drove down the gravel road (no posted speed limit or really any vehicles outside of town), they would simply stop on either side of the road and hop out, engine still running, whenever they saw something of potential interest. For instance, they saw this female Willow Ptarmigan while they were cruising at 45 mph and while the ptarmigan was lying down camouflaged in the grass. I have no idea how they were able to see it.
A bit later down the road, we spotted this male Willow Ptarmigan just by the side of the road.
The scenery outside of Nome is incredible. It is hard to express how vast the landscape is. This photo was taken with my 5x zoom on my iPhone, so it would take 16 of these photos to give a 360 degree panorama. I found myself just looking around with a massive grin on my face throughout the day.
I know that I saw over 40 species yesterday, but I am still culling and tagging photos. I know I added quite a number of new species for my life list, including this Long-tailed Jaeger, but I need to finish tagging before I get a final count.
In addition to all of the birds, we also came across this seal as we crossed a bridge.
I would have loved to get a photo of the seal from below the bridge with the landscape in the background, but that was not possible. Instead, I had to settle for two separate photos.
As we drove along, we would occasionally pass buildings. It seems like at least half of them are abandoned. There are also abandoned cars here and there by the side of the road.
I am not quite sure what the story is with this train. There was a No Trespassing sign, so I did not have the chance to check it out more closely. That being said, I think it is very picturesque in the landscape.
When I was in Hawaii, I photographed a Short-eared Owl, but it was a long distance shot. Yesterday I saw several Short-eared Owls. This is the shot I like the best; however, I know that I also have many more owl photos from today that I have not yet reviewed.
Most of the swans I have seen have been Tundra Swans like these, but I have also photographed a couple of Trumpeter Swans as well.
This Glaucous Gull is so white, it reminds me of the white doves in magic acts.
The Sabine’s Gull is another new bird for my Life List. I think its black, white, and gray pattern is stunning.
I will try to get another post done Thursday or Friday, but I am developing a large backlog of photos to cull and tag, so it might take me until Saturday when I am back in Anchorage.