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From: Dan Victor <dvictor at u.washington.edu>
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Date: Mon, 3 Oct 1994 19:55:41 -0800
Following from Ernie Whitney (c/o beckyw at muskox.alaska.edu):

My second outing in Barrow consisted of tagging along (again) with
biologist Robert Suydam on Sunday, October 2 during another migration
survey near Point Barrow. We didn't get started until mid-afternoon
however, as Robert had been kept up past 3 am the previous evening after
having been called out around midnight to attend the butchering of a
bowhead whale taken by Eskimo whalers. An important part of Robert's job
is to take measurements and tissue samples of all bowheads brought in.

We parked in the same location a few miles north of town, alongside a
large open lead in the Chukchi Sea. The temperature was in the high
teens, but with the wind blowing from the north at a steady 20 mph, we
sat in Robert's pickup for the whole 2 hour survey. The sky was a medium
gray and the wind had whipped up whitecaps that sent up foamy splashes
off the abundant ice floes. No Eskimo whalers were out this day. A
birding day unlike any other I'd had, even after 12 years in Alaska.

Bird movement was down from the day before, probably due to the stormy
weather. Most birds were far out and I was glad to have Robert's sharp
eyes and experience to help find and identify them. A few flocks of
15-50 eiders and Oldsquaws, a Yellow-billed Loon, a Short-tailed
Shearwater. All these birds were moving south, seemingly faster than
usual. Perhaps it was the strong tailwind.

A highlight was a lone Ivory Gull (subadult) winging north close to
shore. The stark whiteness of the bird against the gray sky made it an
easy identification. With binoculars, we were able to see the dark face
and speckling across the back.

When our survey time was over, we went down the beach to inspect the
carcass of the whale taken the previous evening. Except for bones and a
gut pile, very little of the creature remained. This was Barrow's first
whale of the fall season, a 37 foot specimen taken by Eskimo whaling
captain George Ahmaogak, who is also current Mayor of the wealthy North
Slope Borough.

Surprisingly, no gulls or other scavengers attended the carcass, and the
wind chill was very cold, so we continued on the Barrow landfill. About
40 Glaucous Gulls were there, hunkered down on their bellies facing the
wind. Now even in Anchorage a Glaucous Gull is special enough to make
the hotline, but in Barrow they quickly become the common gull, and I was
soon looking past them for something different. I was hoping for a
Slaty-backed Gull but Robert told me he's never seen one at the dump,
joking that they probably have too much class to dine there!

This will probably be my last report for at least a couple of weeks; I'm
busy at my new job here and also will be signing off Birdchat on Thursday
for a 10 days in California and Seattle. Planning to take D.
Shearwater's Monterey Bay trip on October 9; should be quite a contrast
to my recent birding by the Chukchi Sea!

Ernie Whitney (c/o beckyw at muskox.alaska.edu)
Barrow, Alaska