In the footsteps of the Muries

Driving 300 miles north from Fairbanks brought us to Atigun pass where the trans-Alaska oil pipeline passes over onto the North Slope of Alaska. The scenery is stunning.

I'm here traveling with renowned biologist George Schaller, Jon - an accomplished mountaineer, wilderness explorer and writer; Forrest - a climbing guide and U. of Wyoming student; and Betsy, a fellow student at UAF. Together we are going to head into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in a few days to travel into places George last visited in 1956 with the Muries. National Geographic is funding the expedition to help raise awareness of climate change in the region.






























We hiked into Atigun gorge from the road, which is on the edge of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, finding sheep, fossils, and incredible scenery. It was great to stretch the legs and get into to some impressive country. We head to Deadhorse tomorrow and then fly on the 1st of July into the heart of the Refuge.

Some like it Ruff

Living in Vancouver for a few weeks helping Tawna with her Ruff sandpiper research. There's an image I remember well from a kid of this bird - one of those wildlife images that just stays with you for it's uniqueness.



Although some say they are not really inteligent, they have been the source of hours of intriguing observations as males vie for females. There are three strategies used by the males - "Residents" that display intensely and try to dominate their court on the lek; the "Satellites" that hang close to residents and try to move in on a female when the resident is not looking; and then...(you might not be ready for this), "Faeders" who look more like females, hang out with the females, and don't get into the whole aggressive I'm male thing. Really interesting stuff which Tawna is analyzing through assessing hormone profiles over the season.

The males are as impressive as they are in my original childhood introduction. Here is a picture from James Dale's web site who worked on the Ruffs here (By the way, you'll notice how the original artist's picture and the photograph show really differently colored birds - nothing unusual for ruffs - James Dale can tell you more on intraspecific color variation if you're really interested - http://www.geocities.com/quelea/):



One of the highlights for me has been the new arrival of chicks. Here's a picture of one of the little guys. Like little Jacanas - their feet just improbably large. We have to encourage them to eat in a narrow window of time after they hatch.