Bristle-thighed Curlew

One of the primary reasons birders make a pilgrimage out to Nome in early June is to find the Bristle-thighed Curlew (Numenius tahitiensis). The Bristle-thighed Curlew is an Asian species, similar in appearance to the Whimbrel, and is the rarest breeding bird for any birder to see in North America. It probably is not that rare a species in Alaska; however, except that it prefers to breed on dry tundra of exposed ridges.  Nome just happens to be the "closest/easiest" location in Alaska to where you can find breeding pairs. 

We left Nome early on the morning of June 7th, to drive north ialong the Kougarok Road for about 72 miles, out to a location called the Coffee Dome.  Five vehicles parked on the side of the road and a line people walking up the hill about a quarter of mile above us, told me we had arrived at the Coffee Dome.  Next came the "fun" part - walking over 1/2 mile up-hill to the top of the ridge. Tundra is very deceiving, it looks very flat and dry, but can be very wet and hummocky, so you have to carefully pick your way through it.  As we got over the first ridge, we could see over 20 birders standing in one location on the next ridge, binoculars up.  A Bristle-thighed Curlew overhead in a display flight.  After circling, it landed about 70 yards off to the side between my small band of climbers and the main group.  For the next hour or so, the bird and 1or 2 more put on a great show for us, making the even harder trek back down the hill well worth it.   My pilgrimage to Nome was now a success!

     Bristle-thigh Curlew on its High Ridge Habitat

                        Bristle-thighed Curlew

       Birders waiting for the next display flight

Arctic Tern

I just spent two weeks on my first birding trip to Alaska. It was a fanastic trip, with over 145 species, I am still working out how many were lifers (about 30) or new subspecies (another 30+) and took lots of photographs that will take me a few weeks to get through.  I look forward to posting plenty of highlights from the trip over the next few days/weeks.

My wife and I arrived in Nome on June 5th, met with our guide, and after checking in at our hotel did a brief trip down along a portion of the Council Road to Safety Sound.  Along the way, we came across this Arctic Tern sitting on the ground just 5 feet off the road.  It turned out to be sitting on its "nest" (really it was just a small depression in the sand) containing two spotted, brown eggs.  The bird and her mate were fearless defenders of the nest, so we never got closer than 15 feet from their nest when we tried to get out of the car. As long as we stayed in the car, the bird would quickly settle down and return to the nest, allowing me to get these photos out the car window. We noted the location of the nest and planned to visit it throughout our 5-day stay in Nome.  For the first 3 days, we found the bird sitting on the nest as we slowly passed by its

location; however on day 4, the bird was missing. As we drove closer, we noticed that the eggs were also gone!  We never did find out what happened; although I suspect it was a preditor that had found the nest, I still hope that the eggs hatched and then the 2 chicks were led away from the road and down closer to the water line.