An early start
saw us driving 72 miles along the Kougarok Road towards Coffee Dome and the
displaying grounds of Bristle-thighed
Curlew. Along the way we stopped to watch a couple displaying Bluethroats, and watched them song-flighting
high into the air before parachuting down to land in the dwarf willow scrub. We
were also able to watch some close Willow
Grouse beside the road, followed by Greater
White-fronted Goose, Tundra Swans,
and a pair of Pacific Divers on a
picturesque lake. The scenery was again outstanding, with snow-capped
mountains, tundra, rivers, lakes – all bathed in sunshine. Oh and a Moose was pretty cool too!
Moose
A picture postcard scene en-route to see the curlew...
We’d almost
arrived when a Long-tailed Skua was
spotted close to the road, so we jumped out and soaked up yet more awesome
views of this wonderful bird.
Long-tailed Skua
On arrival at the
required spot we donned wellington boots and walked up the hill in bright
sunshine, getting detained by a calling American
Golden Plover doing its distraction display.
American Golden Plover
Once near the top we were
lucky to firstly hear and then see a displaying Bristle-thighed Curlew. It took another hour but we eventually
tracked one down feeding on the moorland and then watched it for a good 45
minutes. Just as we were about to leave another bird began displaying, which
prompted the bird we were watching to soar into the sky, calling and circled a
few times high above us before dropping down just over the brow of the hill.
Wow!
Leaving here we
drove back along the road, this time seeing Snowshoe Hair, Alaskan Hare
and Arctic Ground Squirrel. More Bluethroats were seen, a Rough-legged Hawk was sat on a nest, Cliff Swallows were nesting under a
bridge, and there was also Northern
Harrier, American Tree Sparrow, Grey-cheeked Thrush, and a few Wilson’s Warblers.
Grey-cheeked Thrush is a common bird here
American Tree Sparrow
At a river bridge
a flock of Red-necked Phalaropes
were feeding below us, and we watched them sail along with the tide under the
bridge before flying back under us and upstream a ways before drifting back
under the bridge again – just like avian Pooh Sticks!
Red-necked Phalarope
Wandering Tattler
A pair of Wandering Tattlers were also present
here and one began feeding on a snow bank below us where the above photo was taken. And that was our day...
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