One of the cool things I get to do as part of my position in such an awesome place is go out and observe waterfowl. And it is cool to see a different diversity of ducks and geese compared to the ones in Wisconsin. I have seen a few Pintails, Wigeon, and White-fronted Geese in Wisconsin before, but not in the numbers I have seen them here in the Pacific Flyway, and I surely haven't seen them together. The diversity of sea ducks is spectacular as well. So far I have see Barrow's Goldeneye, Black Scoter, and Bufflehead. These photos were taken at Hartney Bay which is just southwest of Cordova, Alaska.
Had a successful veg mapping trip last week. Was able to map a lot of cool plants, saw a ton of wildlife, and had tremendous weather the whole trip. We circled Knight Island in our four days of work, starting at the north end, then traveling down the east side to get south, and back up the west side towards the end of the trip. Knight Island is very steep in some spots, making it difficult to get out and walk at each of our plots, so we had several "boat obs" where plots could be called from boats using binoculars. Copper Bay, on the west side is surrounded by the four highest points on the island, reaching over 2500 ft in less than a mile traveling horizontally. Some plots were on cliffs, completely untraversable. The main reason for this mapping is to enhance the accuracy of a satellite that gives a comprehensive map of the vegetation of Prince William Sound. The satellite uses shapes and colors to determine what species are around, so by actual...
With the month of June behind us, it is time to start analyzing the data we collected during monitoring. Cameras, maintenance, success/failure, etc. can now be examined with the data we recorded. All islands were visited, with the last few being completed about a week ago. Saw more goslings, resighted a few more collared Duskies, photographed bustling wetlands filled with life, and enjoyed some unusual sunny Cordova weather. Besides dusky goslings, I was able to come across Mallard, Wigeon, Ring-necked Duck, and Green-wing Teal ducklings. One pond even had a Horned Grebe chick accompanied by its parents. With monitoring done, I was able to take some time off and do some personal recreation on the Delta with family, and was able to photograph some larger game species like Mountain Goats and Black Bear, and even a collared pair with goslings while fishing the fish weir in town! Pair of collared Duskies with their goslings at the fish weir. The weir ...
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