|
American Golden-Plover
Pluvialis dominica
|
Tundra hiking. All those white spots are snowflakes. Arctic weather - snow, wind, rain and sun all in a few hours. Layered clothing required. :-)
Tundra is a weird thing. Since decay is so slow motion in the arctic, you get these plate-sized towers of moss that are about one to two feet in height. These mossy towers (called tussocks) form a honeycomb, with melting pools of water in between (think stagnant - think "Alaskan mosquito"). Step on a tussock and it will promptly collapse like a sponge and will toss you over into 1. a water hole - lucky you, or 2. into another tussock, twisting your foot and making you do the drunken sailor dance. We all quickly learned to step over the tussocks and step down into the pools of water. Imagine walking on a mine-field. Now imagine hiking on a mine field. Now imagine hiking on a mine field made up of ancient volcanos. Presto - tundra hiking..
Lest you get too nonchalant, there is the occasional willow "tree"/ bush patch to trip you up and keep you off your toes. I was obliquely and repeatedly discouraged from hiking into any large patch of willows to look for birds, or to commit other acts of nature ("inconvenient", "to be avoided if one can", "a difficult hike", "a pain"). Only later did I discover that this was because it was a terrible way to surprise grizzly bear mothers and their cubs, who favored larger willow patches for their camouflage. I suppose being killed and eaten would be inconvenient. I'd attempt a closeup shot first tho..
And yet nature always has something interesting around the bend. Plants emerging from the snow, uncommon bristle-thighed curlews morphing into whimbrels (dang!), and surprise, surprise - this young lady, letting us know that we have strayed into her nesting territory.
Footnote: I just read Arthur Morris' description of the "bristle-thighed curlew" hike - he did three miles (we did five). His description:
The only North American breeding site for Bristle-thighed Curlew is atop the ridge at Coffee Dome at mile 72 on the Kougarok Road. I can tell you from personal experience that the hike, which is often described as walking on bowling balls on top of bedsprings, is a killer. Four of us walked more than three miles up and down this soft, tussock-covered tundra ridge, all with tripod-mounted 600mm f/4L IS lenses. We saw no sign of the bird at all and several of us wound up somewhat crippled for a week or more.
|
|
Focal length: 400 mm
fStop: 9
ISO: 800
Shutter Speed: 1/500
|
|
Nome, AK
|
|
Jun 6, 2006
|
|
