Alaska Trip : July 1-23, 2017

Part 2 - Barrow

July 6: The midnight sun!

The rain gave way to unforecast clear skies, so I got to experience the midnight sun.

cIMG_02576.JPG	Tundra	Red-throated Loon	pIMG_2629.JPG
North Warning System (formerly DEW Line) station	Common Redpoll	The former NARL airfield now used for whale butchering	The Arctic Ocean is cold!
A bunch of jellyfish had washed ashore	Umiak (sealskin canoe)	cIMG_02606.JPG	pIMG_02608.JPG
One of the restaurants in town - open until 2AM!	Will Rogers and Wiley Post Memorial	Snow Bunting female and juvenile	The midnight sun (AKDT)
cIMG_2702.JPG	cIMG_2713.JPG	Looking north out of the hotel room

July 7: Snowy Owls!

One of the reasons I wanted to visit Barrow was to see a Snowy Owl. They obliged today! I was favorably positioned for one hunting in a field and it took flight right at me.

pIMG_02627.JPG	Pittsburgh transplant?	Can I have my cake and eat it too?	Snow Bunting male
pIMG_2745.JPG	Red Phalerope	American Golden-Plover	... watching a chick!
Tundra Swans	pIMG_2788.JPG	Semipalmated Sandpiper (?)	pIMG_2804.JPG
Red-necked Phalerope	pIMG_2827.JPG	Researcher out in the tundra	Snowy Owl!
Lapland Longspur	Like water off a Long-tailed Duck's back	pIMG_2910.JPG	pIMG_2915.JPG
pIMG_2935.JPG	Common Eider	pIMG_2952.JPG	Steller's Eider (?)
pIMG_2969.JPG	Greater White-fronted Goose	Pectoral Sandpiper (?)	pIMG_3003.JPG
pIMG_3013.JPG	pIMG_3015.JPG	pIMG_3025.JPG	pIMG_3031.JPG
pIMG_3032.JPG	pIMG_3034.JPG	pIMG_3035.JPG	pIMG_3053.JPG
pIMG_3066.JPG	pIMG_3069.JPG	pIMG_3079.JPG	pIMG_3101.JPG
pIMG_3104.JPG	pIMG_3125.JPG	pIMG_3136.JPG	pIMG_3138.JPG
pIMG_3148.JPG	pIMG_3149.JPG	pIMG_3151.JPG	pIMG_3166.JPG
pIMG_3175.JPG	Barrow Arctic Research Center

July 8: More owls

It was probably the coldest day of the whole trip, and even then it was in the upper 40's. It was supposed to clear in the afternoon and I had hoped to fly around the area a little, but instead it got foggier.

Pacific Loon	pIMG_3194.JPG	pIMG_3204.JPG	pIMG_3215.JPG
pIMG_3220.JPG	Red Phalerope	pIMG_3251.JPG	Savannah Sparrow
pIMG_3273.JPG	pIMG_3289.JPG	pIMG_3302.JPG	pIMG_3309.JPG
pIMG_3326.JPG	pIMG_3332.JPG	pIMG_3338.JPG	pIMG_3343.JPG
pIMG_3345.JPG	pIMG_3358.JPG	pIMG_3368.JPG	pIMG_3372.JPG
pIMG_3375.JPG	pIMG_3404.JPG	pIMG_3428.JPG	pIMG_3441.JPG
pIMG_3457.JPG	pIMG_3480.JPG	pIMG_3523.JPG	pIMG_3527.JPG
pIMG_3540.JPG	pIMG_3547.JPG	pIMG_3568.JPG	pIMG_3573.JPG
pIMG_3599.JPG	pIMG_3614.JPG	cIMG_3626.JPG	pIMG_3630.JPG
Fog shrouded sun	cIMG_3639.JPG	pIMG_3640.JPG	Looks like it might have something
cIMG_02657.JPG	All the buildings are on pilings because of permafrost	cIMG_02662.JPG	Note the extra low antenna elevation
Fuel for the year gets barged in and stored here	The end of the road (Stevenson Street)	cIMG_02678.JPG

July 9: A sunny day

The sun came out again, lighting up all the birds' colors.

pIMG_3685.JPG	pIMG_3697.JPG	pIMG_3700.JPG	Semipalmated Plover
pIMG_3709.JPG	pIMG_3725.JPG	pIMG_3728.JPG	pIMG_3736.JPG
pIMG_3741.JPG	pIMG_3746.JPG	pIMG_3762.JPG	pIMG_3770.JPG
pIMG_3776.JPG	pIMG_3809.JPG	pIMG_3814.JPG	Glaucous Gull
pIMG_3822.JPG	Northern Pintail	pIMG_3867.JPG	pIMG_3872.JPG
pIMG_3875.JPG	American Golden-Plover	pIMG_3920.JPG	pIMG_3927.JPG
pIMG_3943.JPG	Wilson's Snipe	pIMG_3959.JPG	pIMG_3960.JPG
pIMG_3968.JPG	pIMG_3970.JPG	pIMG_3990.JPG	Parasitic Jaegers
pIMG_4006.JPG	pIMG_4022.JPG	Peregrine Falcon	pIMG_4068.JPG
pIMG_4076.JPG	pIMG_4089.JPG	pIMG_4096.JPG	cIMG_4111.JPG
No complaining about gas prices. Regular unleaded is 5.90/gal!	Where all the Pepsi machines go to die?

July 9: Departure - Barrow to Fairbanks

Not much to do in Barrow? With the sun out I actually wanted to stay another day, but it would have meant problems getting back to Fairbanks. I took the opportunity to first fly around Point Barrow (a permit is needed to visit on the ground). Smoke from some distant wildfires filled the air going over the Brooks Range, so there was not much to see.

pIMG_4122.JPG	Looking northeast	Barrow district	Browerville district
NARL district (Ilisagvik College)	pIMG_4146.JPG	Looking southwest down Stevenson Street	North of Point Barrow
Looking south at Point Barrow	pIMG_4196.JPG	Cakeeater Road	Gaswell Road
Tundra polygons	cIMG_4224.JPG	pIMG_4232.JPG	cIMG_4246.JPG
pIMG_4256.JPG	cIMG_02764.JPG	Work in progress on runway. Just maneuver around them.	Oumalik River
Smoke below, clouds above approaching the Brooks Range	Some improvement near Prospect Creek	Fairbanks Airport

July 10: Fairbanks

A gloomy rainy day, so I visited the University of Alaska's Museum of the North