4 August, 1997

Monday, August 4, 1997.

The weather is pleasantly cool, breezy and partly cloudy today. As we are leaving camp a Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus) hen and chicks casually cross the road in front of our vehicle. When we arrive at the Kuparuk, I walked out to 2.5 and 3.0 and checked the insect traps. All are in tact.

I positioned myself at the rivers edge to observe bird activity. There are many LBJ birds (little brown jobs) eating insects at the river and in the willows. I identify one as a Lapland Longspur (Calcarius lapponicus), but cannot identify two other types. The Longspur was quite active at the water and spent time bathing and preening -- which allowed me some extra time to observe it. After lunch I observed a bird with an unusual tail wagging behavior and, after consulting my reference books, believe it is a Water Pipit (Anthus rubescens). Later I observed a flyby of a large bird, which was later identified as an Arctic Loon (Gavia arctica).