“Ughh look at all these cow parsnips.” “Oh, that’s not cow parsnip.” “Is…is it the devil’s…?” “Welcome to the club!!” That’s how our goshawk survey began at the Saddlebag Trail. We strolled right into the belly of the beast, or more like the belly of the dense Devil’s Club undergrowth. Read more…
My shorebird surveys wouldn’t have been the adventure it was if it wasn’t for my volunteers. Rain or hail (slight exaggeration, there were a few sunny days) my volunteers stuck it out with me because as they’ve said, “After all, we are Alaskans.” Translation: 40mph winds and rain won’t really Read more…
It was the most anticipated week of the summer. Nest Island Monitoring in the Copper River Delta. Our home base was at Dusky Camp out on Alaganik Slough. I absolutely loved being out in the field. Never mind the no-seeums, mosquitos, white sox and horse flies or the exhausting work Read more…
WARNING: Spoiler Alert…kind of One of the only reasons I wanted to spend my weekend off in Anchorage was to watch Mad Max: Fury Road. I watched it twice. It was that good. (Jurassic World, meanwhile, was just okay.) There’s one scene in the movie where there is a patch Read more…
Picturesque landscapes are in no short supply here in Alaska. Pretty much everywhere I turn, there is a mountain, pond or lake waiting to be admired. But my recent visit to San Juan Bay in Montague Island was especially beautiful, because I felt like I was back home in California. The Read more…
Ever since I first saw the airboat, all I thought about was riding on one. Every time I went into the compound to get a car or some gear, I’d walk by the airboat and imagine how awesome it would be to take one of these out and go drifting on Read more…
Even though my shorebird surveys are over, I’m happy that there are still opportunities to get involved in other types of surveys. One of my survey volunteers recently told me about the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey. COASST organizes citizen scientists to monitor beach-seabird carcasses at over 350 sites in California, Read more…
The hardest part about having nice weather in Cordova is having to be inside the office all day. However, the awesome part about working in Alaska is getting trained to learn about all the cool things you’d get to do in the summer like aviation and boat passenger safety, radio Read more…