Alaska

Hello again.

As many of you know we leave for Alaska today. For those of you who did not know here are the details:

We have been hired by the USGS to work as Avian Field Biologists as part of a remote field team studying the effects of climate change on the behavior of migratory shorebird populations in the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge of Alaska. (click on any of the hypertext if you want more details)

Below is our itinerary which details our major movements for the duration of the trip. To get to the field site we will need to take two different bush planes to finally arrive in the small Yupik community of Chevak. From there we will load all of our gear onto a boat and head out onto the Bering Sea for a chilly four hour ride before reaching our site on the penninsula at the northwestern edge of Hazen Bay.


Itinerary:

Thursday, June 3rd
Fly from NYC to Anchorage

Monday, June 7th
Fly from Anchorage to Bethel (1 hour, 400 miles)
Fly from Bethel to Chevak (1 hour, 136 miles)
Take boat on the Bering Sea to remote field site (4 hours)


Sometime in July (it depends on hatch):
Take boat back to Chevak
Fly from Chevak to Bethel
Fly from Bethel to Anchorage
Make contact with family (probably by email) to let you all know that we are alive and well.


Have a great summer!



UPDATE....Saturday, July 17th...

We are in Anchorage today and tomorrow and then headed back out to the Delta on Monday for an additional two weeks of work with the USGS. Our return date will depend somewhat on the weather and the birds, but we will be moving to southern Maine during the first week of August. Until then the only way to get in touch with us will be by satellite phone (emergency only).

Enjoy summer!