Aiaktalik Birds

short eared owl

 There were a lot of breeding birds on Aiaktalik. We did not see a single fox or even any evidence for one. So without foxes the birds just nest on the ground. You'd just walk up to eagle, seagull and jaeger nests. On Aiaktalik the vole population is also way up and so there are a lot raptors hovering around and pouncing on voles - short eared owl and rough-legged hawks. I have never seen so many parasitic jaegers flying around and I think they also might have been after voles.

The most exciting birds were 2 sandhill cranes hanging out in the marshy area at the northeast corner of the island. They fly by Kodiak on their way to their breeding grounds but don't typically stick around. We saw these 2 birds for 3 days in a row. Other birds included: Peregrine Falcons, swans, and lots and lots of ptarmigan. The ptarmigan are very noisy and with the Jaeger cry and ptarmigan squawks it was often quite noisy. And then there were the bald eagles and other raptors defending their nests! And all the nesting seagulls!  The Aiaktalik sound track definitely includes bird cries!

Patrick

No foxes so birds just nested on the ground

Oystercatcher

Ptarmigan in breeding colors

Jaeger (called Skuas in Europe)

Long-tailed Jaeger?

Peregrine Falcon

Golden crowned sparrow

Bald Eagle

Rough-legged hawk 

'dark phase' rough legged hawk

Short eared owl looking right at me

Aiaktalik

 

Aiaktalik Lagoon and Sitkinak Island in the distance

It's been a week since we got back from our survey on Aiaktalik Island. But I took so many pictures that it took me all week to decide which ones I like best and to sort them all out. I also made a couple of short videos (see below and another to follow in subsequent post). Posts to come with focus on the archaeology, cooking, birds, survey techniques and camp life. This post just shows the landscape.

Aiaktalik is a low-lying island with absolutely no brush or trees. The southeast part of the island is all eroding cliffs - and is rapidly getting cut back by the sea. The northeast corner of the island is growing. All the sediment from the erosion on the southeast corner seems to be getting redeposited on the northeast corner. The is a big flat swampy area with lots of old beach ridges and a paleo lake in the northeast corner of the island. At the west end where we started our survey is the old village of Aiktalik. Here there is a big swampy lagoon just south of the village (see above).

Patrick

Eroding east end of the island

washed up kelp with Sitkinak Island in distance

Big beach by lagoon near southwest corner of island

Old beach berms at the lagoon - this indicates that there was once more water in the lagoon

south side of the island

Aiaktalik village in the distance

Northwest corner of the island

Long lost ski

 

The winter before last Stuey wiped out skiing and his ski came off and shot off down the north side of the mountain. It was almost dark and we did not find it.  So last year at this time, after the snow had melted out, I was looking for Stuey's lost ski (click here for blog post on Stuey lost ski from last June). I spent quite a few afternoons with the dogs bushwhacking around on the North side of Pyramid looking and looking fruitlessly, and never did find it.

I wondered where it ended up and if I would ever know the answer. Down in the bushes I often contemplated that I might have walked right past it. I thought it would be kind of cool to have the answer of where it actually ended up. How close did I come to finding it? I doubted I'd ever know.

Then a couple of days ago I get an email. My friend Steve found my ski! It was far down in the bushes to the west of the North Bowl, and I had looked in that area. I gather it was under some bushes and that he only saw a flash of white when he found it. I probably did walk pretty close to it!

The good thing is that the ski is in good shape. It did get bit by a bear and the edges were a little rusty. But it cleaned up nice, and a little pytex repair with fix the bear teeth dents in the base.

So now we got a new pair of skis! Thank You Steve!

Patrick

Foggy Green

 

It's been foggy and green here of late on Kodiak. The summer green arrived quickly and it is officially lawn mowing season. But the ocean is still cold. Warm air and cold sea makes for low lying fog. When in the fog it seems like a cloudy day, but back off a bit and there is the sun and the mountains sticking up out of the fog.

Nora and I took the dogs down to Buskin Beach at low tide. The sun was out when we left  town and even up by the highway before we turned down the side road to the beach. But at the beach it was thick fog and cool air.

Patrick

First Salmonberry Blossom 2026

 

I missed the first salmonberry blossom of the year. It happened while I was away on my Aiaktalik survey. While I was away the temperatures soared into the upper 70's and everything turned green. I was only away for parts of 5 days (June 3-7), but it was noticeably greener when we got back. And the salmonberries were finally blooming. This is extremely late for salmonberries to first bloom. Generally they bloom in early to mid June.

Patrick

budding devilsclub

Back from Aiaktalik

 

I just got back from an archaeological survey of Aiaktalik Island. It was a successful survey. We found 9 new sites and documented an additional 4 sites that were already known.

The historic village of Aiaktalik is a HUGE site. When the Russians arrived it was the largest village in the entire archipelago. People lived there through the 1930's before moving to Akhiok and Kaguyak villages. There is a photo of the Russian Orthodox Church still standing from the late 1950's. We found the church foundation and took pictures of it at the same angle and aspect as the old photo of it. We also documented a number of other large villages on the island.

There were a lot of nesting birds - I've never seen so many jaegers before - and the barren, wide-open landscape was stunning.

Anyway, this is just a quick 'return from the field' post. More to come on the camping, landscape, wildlife and archaeology in subsequent posts.

Patrick

Last ski

 

Yesterday I went for my last ski of the season on Pyramid, and while I was up there it was snowing. I don't think my final ski has ever coincided with snow squalls. In a normal year Pyramid is still skiable until at least the Summer Solstice, but this year, sadly enough, we did not make it even to June. The next few days we are supposed to get inches of rain and then I am off on another survey - so for Pyramid this is it. 

There is still a lot of snow on the higher mountains further from the coast like on Sharatin or Center mountains - so perhaps I might catch another ski or two before the summer heat. But not on Pyramid until next ski season.   The doggies and I will miss our daily ski/walks.

Patrick