Eagle Survey Disaster

Yesterday was a beautiful day to search for bald eagles.  It started out beautifully.  I could not believe how much ice there is on the lakes yet as we flew out to the starting point.  There is open water at Brooks Camp but only because the river is there opening things up but a boat could not make it there yet. 

We got to the startign point and there in a puddle was a moose.  This seemed to be a good sign as I rarely see a moose.  The survey started and we were finding nests and eagles.It was awesome until my motion sickness took over.  An hour into the surveys I had lost my breakfast but I kept looking and searching and finding nests.  The end of the second hour of spinning around nests to gather information I lost what little I had in my stomach.  But I could keep working.  I had a motion sickness patch on and was sucking on ginger candy.  We stopped after three hours for a bathroom and lunch break and by the time the plan landed I was again close to heaving my guts again.  I went for a walk to try to settle my stomach and to stay away from the rest of the team while they happily downed their lunch. 

We started out again.  I found two more nest within minutes of each other.  Again spinning in circles around the nest to gather the information.  I found a third nest that the other team members didn't see.  We circled around and they saw the nest and I took pictures then the dry heaves began.  We had to circle around again to get GPS coordinates.  My team members could not find the nest.  I was busy loosing my insides to point it out to them so we just kept circling and I kept up heaving.  By the time we had finally GPS the nest I was totally spent.  Yet it wasn't over.  5 minutes later I spotted another.  Three more spins.  With the way my stomach was feeling I could not concentrate anymore.  I had to call it a day.  And while we were flying back to drop me off I dry heaved for another five minutes. 

The team dropped me off then went out to finish the days transect.  I got driven home and was told I was greener than the hulk.  I laid down for an hour waiting for the world to stop spinning then headed back into the office.  Overall we found 11 new nests not found on last years survey.  Which is terrific but I now realize that I am not going to be able to do surveys from the plane as I can not take it. 

Those of you in the contest.  No bears were spotted yesterday.

Year 2 Begins

I am back from the Grand Canyon and Minnesota and ready to work.  The Grand Canyon was beautiful.  It is considered one of the premiere parks in the National Park System.  It receives over 4.5 million visitors a year.  But with all its beauty it doesn't have brown bears, wolves, or moose.  It is breathtakingly amazing.  It also has habituated elk and mule deer.  On our first night there we almost walked right into the back side of an elk.  To our credit it was pitch dark. Unlike here the sun sets around 7:30 every night and rose around 5:30. We never had a day where we did not see an elk.  The moose around here should take notice.  I did love the training and the exploration of the park.

The 9 days with my family was wonderful.  I traveled all over MN to visit everyone and had a great relaxing time.  But Now I am ready to get to work.  And since I am now an official Alaskan I can if I want afford to hunt and fish.  We will see.

 So let's start the season today with eagle surveys.  I will be flying the next two days looking for eagle nests in the Naknek drainage area.  Then on Friday I will be leaving for my first trip to Brooks Camp. The maintenance people have been out there for a month.  The interps left yesterday.  I can't wait to get out there. 

There is still time to win the beautiful new book Katmai that celebrates our 100 year history.  I have yet to see my first bear.  Choose the day you think that will happen and let me know your choice in the comment section and if you choose the day I see my first bear the book is yours.  It could be today so get your entries in.  I am off to search for eagles!