Testing the River

I had an interesting talk with our pilot yesterday.  I went to see him to ask if he could land the plane at Brooks Camp yet so I could go do a Christmas Day Bird Count out there.  To get to Brooks Camp in the summer you land on floats in the water.  To land in the winter the river and lake need to be frozen and then the plane lands on large, fat tundra tires.  But the river has to be frozen.  Before I left to go to MN the river was still open.  But since I have been gone the temperature has been below zero and not been above it.  So I was hoping the river was frozen by now.

I was told that the pilot would test the river on Tuesday morning and if it is frozen he would come back for me and take me out there.  I started wondering how he was going to check the river so I asked.  He said it was very scientific.  First he gets three 25 pound rocks and loads them into the plane.  Next he flies over the river, opens the door and tosses out the rocks.  If the rocks bounce on the ice he can land the plane.  If they go through the ice we can't count birds at Brooks Camp.  Very scientific indeed.  Lets hope the rocks bounce.

I did go to Lake Camp yesterday and there was a small patch of open water with 11 common mergansers floating in the water.  Die hard waterfowl refusing to go south.  I love it.