Early Spring Catch-up

I have been trying to get back to posting, but seem to be to easily distracted with other projects.  The long nights of winter have given way to spring and the time of long daylight hours.  

For most of the winter the only birds seen were Common Ravens as are able to find enough to eat  even in the coldest time of year.  The population in our area has increased from only one pair in the early 1980’s to over 45 individuals these days.  most of the increase has been from all the added  buildings and pipelines in the area that now give the ravens a place to nest.  The  flat tundra was never home to many ravens.

We enjoyed having the muskox herd continue to winter not far from us and we could watch them from the house with the spotting scope.  I also made a couple snow machine trips to film the winter herd.

 

 

 

 

Winter Muskox in the glow of  a low sun January

April brought our first new birds, our local nesting population of Snow Buntings started arriving.  To us spring has arrived when you can step out the house and hear the lovely song of a Snow Bunting.  The other April bird I saw was a male Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus) on a short snow machine trip up river from the house. 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                              Male Snow Bunting

 

  Rock Ptarmigan Male

April also saw the end of our Polar Lights viewing as the night were becoming to light and only extremely bright ones could be seen by the middle of the month.   And of course the sun started to have some strong solar activity which we weren’t able to enjoy.

                                              Pulsating Polar Lights over our home.

Early May brought a couple highlights for me. First I found my first local Raven’s nest on one of oilfield bridges.  The nest showed that the raven was using all the products around to line its nest from traditional to modern, caribou hair, moss, and fiberglass insulation.  She had four greenish blue, speckled eggs.

                                                              Common Raven Nest & Eggs.

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                         

 

                                      

The other event was getting to see a couple of very small muskox calves playing on a bright sunny day. Still plenty of snow and we were still having night temperatures dropping down to –20F.  Little muskox are tough being born at this time when we are still having such cold temperatures and winter type blizzards.

 

 

 

 

 

               Muskox Herd Early May- Small Calves Dashing About.

Fresh Snow

The seasons are changing again, a light snow is falling and covering the rust and red colors of the fall tundra.  The soft flakes are of a mixed size, but it isn’t coming down hard enough to completely cover the ground yet.  As I look out the kitchen window in the early dusk of the coming morning , I am treated to the sight of the cow and calf muskox sleeping in our yard and partly covered in the falling snow.  They are not in a hurry to get up and start feeding, as both have gotten up, walked in a circle and then laid back down.  At times they were stretched out full length sleeping , while the more normal position has them resting with their head up, as to keep a watch on things in between naps. 

 

It is hard to grasp that this gentle snow fall with its big flakes is not a common sight for us during the winter.  Most of the time the snowflakes are well rounded and small by the time they reach the ground in our windy climate.  I’m sure that during some stretches of  winter we see the same snow several times, as the wind whips it back and forth and the drifts of winter deepen.

 

The lake has ice around the edges this morning and the red pendent grass (Arctophila fulva) is either weighted down with the fresh snow or frozen in the fresh ice, which doesn’t extend much past the grassy area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Willow Ptarmigan are glad to see a bit of snow as they are starting to stick out in the rusty colored tundra since they are almost all white now.  It makes them very nervous and take flight at the first sign of a falcon or snowy owl.  They like to swoop in and hide in and around the buildings where it is harder for a bird of prey to make a diving run to catch one. 

       Large flock of Willow Ptarmigan taking flight.

One afternoon several years ago I watched as a snowy owl and a flock of 30 willow ptarmigan played keep away.  The owl had the birds cornered at the base of  an old wire bird cage that was 10’ square and 8’ high that I wasn’t using anymore. The owl was perched up on top and when it moved from one side to the other the ptarmigan would quickly run to the other side staying right up against the pen.  This maneuver didn’t give the owl enough room to swoop down and grab one of the ptarmigan. This went on for about 45 minutes before the snowy owl decided it would have better luck some place else.

With the days of fall getting shorter, we now can enjoy the Aurora Borealis again as well as watch the constellations swirl overhead.  It looks like it will be a good winter for sky watching the as the sun has been putting out lots of solar activity that translates into good viewing conditions.

  Aurora Borealis reflecting in the lake.

Sweet Smell of Summer

Several species of flowers are now in bloom and the tundra vegetation is greening up nicely. One of my favorite flowers is the Rock Jasmine – Androsace chamaejasme, which has  a very fragrant smell.  It grows in large patches in sandy areas here in the Colville River Delta and  the breezes carry the lovely fragrance about the area.

 

 

Rock Jasmine

 

 

 

So far the spring and early summer has been on the cool side, and the warm spell of the past two days really brought out the mosquitoes.  This was the worst I have seen them around on our island.  Even with a stiff breeze they were everywhere and one was glad to have a good headnet or bug spray in order to enjoy being outside.

 

 

Mosquitoes attracted to a fresh set of caribou antlers that are still in the velvet.

 

 

Some of the other early flowers that we have out now are Purple Saxifrage - Saxifraga oppositifolis subsp. oppositifolia, Wooly Lousewort -Pedicularis kanei subsp. kanei , Parry’s Wallflower - Parrya nudicaulis,  Arctic Sweet Coltsfoot - Petasites frigidus, White Avens - Dryas integrifolia subsp. integrifolia,  Marsh Marigold - Caltha palustris subsp. arctica,  Snow Buttercup - Ranunculus nivalis, Mastodon Flower – Senecio congestus, and Northern Primrose - Primula borealis.

 

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UPDATE:      The Muskox family has continued to stay in the local area, feeding either on our island or the one just to the west of us.  Even when they are at the far end of the island, we still have a good view of the cow and calf in the spotting scope.  At times they have fed down to the north end and close to the house.   One foggy morning they even fed around the lake and right past the house.  It has been fun watching the calf,  who has grown quite a bit since we first saw them in early May.   The cow is shedding her soft wool-like underhair, also called qiviut, so she is now looking quite shaggy compared to her earlier pictures.

 

 

  Cow muskox shedding her soft undercoat and looking quite shaggy.  Also you can see lots of mosquitoes buzzing around her. With her long hair she  seemed to be only bothered around her ears and face.

 

 

Cow and calf muskox feeding on sedges and short Arctic willow.

A new Season Starting

Winter is finally loosening its grip, and with the warm weather in the Brooks Range, the Colville River next to our home has started the first stages of breakup.  The start of breakup for us is the flooding of the shallow parts of the river where the ice has frozen down to the river bottom during the winter. This “overflow” occurs as the water pressure from up-river continues to increase and the channel ice over the deeper parts of the river lifts up. 

 

The ice needs to lift up between two and half and three feet before it will crack and let the water flow out over the frozen-down areas.

 

Start of breakup-first water

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 Clear brackish water boiling out of a blowhole.

Some of the shore leads created at this time can be over a half mile wide. Since the Colville has very little flow in the winter, the delta fills with brackish water from the Arctic Ocean during the winter months and the first water to flow up on the ice is clear greenish-blue color.  It usually take from 1-2 days to flush the brackish water out of the delta after which the water becomes a dirty brown.  Then it usually takes another week for the ice to weaken enough to break up and move out into the ocean.

Dark waters are shore leads, white channel ice over the deep water.

During the last wind storm, just before the river flooded, we had a special treat when a female Muskox and her calf showed up and spent four days in our local area. During the first two days they were here, it was storming so hard it was difficult to see them in the blowing snow. When they were lying down they were quickly covered with snow and blended in even more.   When the storm broke, the cow and calf continued making their way to the west and were on an island west of us when the river flooded. 

 Upper  photo shows female Muskox with snow packed in her pelt. Bottom photo was taken two days later, still whiteout but the wind has died down and they are enjoying a warmer day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With our cold spring and heavy snow cover, the waterfowl were happy to see the river flood, and many White-fronted Geese and Brant were seen out bathing in flood water.  Even with a few days of warm weather and melting during the day, the ground is nearly 95% snow covered, with only the higher polygon ridges and grass tussocks melted out.

The number of birds around our feeders at one time has started to decline, as birds pair up and move out onto their nesting territories.  Our Lapland Longspur numbers peaked at around 150 during some of the worst parts of last week’s snow storm, and now we might see 15-20 at one time, with many birds shifting in and out of the feeders.

The Brant are our most numerous species now, with over 600 within sight of the house, either feeding along the river- banks or staking out nest sites in the nesting colonies.  With this many Brant here already we should have an early hatch this year.  

                          A pair of Brant

Musk Ox

Late in the afternoon while working on the wood pile, I noticed four Musk Oxen on the island just across the river channel.  These were the first musk oxen seen near our home all summer.  They had most likely been spending the summer more to the east, along the Arctic Ocean, and were now heading for higher terrain inland where the wind keeps more of the ground swept bare during the winter months.  I quickly got my camera gear loaded in the boat and headed across the channel  to get a few pictures of them on this bright sunny day. 

The group was comprised of 2 adults and two sub-adults from last year.  As I was taking pictures, I noticed one of the musk ox kept swinging its head like it was watching something near its feet.  Finally I saw that there  was a short-tailed weasel running around the musk ox.

Weasel can be seen in the foreground between the two animals on the right side of the photo.

He would dash in close then bolt back towards the river bank, where there were tunnels into which he would disappear.  I worked over to that side of the island to get the sun behind me for pictures, and then the weasel started checking me out.  As usual they never stay still very long, which makes it hard to get a good shot.

After I got all the pictures I wanted, I headed home and the Musk oxen continued to feed and rest until evening, when they continued on their way upriver.  At dusk I could see them about 2 miles away,  bedded down for the night on another island closer to the mainland.