Alaska

In June of 2012, I traveled to Alaska and rafted down the Canning River, north of the Brooks range, toward the Arctic plain.  We weren't expecting to see many species of birds, but the whole trip was designed to find one species in particular: the Gray-headed Chickadee.  Click on any image to see a full-size, clearer version.

While unable to locate a Gray-headed Chickadee at first,

we were able to find a wet tundra field full of Smith's Longspurs!

And they were singing, too!  I was fortunate to find room to sit down on the wet tundra and take a few videos with my camera.  Check out the two videos below!



Luckily, after almost a week of rafting and hiking, we found a pair of Gray-headed Chickadees!  Even better, we found a nest cavity filled with young chicks, and the parents were making food runs, coming back with bills full of flies, and zipping off again to find more.  We were able to enjoy this spectacle for almost an hour.  Here are some of the photographs I was able to fire off.

One of the parents, poking his head out of the nest cavity

Look at that haul!  What a mouthful!

I was able to set up my tripod and shoot some videos of the Gray-headed Chickadees, too.  The first video shows a parent flying in and out of the cavity.  The second shows one of the parents just sitting on the nest, peaking out.  You can even see him blink his eyes if you watch carefully!



Even if I never see another Gray-headed Chickadee in my lifetime, I will still remember this adventure with great fondness.  Thanks for looking, everyone!