Now that my TB test came back negative and I’m at the end of a whirlwind 3 day stay in Fairbanks, it’s time to share.

I’m going on a boat!!

I know, I know. Here we go again. However, this time I’ve earned my spot as more than labor.

To recap: birds across all of the field sites in Alaska Maritime NWR had a pretty disappointing year. Either they didn’t lay eggs, or those eggs didn’t hatch, or the chicks died. Right now we’re not quite sure why the year was such a failure, but the hypotheses seem to involve ocean temperature and how that affected food sources.

While the thick-billed and common murres of St. George had a less-than-ideal year, they also chose to breed later than usual. In our monitoring we hope to record the final nest status (egg, chick, or fledgling gone from nest site) of as many monitored nests as possible, and our scheduled departure date left more young murre chicks on the cliffs than is ideal. Because of this, I stayed on St. George a week later than the other 2/3 of my crew because (a) my schedule allowed the most flexibility and (b) I didn’t want to leave in the first place.

On the first weekday of having the entire bunkhouse to myself, I got a message from my crew leader back in Homer that just said, “Call Marc (the boss) right now, asap.” Wondering what I’d managed to screw up, I hesitantly called. My nerves were immediately proven frivolous, as I was being called about an opportunity.

The NOAA vessel Oscar Dyson would be heading out for a cruise from Dutch Harbor to Kodiak from roughly 20 September through 6 October. USFWS would have a trained seabird observer aboard, and they were hoping to send out a paid trainee. If I was interested, Marc would pass on my name.

Of course I jumped at the opportunity. Getting back on a ship in the Bering/North Pacific has been on my mind since I had to leave the last time, and this time I had the chance to go on a research vessel! Being a fantastic boss, Marc got my name in for first dibs, which left us to play the waiting game since NOAA didn’t know for sure if they had a spare berth.

After a week of not knowing on St. George and a week in Homer, I finally got word on Monday when I was in Anchorage. All of the sudden it became ‘go time’ to take care of the proper TB test, required medical form, travel plans, etc. A couple weeks in Fairbanks became just a couple days full of unpacking and repacking, convincing myself to buy a camera, a tiny bit of visiting, plenty of walks and bus rides, and emailing.

Now I’m at that very important final stop: drinking a raspberry wheat at the Pub. Just a couple of days is nowhere near enough time to feel at home again in Fairbanks, but I guess I’ll take what I can get.