Tuesday 6 June 2017, week 4: Buldir Island When driving to Seattle from Fairbanks on a free ride from Craigslist a couple autumns ago, my driver Jim told me that I’m pretty much the definition of low maintenance. Given my nature of being content sleeping on any surface, living without running water, and eating basics rather than going out, I’d agree that it doesn’t take much to cover my needs….
Saturday 3 June 2017, week 3: Buldir Island, 22:52 The most geographically isolated island in the Aleutians. The most diverse seabird colony in the northern hemisphere. The westernmost home of bald eagles. The westernmost volcano in the Aleutians. All of these extremes are descriptors of Buldir, making it my most decorated summer home. From learning of its existence in 2010 until last year, working out here had been a dream…
Saturday 27 May 2017, week 2: Buldir Island If there’s one thing I learned from last summer, it’s that I love riding the Tiglax so far west that it becomes east. Unlike everyone else on board, I hope for headwinds and troughs to slow down our progress and rock the boat. Because my love of boat time is common knowledge, I surprised everyone – the ship’s crew, Kevin and McKenzie,…
Thursday 18 May 2017, week 1: at sea in Unimak Pass, 9:05 (through 20 May 2017 as we enter Dutch Harbor in the evening) Riding a ship down the Aleutian chain is not for those who don’t know how to sit still. This year’s cruise west features only a few stops on random islands compared to last year, so in our first 4 full days at sea we’ve only stopped…
Saturday 13 May 2017, end of weeks 0a / 0b in Homer: too late… it’s really Sunday Can someone please explain what’s wrong with me? At the beginning of the month I left the above Mexican Alaskan set-up, my neighboring puppies, and the chance for a real summer of hammock time, biking, and friends for another season of fieldwork in the Aleutians. I believe there comes a time in every…
Monday 6 June 2016, week 3: Buldir Island, 22:01 As I look to the northeast in the mornings, I see clouds of small birds rising and falling as one: a changing shape dancing in the sky’s foreground. Captivating, these shapes are; they’re swarms of activity flying just above the water’s surface and shifting as they rise up and change direction. These auklets – crested, least, parakeet, and whiskered – go…
I’m on my way to a summer on Buldir, where I’ll only have a satellite phone with e-mail. I’m going to try posting by e-mail once a week, and I won’t know if it worked until the end of summer. Due to my capabilities, I won’t be able to share pictures. Sorry! If it works, I’ll share various things about camp life weekly. If not, there may be a post…
Some people who have worked with me in the field or heard stories about fieldwork or my travel adventures know that I have a strange complex that’s become known as “Classic Steph.” It boils down to this notion that I’m not being tough or strong enough or that there’s more I can do. Its other form is that I’ve let the adventure of travel take control of the situation rather…
On that note, here’s a list of items relating 2010 to the present… Remembered 0. The fog and wind are in charge of work schedules out here. 1. My shins don’t like St. George, especially the hike to the least auklet colony and up First Bluffs. 2. A hand warmer at the nape of the neck provides the glorious feeling of a hot shower. 3. The key to happiness is…
Now that I’ve been back on my original island home for a month, I figured I should recap that with which we’ve been busy. Although my writing frequency doesn’t indicate it, this has honestly been the most relaxed month I’ve ever spent working in the field. I learned before coming back out to St. George that the red- and black-legged kittiwakes generally follow a 2 year productivity cycle of a…