Day 2 - and another new bird!

Yesterday I woke to blue skies here. I started the day at my conferecne, but after lunch I couldn't take it any more. Th forecast for the rest of the week is rain. So I headed up to hike another mountain. and it was one of the best days I could have imagined!

A quick run down of the highlights -

Blueberries and crow berries galore - I could have sustained myself on the mountain with just these.

A raven and red fox in the alpine. The raven flew over sqawking and then flew down to the ground, so i looked with my binocs and there was a beautiful red fox. They both kind of looked at each other, approaching and then retreating. I didn't see any food, but maybe that was what it was about. Finally the fox took off and the raven stayed.

When I reached the top of mountain, I could see Denali peak (highest in N. america) - it was over 100 miles away, but was still huge. It was quite a sight. The last time I saw that mountain was in 1966 when I came here with my parents.

Then to top it off, a northern harrier (a kind of hawk) flew over, and scared up some big birds. Well, part of the reason I had hiked all over the tundra was to see some rock ptarmigan. so, I walked over to where the birds landed and there wer 5 or 6 rock ptarmigan!!!! New bird #2 on this trip!

Now this morning it is raining, so no more adventures until Thursday, when I have the day free. Love you all.