More Babies, Odd Goose and Wolverine

All of our Semipalmated Plover nests have hatched now. We have seen the chicks running around the rehab pads as well as on some of the pads around camp.

One little chicklet waiting for its siblings to hatch.

Three little chicklets all cute and fluffy.

Looks like a mini-Semipalmated Plover? Because it is!

There is also a plover nest on an area near one of the rehab pads but it isn't actually on the pad so we never monitored it. When we went to do the microhabitat surveys on the pad the plover would hop off the nest but go right back to it even when we were still standing really close. It allowed me to take some nice photos of it!

Attentive parent.

We also saw a cute family of swans hanging around one of the rehab pads. The cygnets are pretty cute and all of the geese and other babies are growing pretty fast.

Little swan family hanging out.

Going up on to the rehab pad. Totally counting that microsite!

Another odd spot the other day was a Greater White-fronted Goose that we believe was leucistic. Leucism in birds is a mutation that prevents pigments like melanin, from being deposited properly in a bird's feathers. Birds with leucism can have white patches in their plumage they normally don't have, they may have a paler than normal plumage, or it can even completely "bleach" a bird's plumage so they look albinistic. However, it is not the same mutation that causes albinism. Albinism affects all pigments in a bird's feathers whereas leucism only affects the darker feathers with pigments again, like melanin. But it does make it difficult to identify a bird.

Odd and possibly leucistic goose.

Today was the best day of all though. As we were working on one of the rehab pads I saw what I thought was a bear run behind a mound. We were on the last site for the day and I was willing to consider finishing if it was a bear since it was across a creek with high banks and at least 400m from us. As soon as it came back into view I realized it was not a bear, but a wolverine. A freaking WOLVERINE! I have always loved the family mustelidae and it has been a dream of mine to see a wolverine in the wild. I never dreamed that I would see one on the tundra so you can imagine my astonishment and excitement at seeing one today! I literally jumped up and down. Sadly, neither Jie nor I had our cameras and when I thought about trying to digiscope with my binoculars and cell phone it was running further away. But that doesn't diminish the experience, and in fact makes it more special!