A few birds from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
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Whimbrel:Whimbrel Kikikiaq What a bird this one is! With its long, down-curved bill and bluish stilt-like legs, it almost looks extraterrestrial. But I assure you, it is an earthling, and an Alaskan through and through, at least for part of the year. Kikikiaq is also quite a world traveller. I've seen this bird from the Lower Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge all the way to South America, including the Galapagos Islands. One of the most fascinating encounters I've had with it was on the lower Yukon River near Marshall many years ago. I was out walking on the tundra when a lone Whimbrel flew directly over me, making its flight call, a quick, loud and liquid kikikikikiki. I instantly called back to it, using the sound it makes on its nesting grounds, a sort of kur-leeou, kur-leeou (which, by the way, gives this bird another of its names, curlew).The Whimbrel immediately changed course, circled me, and landed on the tundra. As I continued to call, the bird began circling me and approaching closer and closer. I watched him through my binocs, and at one point even thought I saw a sparkle in his eye, but finally when he was within fifty feet of me the sparkle faded and he flew away. I guess I wasn't his cup of tea. The Whimbrel, which is a member of the sandpiper family, was so-named in England from one of its calls which the British apparently thought sounded like whim, to which the suffix brel was added. This suffix means something like "dear little one" in old English. It has two Yupik names I'm familiar with, Kikikiaq, which I learned in Hooper Bay, and Pipipiaq in Scammon Bay. Both of these are onomatopoeic, that is, they take the name of a sound the bird makes. In this case, the sound is of its flight call, mentioned above. While living in Hooper Bay and Scammon Bay, I remember young hunters taking whimbrels and other large shorebirds to give as food gifts to their elders. Then, of course, there is its scientific name, Numenius phaeopus. Numenius is Greek for "new moon," and refers to the crescent shape of the bird's bill. Phaeopus is Greek for "gray-foot," and relates to the whimbrel's bluish-gray colored legs. It's curious that in northern Alaska, the Inupiat name of the bird, Sigoktuvak, also describes its anatomy and loosely means, "big, long-billed shorebird." For the record, some of the Whimbrel's other common English names are: blue- legs, crooked-bill marlin, foolish curlew, Hudsonian curlew, jack, jack curlew, short-billed curlew, and striped-head. So much for names. In spring on his nesting grounds, the male Whimbrel puts on quite an aerial courtship show for his mate. After taking off from the tundra, he flies low, then circles higher and higher until suddenly he begins gliding down to earth again, uttering his rapid, trill-like kikikikikiki. This is a precursor to, you guessed it, copulation and egg-laying in a quickly built nest that isn't much more than a saucer-shaped depression in dry tundra and lined with bits of dry grass, moss and lichen. Four olive-colored, brown-spotted eggs are usually laid, then incubated by both parents for about a month. After the young hatch, they leave the nest quickly. At first, both parents feed and protect them, but gradually they learn the tricks of the trade, and a little more than a month after they've hatched the birds are on their own. By then they have learned to both feed themselves and to defy the force of gravity by flying. The diet of the young is the same as that of their parents: aquatic invertebrates, including small crustaceans, worms, small mollusks, spiders, sand fleas, and, in late summer, wild berries, especially crowberries which provide them with ample fat for their migration to southern climes in fall. When it finally comes time for the migration to take place, the young stick around Alaska for at least a week longer than their parents to build up their fat wads and to learn a little Spanish for their long trip to South America. Buen viaje.  |
