After a brief stop in Kotzebue, where we became certificate-carrying members of the Arctic Circle Club, we finally arrived in Nome after more than 12 hours of travel. The prospect of 21 hours of daylight had us delirious with anticipation, but after birding until midnight, reality set in and we had to settle for a few hours of restless sleep. The main street of Nome is where everything happens. All of the important businesses are here.
Children play, old men drink, and orange taxi-vans are omnipresent.
On the outskirts of town, huge dredges lie where they were abandoned, rusty remnants of the gold rush days at the turn of the century. Local miners still operate small dredges on floating Zodiac rafts just offshore east of town. Fat Freddie's was jammed with hungry and eager birders at 7 AM, but soon the tundra absorbed them all, and we often drove for miles without seeing another vehicle. Three dirt roads radiate from Nome, and the Kougarok Highway was center stage for most of the specialties of the area. We held our breath as beautiful Bluethroats provided scope-filling views.