Gavin Rizzolo (grade 8) is from Fairbanks, Alaska. In the summer of 2023, Gavin joined Alexis Will and Adrian Gall on a trip to Savoonga to study the behavior, diet, and condition of auklets breeding on St. Lawrence Island. Thank you Gavin for sharing this wonderful report:
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Day 1:
I started traveling to the village of Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island with Toryn and Alexis by flying from Fairbanks to Anchorage. Our flight from Anchorage to Nome got delayed so we had to book another flight that left 5 hours later. When we finally got to Nome, we had missed the last passenger flight to Savoonga for the day, so we booked a room at the Dredge No:7 cabins/hotel off the highway near Nome. When we got to our cabin we found out that my mom’s old friends from Savoonga lived right next to where we were staying, so we walked over to say hi. They talked to us about their work on the walrus research cruise. He was darting walruses for blubber samples and teaching others to do it too. After that, we got some food from Milano’s Pizzeria and then went to bed.
Day 2:
On day 2 of travel we woke up and then went to catch our flight to Savoonga. Only it was super foggy on the island and that would make it hard to land, so our flight got delayed for another 6 hours. Suddenly, my mom saw these two guys walk in and ran over to talk to them and they chatted for a while…turns out she worked with them in Toksook Bay a few 15 years back. We were getting hungry and so they let us in their truck and we went to Pingo Bakery and SeaFood House and got some delicious breakfast pastries to eat. When our flight finally was able to leave, we got on the plane and strapped in, and took off on our 45 min flight to Savoonga. When we got to Savoonga, the school custodian picked us up at the landing strip and gave us a ride with all our stuff to the school where we were going to sleep for the next week.
Day:3
In the morning, we met with Trevor (our guide) and used 4-wheel all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) to get to the middle colony (in between the village colony and the far colony). When we got to the colony all you saw from the cliff to about 600 feet out was just jagged rock after jagged rock. We started looking for nests at 10:06 AM, the weather was patchy fog and a little cold, like 45 °F. When taking notes in the field, it can help to use codes that save space in your notebook.
Key: L=Least Auklet C=Crested Auklet #’s=which nest it is
Ex:L23 is the 23rd least auklet nest found.
As we searched, I found nest L53 with one egg later on I found L34 and L32 with a parent and egg. I also found L52 and L17 with feathers and dandruff (meaning the nest was either abandoned or the bird is not there). Just as I headed to the mist net site (a mist net is a thin, black net used for catching birds. On good days the birds do not see it and fly into it so we can then take them out and study them.) I found an auklet wing at L96 (I presume the bird was eaten by a fox which always patrols the area) later on as we got to the mist net site at 2:00 PM I saw a fox. (At the time I recorded this it was a bit foggy on and offshore but the sun was still visible.) We captured our first two Least Auklets at 2:07 PM and our first Crested Auklet at 3:03 PM. In total, we got 8 birds of which 7 were Least Auklets and one was a Crested Auklet. We returned and ate dinner and went to bed.
Species list for day 3
Parakeet Auklet
Pigeon Guillemot
Tufted Puffin
Crested Auklet
Least Auklet
Thick-Billed Murre
Pelagic Cormorant
Horned Puffin
Arctic Fox
Day 4:
When we got to the colony at 9:53 AM the weather was cloudy and rainy. My mom and I went to search for nests on the half of the area we were going to search and Trevor would search the other half. So with tornadoes of birds in the sky we set off. Two of our first four nests were new (L98 and L99) and the other two were empty. After our finds, we decided that we would look for only marked nests. After we searched for another 2-3 hours, then Alexis and Toryn arrived and Alexis told us the next place to look for nests. We took off in that direction (same colony, different place in the colony) we searched for a bit in that area, about 1-2 more hours and we found a few more nests that were old. Around 2-3 of them had an egg or a chick, another 2-3 had a parent on either a chick or an egg, and 2 others were empty. We found the one-hundredth Least Auklet nest (L100!). The weather then began to clear up and it became sunny with no clouds. By this time it was about 2:00 PM we then hopped onto the ATV’s and drove to the next mist netting site. When we got there, we set up the net and waited. By the end of the day we had gotten 8 birds in the net (2 Crested and 6 Least) but one of the Cresteds was overheating thus we could not process it. Instead, we just let it go immediately. After the day was done, we headed back to town and unpacked everything and then went to say hi to some of my moms old friends (she worked on Savoonga 20 yrs prior and did this same work but on three colonies of Auklets and one of the Murre colonies). We saw some puppies and had to say hi. I fell in love with one but they were too young to take away from their mother so we had to say goodbye. We then stopped by her friend’s house and said hi and I played with some of the kids who were super nice and welcoming. After that we went down to the beach and pulled up some nets with some more of her old friends and they caught some Dolly Varden (in the same family as salmon) and one King and a few Sockeye and Saw some HUGE invasive Japanese crabs called Hanasake Crabs we then went back to the school and went to bed.
In the evenings, I did things that were not bird related. Some of the things included participating in native dances with friends I made there which was super cool. At first I was just watching but then they invited me to dance and this is when I began to physically tremble because of my nervousness but in the end I pulled it off and did pretty well. I also drummed with them which was super fun and satisfying. As I took the drum stick in my hand they all of a sudden started drumming and it was so cool to see the younger kids drumming with the Elder that was there, it was a truly magical experience.
I was invited to my friend’s birthday party to eat Native foods. The foods I ate were Mungtuk, Aged Mungtuk, Aged Baby Walrus, Walrus Breast, Murre, Reindeer, and Native Greens. I also had some Hanasaki Crab. My favorite food had to be the crab followed up in a close second by Murre. The Murre was in between steak and jerky in its texture and its flavor was amazing. It was partly salty but at the same time a bit sweet, it was awesome.
Day5:
On day 5 I woke up and got ready to go to the colony. When we got there it was cold, cloudy, foggy, and drizzly. We started searching and within a few hours we found 10 nests (L101-L110) but we did not find any older nests. We then went to the mist net site, it was still foggy when we got there but, for the next 5 hours the weather was patchy fog and a bit of drizzle and some sunlight. We still caught 9 birds and processed 6 of them. Out of the 9 we caught 2 were Least Auklets and 7 were Crested Auklets, 2 of them escaped and 1 was overheating so we had to let it go. When we returned to town we went to my moms friend’s house. First we said hi to the puppies and I said hi to the one I loved most, Sparrow (I named her Sparrow because she had a white crest kind of like a White Crowned Sparrow). She was light brown with black dots and blue eyes. When we got to the friend’s house I jumped on the trampoline with a few other kids and we saw a few flocks of Common Eiders. After all the fun we had in town we went back to the school and went to sleep.
Day6
Today I woke up and made some delicious breakfast burritos for myself with cheese, egg, salsa, salt, pepper, and a tortilla after that we when to the colony where we found a few old nests all of which had nothing and we only found one nest (L85). When we got to the colony it was thick thick fog. After we finished up nest searching we went to do some mist netting where I found an Arctic Fox under a rock that was yapping at me. When we got to the mist net site it was still super foggy but we set up the net and waited for 3 hours to catch a bird but none hit the net since it was clearly visible but after that it cleared up and for the last 2 hours we caught and processed 9 birds 6 of which were Least and the other 3 were Crested’s we then went back to the school and ate dinner and went to bed.
Day7
As I got on the 4-wheeler I saw the sun rise and we were off. As we got to the nest searching site, the ATV I was riding got stuck in some super thick mud and when we eventually got it out we continued and when we got to the colony it was cold and overcast. We found some old nests and most had either an egg or a chick and around 4 had nothing. We also found 2 new Crested nests, C84 and C86, and one new least nest, L111. Today was the last day on the colony, so no mist netting. We got back and put our stuff away and went to town where we then met with one of my mom’s friends who was a carver (still is) and he showed me how he turns walrus ivory into carvings of whales and seals. We then helped pull lines for the last time and then went back to the school and went to bed.
Day8
Today I woke up and got all my stuff packed up, helped pack the food. We then took it all down to the air strip and when the plane arrived we got all of our stuff on, said goodbye to friends, and climbed aboard ourselves for the long day of traveling back to Fairbanks. This time there were no delays or anything and we made it home on time and safely. Thank you for reading.