Deja vu on the Tundra: The days are longer....

The days are getting to be almost 17 hours of daylight. The sunset is about 11:15 PM which makes it tough to go to bed on the early side. We all feel it. The students come in tired, or not at all.

With the longer days, the migratory birds find their way back to their nesting grounds. Ducks, geese, swans, cranes are off in the distance calling each other. Each time I've been out a flock of something goes overhead in V formation. But, I did see one lonely seagull finding its way upriver, maybe to the dump?

Sad to see for many of us, the Tundra Swan is sought after as it feeds many. It is a beautiful animal. The Speckled Duck and Cackling Canada Goose were among the catch.

I took the wings home to cut the feathers off to use for next year's Cultural Week. The men's dance fans use bird feather (swan or owl). I brought these incredible things into the bathtub and cut as many feathers off as I could. I also cut the down and tucked it away in a bag.

I was amazed at the variety of feathers, like any bird I'm sure, and kept exploring the layers upon layers on these wings. My bathtub looked like someone had had a pillow fight in it!

Not everyone plucks their birds. One method it to tear the skin to get at the breast meat.

Sunrise is now happening about 6:15 AM. Getting out for walks at this time of day is a treat. The snow has an icy surface, so one doesn't break through so easily. And, again, the birds are on the move. I saw my first robin today.

Spring brought the white spotted Northern Pike. Most people around here had to go to the mouth of the Johnson River to go ice fishing for them. They do come up to the local river, but now the ice is too unstable to go out on.

This family has been hard at work putting up this fish. Cleaned, split and hung to dry they will be put away. Many families have extra freezers to store them.