JP Mayers 1976 Journal Kanak Island, Comptroller Bay, 65 miles S. of Cordova by air, Gulf of Alaska, Alaska 3 May Flew south from Cordova to Kanak Island in a Chitina Airways Cessna 180. Foul weather- blowing 25 Knots from SE and driving rain. Flight rough, particularly after clearing the Copper River. Remarkable to see the change in snow cover as we proceeded south from Cordova: at the Copper River Delta there is a sharp break: to the north much of the snow is gone, particularly in exposed, non-wooded places. But on the delta itself, despite the low stature of the vegetation - (low wet tundra) and other exposure to the winds - snow remains deep and the river is frozen. The delta from the air is a tortuous mass of sloughs and streams, meandering almost aimlessly toward the west. Flying south we followed the washed coast for a while, then swung out over barrier islands and followed them to Comptroller Bay. Sands along the islands were blowing [illegible], drifting viciously and uninterruptedly. I suspect the pilot had second thoughts about my sanity, and that of David Norton who was waiting for me in a tent on Kanak on the windward side. We landed at 1845, ~15 minutes late due to the strong headwinds. The landing was a bit exciting. We saw very few birds in flight along the shores. At Kanak, walking back to camp from the landing beach, I immediately ran into a large roost of glaucous-winged gulls, mergulls, and arctic terns. A few [illegible] whipped past overhead, torn north in the wind. Camp was a 15 minute walk away, and thanks to the driving rain my pack remained drenched. As it developed, however, the crushingly subdued there was piddling in comparison to Norton's life in the tent, which somehow he had brought up front a raucity. Oh joy. We broke out our gear, transferring valuable to plastic bags, and then circled for a brief walk along the beach. Small flocks of Calidris maria and alpina flew by, both up and down the beach. Tide was going out, but there was no bird activity along the line itself. Several marsh hawks foraging over the old beach. The 'old beach' is a zone of expanding vegetation between vegetated dunes and the Sitka spruce forest, and the high tide line. It is due, Norton tells me, to the considerable uplift that occurred here after the 1964 earthquake; the epicenter was not far away.