J.P. Myers 1976 Calidris melanotos Barrow, AK 30 May 1st of the season, found in Barrow by the old liquor store. Greenberg and Woody saw it, I didn't. No pronounced fat deposit in breast region 31 May Pectorals burst upon the Barrow scene. 50+ today in the lee of lastini road, feeding in a few open patches of low edge. One flock ~25 birds with 289. displaying in air and on ground. About - a 8^ chasing another several hundred in, doing the main going through the looking motions - head/throat jerk etc., but not making an audible sound. Saw twice. Another 8^ goose-stuffing. 20:30 returned to same area. 8^ much more dispersed, no longer obviously flocking. Some aggression, in fact several 8^ looking inaudibly (going through motions) 1 June Up snow melt 8^ now dispersing far out across tundra. Several visible on GRID E. displays. One pr of 8^ chasing 8. 2 June Melonutes most everywhere in places of good open tundra. In Grid 3 region where I read and grid 3 8^ all looking and supplementing. Hoots are still rather quick, as if they have to practice or their caustic aren't in shape yet. Judging from look of 8^ pectorals in Gordova in early May and the first ones we have seen here, the fat deposits don't accrue until arrival at the breeding site, or nearly there. Furthermore, the apparent development of looking ability, proceeding from nothing audible 31 May, through a cranky croak on 1 June to today's barely audible hoot is supportive, if the fat is as integral to the hoot as suggested. Actually I have not yet heard a good typical mid-June hoot yet, but on 31 May and 1 June there were some 8^ capable of something better than a mere croak. The other neat thing about pectoral phonology this year has been the fact the way furbirds have developed, or at least how I think that they have. On 31 May, 8^ were definitely flocking in the morning, confined by the snow to a few patches of fat-melting snow. Even within 3 hrs of their arrival (assuming some 8^ involved) there was significant aggression, looking, etc. I have the definite intuition that this flock has remained in that site, expanding to fill the tundra as it is exposed, with the aggression of 8^ forcing others away, much as a weaker flock becomes territorial - diffusion from a center.