J.P. Myers 1976 Journal Barrow, Alaska 4 July So as to avoid any trouble we stayed away from our study area on this, the bicentennial day. Shid in the bar and thought evil things about people going out on the grids to burn stakes and kill birds. The reason for staying in was that serious rumours were afloat predicting racial violence for today. Our sites are sufficiently accessible to vehicular traffic such that it was [illegible] not to be elsewhere. 5 July 0730-1200 censused GRID 2. Weather clear with a persistent, moderate west wind. Temp in mid 30's. The givotal of the grid had changed markedly since I last censused, 5 days ago, as many of the nests have now hatched, and adults are behaving protectively. This makes censusing very difficult, because the adults will mob, destroying the [illegible] and making it difficult to maintain knowledge of who is whom based upon position. With time the jaegers also become more persistent and vicious, also - again interfering with censusing. [one egg from BJS pipped]. Nevertheless, below I have summarized results from today's census: GRID 2 TOTALS ~25 ha Palaeticta strileri 2 Pluvialis d 4 (small flock) Calidris alpina 15 w/chicks C. bairdii 2 C. mauri 8 (small groups) C. melanotos ♂ 9 (including small flock) C. pusilla ♀ 12 w/chicks Ph. fulicarius ♂ 12 a few chicks ♀ 14 Stercorarius pom. 4 1 pipped egg Calcarius l. 15 chicks Plectrophenax n. 3 Pectoral mutes are still displaying although very infrequently. Small groups are evident, flaying by and foraging on the grid. P. melanotos have begun to be very difficult to deal with, what with their proclivity to fly count to distract you from young. I counted 38 pectorals of melanotos young this dawn, as well as one pusilla (see banding schedule). Pairs of P. fulicarius are falling markedly. The high number of Calidris mauri may be due in part to our proximity to Voth Creek, where small flocks have been foraging for the last week. These birds appear to be moving between tundra and a mud very regularly.