JPM Myers 1977 Journal NARL, Barrow, Alaska 16 June (con't) And how is it? - melt-off is now complete, save a few snow-filled creeks. Run-off is largely over, with Both Creek clearly subsiding. But the tundra remains wet, covered in many places up to 95% by melt-off water, particularly in latitudinal belt (6810 4), i.e. poorly drained Carex-Eriophorum roscosum meadow + low centric polygon. Ranunculus nivalis continues to sprout yellow blooms amid the dark brown of standing death. Pedicularis canadensis is now at its woolly best, showing signs of pink blossoms along Garcinia Ridge and in fact a few flowering individuals can be seen. Salix pulchra has pussy-willow-like catkins heavy with yellow pollen. And in several places the greening of the tundra has begun - crowns of Eriophorum and Dryas are gaining color, being most evident in areas where winter lemming activity was concentrated. Lemmings? - I've seen 2 lemmings so far, one on Garlin Ridge, the other on 6810 1. Cropping is heavy but in a few patches. But nothing compared to the previous 2 years. This lemming crashed during the winter. Of course this has import for the birds: no breeding peregrine jaegers, no snowy owls. In fact there don't even appear to be settled parasitic jaegers. Two standard developments of note. (1) Numbers of Q pectoralis is up markedly, and its display activity has also risen. This includes the previously barren 6810 1 area. (2) Baird sandpipers are having a very good year, displaying with extraordinary conspicuousness along Garcinia Ridge, and even out into the treacherous 3 region. Westerns and C. mauri and C. fuscicollis are also more obvious this year. 17 June another day of tracking. Wind resumed, sun stayed out, making work more pleasant than the goats. yesterday. We now have 24 banded birds on or around the grid (in theory). But the frequency of sighting these birds suggests there actually are many more out than one might expect. Fewer than 50% of the birds we observe are banded. This suggests that quite a large # of birds move in and out of the area. Further, we see only a small proportion of the banded birds. This suggests that birds move freely in and out of our focus of activity - something already hinted at by the tracking data. 18 June ditto.