M Verbeek 1966. Journal 81 Meade River, Alaska. 22 August I arrived at 11:40 and I was welcomed by everybody in the station. The arrival of a plane is still the event of the day; After lunch, Paul and I started out on a long bike to the S. of camp (+8 km), across the neck of the large oxbow and then further parallel with the river for an- other km, at which point we waded across the river, which was about 25 cm deep at its deepest point. On the other side we continued for another km till the river swings W again. On the return trip we followed the same route. During the 15 km trip we saw only two immature Redbacks, 2 Phalaropes (Red) and one or two Leucials and a Golden Clover. We also saw one Saline Gull, and 4 Arctic Terns, one of which was an immature bird. On a lake we saw an Arctic Loon with one juvenile swimming behind it. The tundra has changed in the last three weeks. The polygonal ponds were dried then before; in fact many of them had dried up completely. The reduction in shorebirds may well be a reflection of this. The hard grassy bottoms may well be too tough, especially for young birds with soft bills to feed in. These polygonal marshes - marshes of mainly carex, surrounded by polygon ridges - are a very important component at Meade River, which make the area so very much different from the tundra around Barrow. These shallow, stagnant marshes are probably the main contributors to the mosquito population, early in the season. In any future work these marshes should be looked at carefully.