White-tailed Eagle

After a morning spent looking at the ocean for Alcids, our group turned our scopes and binoculars inland. At the North Eastern part of town rests a loaf of a mountain, the summit covered in snow, the bottom all rocks. This is where the Natives bury their dead (the Natives here speak Siberian Yupik and English). Wooden caskets are visible on the flanks of the mountain. We are not supposed to walk on the mountain but this is where the locals hunt birds, collect eggs and get their water.
We walked the packed dirt road out toward a marsh area, scanning actively for any life. An Arctic Ground Squirrel made an appearance and then soon a Tundra Vole. A dog followed us, trotting along, playing with the vole, killing the vole, playing with it some more. It was a beautiful walk, open land, gray skies, a sense of being at the end of the world. There were few birds: a Raven flew over. A few Western Sandpipers scurried in the short grasses and lichens. There was a miniature Arctic Willow, also known as creeping willow, with tiny soft flowers, just like a pussy willow.
We dipped down toward a marshier area. A Tattler loitered by the inlet and both of our guides analyzed it with care: was it a Gray-tailed Tattler? They went back and forth, told us what to look for in the flanks. But really, we wouldn't know what the bird was until it vocalized. We stood and watched the bird and I wondered if they would laugh if they knew that I had never even heard of a Gray-tailed Tattler, that only a few days ago I had seen my first Wandering Tattler.
Most of those in our group are serious listers. One friendly woman from New Mexico has topped 700 species; she hit 600 in 1999. Thirteen years to find one-hundred new birds. As we headed out that afternoon, I had seen 49 new birds in our six days in Alaska. That's one of the joys of being a new birder.
While in the field, all of the guides are in touch with each other. Peter and I are traveling with Victor Emanuel Tours. The WINGS group was gathered near the boneyard waiting for their 4 pm flight out. Another group (I don't know who, perhaps Wilderness Birding) was ahead of us. The guides discussed the Tattler. And then over the radio crackled "There's a White-Tailed Eagle heading north along the marsh." I looked up, and there it was.
Unmistakable, the White-Tailed Eagle is a big bird, but with a smaller, chunky white tail than it's Bald Eagle cousin. It was high in the sky, making a steady path north. It passed over the WINGS group before they boarded their plane.
Everyone was euphoric, particularly our leader Kevin, who has guided bird tours since 1984 and started birding seriously when he was 13: this was a life bird for him. This eagle brought my Alaska list to Fifty.