21 July 2009 A walk around the City of St. Paul Island

Even by Pribilof Islands weather standards , today was a nasty day. All day long we experienced rainy, windy and cold conditions. In fact, the seabird team stayed home from the field today to catch up on some of the data recording, maintenance of ATVs and prepping of equipment for the project that are all part of running a smooth research program.That gave me a little bit of time to check out the City of St. Paul. The town is fairly small, so it's easy to walk around and take in the sights. I went over to the school administrative office to introduce myself. I am trying to work out an opportunity to connect some of the seabird research that we are doing with local students that will be participating in the St. Paul Summer Marine Science Camp. The folks that I particularly needed to touch base with are currently off of the island, but the staff in the office were happy that I came by to check in and were quite helpful.

The store is an important place in town to congregate and to buy groceries. This is right in the heart of town and where we go to buy whatever we need that didn't come over in the big shipment from Anchorage at the beginning of the field season.  We also buy perishable items like vegetables, milk or bread. As you might expect, things are expensive over here because they need to be sent over by airplane or boat. For example, a half gallon of milk costs over $6.00!

  Everywhere that you walk, there are beautiful views, even on a rainy day. Here are a few pictures from my walk to town.

Bird species Seen:Red-faced Cormorant, Black-legged Kittiwake, Rock Sandpiper, Lapland Lonspur, Gray-crowned Rosy Finch