by Gabriela Schaepman-Strub

Kytalyk, July 23, 2013

Last evening at Kytalyk station, after living and working out in the wild for 3 weeks! Usually it’s a strange moment just before leaving – packing, thinking about when to come back next time, being sad to leave this interesting, quiet place where you hear the boats from kilometers away, but happy to go home, see the family and get back to civilization. This year it’s different. My family has arrived a few days ago, and I am happy to show the young buzzard’s nest, to walk through the tundra, teach them how to take active layer thickness measurements and notes, discover a stranded weather balloon. So no hurry to get home! Instead we will be driving up north to Russkoe Ustje. It will be a long journey, somebody said minimum 3 hours, another estimate was 5 hours, and we wanted to visit a hillside on the way to evaluate if it would be of scientific interest. The weather forecasts are not very promising, 3-6°C with some rain. We will need all our clothes tomorrow! We will keep you updated about our adventure to the north!

Nest with 6 chicks of rough-legged buzzards. Photo: M. Schaepman, 22 July, 2013.

Measuring shrub position and extension, with the helping hand of a young secretary. Photo: M. Schaepman, 21 July 2013.

Taking vegetation relevees on the pingo south of the Berelech river, with Olga Khitun and the Schaepman family, who is testing ecotourism at Kytalyk station. The kids are impressed by the tundra life and seem to bother much less than adults about the mosquitos. Photo: O. Khitun, 21 July 2013.