June 30th, 2012, The Savage River Loop Trail

We had just left the truck and I saw a bird with a brown upper body amd white undersides and legs fly across the river. It was a willow ptarmagin! As we started down to the willows Renita turned and looked at me and asked,"Can you hear that?, and of course I couldn't.

As we got a little closer the clucking sound became so loud that even I could make out the call and we both spied the hen, wait whats that movement, calling to her chick and we could see it. A little further we saw another hen and her two chicks and already the short drive had been all the ranger had told us about.

Crossing the bridge we heard the louder song of a rooster ptarmagin and watched as he flew across the river. His eyes are lined with feathers that suggested orange eye liner and his plumage contained more white then the hen.

We saw a ranger leave the tour bus and it was the same one that we had seen the day before at the Visitor Center. Thanking her for the information about the new life bird she suggested that we hike upriver and look for harlequin ducks. However there had been other hikers and we didn't see any.
Returning to the truck we donned our day packs and set off to hike the Savage River loop trail. Above us loomed Savage Rock and there were people climbing it and posing on the top. We stopped often and enjoyed the flowers along the trailside. Renita motioned to me as a white crowned sparrow seemed to pose and we had both rarely been so close to a wild bird.

The hike was an easy mile, mostly downhill and we stopped at the footbridge to sit and eat lunch. It's a busy trail and other groups passed us, making the turn and heading back up hill. A ground squirrel approached both if us, hoping for a handout but we don't feed wild animals.

The hike up the valley was easy and we stopped to enjoy the metamorphic rocks.  Greenstone was abundant, along with a silvery metamorphic shist, its lines folded tight together like last falls foilage. A large boulder of black and white gneiss sat in the middle of the river and I thought about jumping onto it but decided that it might be too big a gap. Near the bridge the trail split in two and we took the River Bar loop before rejoining the main trail back to the bridge.
We didn't notice any more Ptarmagin as they were roosting in the dense willows. Renita and I both realized we had been fortunate to get there early enough to see the end of their morning feeding, as the flock was nowhere to be seen.

It had been a great day and a new life bird. A nice two mile hike in the sub artic biome. Flowers, rocks and birds, who could ask for more on our first full day at Denali National Park? Clear skies.