Day 4—Last night (Saturday) I attended the Eagle River AA meeting where I got my chip for 26 years of sobriety.  When I think of that I am amazed that it has been 26 years.  Then on Sunday morning I prepared to leave for a week in Nome.  The plan is to do some scouting and then wait for the group to arrive on Friday.  So after our flight arrived at 11:30 went to get the vehicle to use for the rest of the week.  Then I grabbed a sandwich and headed for Safety Lagoon to do some birding.  The temperature here is in the mid 70’s and I am not dressed for this, forcing me to finally take off my shirt and bird in my t-shirt.  Boy is this surprising!  There is no ice anywhere to be seen.  That is the first time in all the years I have been here that there is no ice.  The other thing is the surprising lack of birds.  There was a diverse species present but numbers are significantly reduced.  I think the best birds of the day at Safety was Aleutian tern that flew over the road. On this trip I had two at the Nome sewer ponds and the one out at Safety.  In years past they have only occurred at what we call the Train to Nowhere.  So rather disappointed by what I saw at the lagoon.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.