A normally secretive Bluethroat poses long enough for Malkolm to take this photo.
When I was twelve years old my parents and I flew to the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge. It was my seventh Arctic trip. We had also traveled across the United States many times doing slideshows to help prevent oil drilling in the Refuge.
On this trip, I was determined to find a Bluethroat, a tiny thrush that migrates all the way from Asia. My sister Kirsten had seen one but I hadn’t. She’d teased me, “Only good birders see Bluethroats!”
We backpacked for four days, watching Golden Eagles over the mountains to the south and Golden Plovers strutting in the tundra. Then we hiked to a willowy creek — perfect Bluethroat habitat. We scanned the bushes. Nothing. Nothing but caribou! They spilled over the foothills and soon they were everywhere. We hiked among the herd of about 50,000 caribou as we returned to camp.
The next day we returned to the creek, but this time a golden grizzly descended a hill and vanished in “our” willows. We scampered back to camp. The third day we tried again, alert for bears but determined to find our bird. Wendy saw it first. It was amazing to see the bird that I had only known from field guides. I managed to snap two good photos before it disappeared.
We hiked back to the ocean and kayaked through the icebergs to Kaktovik. A month later we were back in Whitehorse. I told Kirsten, “Only good birders hike a hundred miles to find Bluethroats!”
Photographing a Bluethroat
Malkolm the Birder Boy – Quest for the Bluethroat
We made the film “Malkolm the Birder Boy” after a six-week trip in the Arctic Refuge. The film shows what it is like to travel in the Refuge: the beauty and wildlife, the mosquitoes and challenges. The film gives a perspective about the Refuge from a young person’s point of view. Instead of hearing a politician talking about the “future generation,” you hear straight words from a youth himself.
The film has been shown at a number of film festivals and won several awards. It empowers young people to realize that they can “make a difference” in their own futures. It also connects with older people who are parents, grandparents, educators – and those who remember their own youths.
The soundtrack for this 15 minute film was created by the gifted musician Matthew Lien who has been a staunch defender of the Arctic Refuge for years.
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