EAR TUFTS – An adult great horned owl perches in a cottonwood at Pilgrim Hot Springs. Great horned owls are named for their “horns” or "ears” that are tufts of long feathers, unrelated to hearing. Only some forest owls have these prominent tufts. The tufts are thought to break up the owl’s silhouette and help camouflage it in its branchy forest environment. Raising and lowering the tufts may also aid in nonvocal communication.
Birder’s Notebook: Great Horned Owl –– A top predator of the forest
Recently I visited the cottonwood groves at Pilgrim Hot Springs and Council’s spruce forest, hoping to get better acquainted with a magnificent forest predator––the great horned owl.
NOME HARBOR – A juvenile Sabine’s gull is circling past boats in the Nome harbor, looking for fish. After spotting small fish, the gull dropped daintily to snatch its prey from the water’s surface.
Sabine’s Gull––A distinctive and unusual tern-like gull
On a recent evening drive along Safety Sound, I was excited to spot four small, black-headed Sabine’s gulls flitting daintily up and down in the wind and waves along the Norton Sound beach.
GRAPHITE ONE CAMP— The Graphite One exploration camp is located at the base of the Kigluaik Mountains.
A tour of Graphite One’s camp
This summer, Graphite One continued another season of exploration at the Graphite Creek deposit on the northern slopes of the Kigluaik Mountains, as the December 2024 feasibility study deadline for the proposed graphite mine nears.
NEST DEFENSE— A defensive semipalmated plover parent spreads its wings before luring me away with a broken-wing display. The parents respond to human intruders by crouching and running or feigning injury. Note the partial webbing at the base of the plover’s toes, for which the semipalmated plover is named.
Birder’s Notebook: Semipalmated Plover––the shorebird in a tuxedo
Semipalmated plovers are plump little shorebirds sporting a black-and-white face mask and a distinctive black band across the white chest––eye catching, one would think.
The Nome Common Council in session, on August 12. While HVAC installation is done at City Hall, the Richard Foster building serves as temporary council chambers.
City looking to hire a public relations firm
With only a few weeks left at the job, outgoing City Manager Glenn Steckman presented a host of requests for proposals to the Nome Common Council last Monday of things to be done prior to his departure: RFP’s for renovation and wiring projects for
EAR TUFTS – An adult great horned owl perches in a cottonwood at Pilgrim Hot Springs. Great horned owls are named for their “horns” or "ears” that are tufts of long feathers, unrelated to hearing. Only some forest owls have these prominent tufts. The tufts are thought to break up the owl’s silhouette and help camouflage it in its branchy forest environment. Raising and lowering the tufts may also aid in nonvocal communication.
CHAIRMAN— Tony Haugen was reelected as chairman of the Norton Sound Health Corporation Board of Directors during their full board meeting in Nome, September 17-19.
NOME HARBOR – A juvenile Sabine’s gull is circling past boats in the Nome harbor, looking for fish. After spotting small fish, the gull dropped daintily to snatch its prey from the water’s surface.
GRAPHITE ONE CAMP— The Graphite One exploration camp is located at the base of the Kigluaik Mountains.
NEST DEFENSE— A defensive semipalmated plover parent spreads its wings before luring me away with a broken-wing display. The parents respond to human intruders by crouching and running or feigning injury. Note the partial webbing at the base of the plover’s toes, for which the semipalmated plover is named.
The Nome Common Council in session, on August 12. While HVAC installation is done at City Hall, the Richard Foster building serves as temporary council chambers.

DEC to issue permit for IPOP

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation is set to approve an Alaska Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit to IPOP LLC, according to an email sent out on September 30 by the DEC.  The DEC issued the notification as courtesy,...
TANK FARM–The Bonanza fuel tank farm from on top of one of the nine tanks.

Bonanza tank farm stabilized with thermosiphons

Bonanza fuel tanks will stay on solid ground for years to come with the help of a $4.5 million U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration grant that will support the installation of thermosiphons under the tank farm, currently...

Nome Common Council canvasses election results

In a meeting on Thursday evening, the Nome Common Council canvassed the municipal election results. The official results are as follows: Council Seat C: Scot Henderson, 304 votes, 21 write-ins Council Seat D: Kohren Green, 255 votes; Miranda Musich...
A Russian Coast Guard vessel is observed by the U.S. Coast Guard traversing the Bering Sea in formation with Chinese Coast Guard vessels, on Sept. 28.

Chinese and Russian coast guard vessels traversing the eastern Bering Sea

The U.S. Coast Guard observed four vessels from the Russian Border Guard and Chinese Coast Guard conducting a joint patrol in the Bering Sea on Saturday.  By Tuesday of this week, the ships were seen on a vessel tracking site traveling northwest of...
City Clerk Dan Grimmer and Election Judge Jim Dory go over the results of today's municipal election in Nome.

Unofficial results indicate that Kohren Green wins seat on Nome Common Council

Shortly after 8 o'clock when the polls at Old St. Joe's closed, City Clerk Dan Grimmer read the unofficial results of the Oct. 1 municipal elections. In the race for Nome Common Council seat D, Kohren Green won over Miranda Musich, with a decisive...
COUNCIL SEAT C— Scot Henderson is the incumbent of seat C on the Nome Common Council and he seeks reelection.

Meet the candidates: Your voter guide to the 2024 municipal elections

On Tuesday, Oct. 1, Nome voters will be casting their ballots for the following offices: Two Nome Common Council seats, two NJUS board seats and two School Board seats. Nearly all candidates running for office are current incumbents, except for Nome...
APPEAL— Rexodus Pomrenke appealed the city clerk’s decision that deemed her ineligible for candidacy for municipal office. Listening is outgoing council member Meghan Sigvanna Tapqaq, who chaired the council meeting in the absence of the mayor.

Lacking voter registration, council finds candidate ineligible to run for office

The Nome Common Council, in an unanimous vote, denied Rexodus Pomrenke’s appeal to overturn the city clerk’s decision that found her ineligible to run for office and thus excluded her from the municipal ballot. The reason: Pomrenke was not a...
CHAIRMAN— Tony Haugen was reelected as chairman of the Norton Sound Health Corporation Board of Directors during their full board meeting in Nome, September 17-19.

NSHC board votes to approve housing stipend for employees

The Norton Sound Health Corporation Board held their regular quarterly meeting in Nome last week September 17-19. Alongside many actions and topics noted, the board approved an employee housing stipend, discussed a proposal to take over NSEDC’s...
AVOIDING THE ICE— The crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton encountered and shadowed four Russian Federation Navy vessels 57 miles northwest of Point Hope, Sept. 15, 2024. The Russian fleet consisted of a Severodvinsk-class submarine, a Dolgorukiy-class submarine, a Steregushchiy– class Frigate, and a Seliva-class tug. Stratton patrolled under Operation Frontier Sentinel, a Coast Guard operation designed to meet presence with presence when strategic competitors operate in and around U.S. waters.

Alaska sees increased Russian naval and flight incursions

Last week, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, and the U.S. Coast Guard detected and tracked four separate incursions of Russian military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone and one incursion of...

Obituaries

Mary Therese “Tweet” Burik
Mary Therese “Tweet” Burik passed away on September 21 in Fairbanks at Pioneer Home after a brief illness at the age of 91. Therese was born in Cleveland, Ohio on May 9, 1933, to Mary...

Education

School Board hears of international teachers' status

Nome School Board held their last meeting of the school year June 11, where they heard many public comments and finalized business for the 2023-2024 school year.  

The Nome Nugget

PO Box 610
Nome, Alaska 99762
USA

Phone: (907) 443-5235
Fax: (907) 443-5112

www.nomenugget.net

External Links

Site Design, Programming & Development by Surf New Media