BOA Intro

From 1942 to 1997, Adak was a military base with limited access for civilians. The only birders (this term is used loosely here) allowed to travel to the island were academics conducting research, US (and state) Fish and Wildlife employees doing surveys, and military personnel and their families who were stationed there and happened to be birders.

Prior to 1942, Adak was uninhabited.

So bird records during that time are scant, erratic, and in some cases questionable. They are only in the public record if they were published in a research paper or a journal such as North American Birds (previously known as Audubon Field Notes, and then American Birds).

Most of those records were compiled into the book Birds of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, Gibson and Byrd, 2007.

This book covered records up to 2005.

In 2003, the community of Adak contacted the American Birding Association and asked them if they would be interested in promoting birding on the island. The ABA sent a scout team there in August 2003 and wrote about it in the May 2004 Winging It. That article and a number of others are viewable on my website (https://www.franklinhaas.com/adak/articles.html).

Since that time, birders have been going there regularly – mostly in May, but some in September and October as well. Occasional Winter trips are also being made.

This has led to an explosion of bird records – albeit in a narrow time frame. These records are accessible in eBird.

With such a limited set of data, statistics like early/late dates, peak migration dates, etc. are meaningless.

I therefore focused on the overall status of a species, rather than specific dates, numbers.

For rarities however, I tried to cite as many records as I could find.

When importing bird records, I combined sightings in the following way.

Example: If a Common Greenshank was seen on May 15 and then again on May 22 and May 23, I entered the record as May 15 to May 23. It may have been the same bird or it could have been two (or three) separate birds. There is no way to be absolutely certain. So presenting the data as ‟this species was seen between these dates‟ is more helpful (in my opinion) than listing every individual record.

If more than one bird was seen on any of those dates (for instance 2 on May 22), I would list the quantity as 1 to 2.

After each spring and fall trip, I import the eBird records since the previous download and edit them and add them to the online database. The timing of these updates vary.

I use the following definitions (with some leeway...).

Seasonal Status
Permanent Resident
	Species who breed on Adak and do not migrate (or migrate very little) and remain year-round. Ie. Pacific Wren, Rock Ptarmigan.
Year-round Resident and Migrant
	Species who breed on Adak, some of whom migrate, but whose northern and southern populations overlap, therefore creating an appearance of permanent status, but individuals in the summer are often different than the winter birds. This also includes non-breeders like Harlequin Duck which are seen year-round.
Migrant and Breeder
	Species who breed on Adak, but leave for the winter. Ie. Terns, Longspurs.
Migrant and Winter Resident
	Species who do not breed on Adak, but arrive in the fall and spend the winter. Ie. Emperor Goose, many species of waterfowl.
Migrant
	Species who neither breed nor winter here, but just pass through during spring and fall migration. Ie. Western Sandpiper, Sanderling.
Out of Range
	A Species whose normal range does not include Adak, but somehow shows up here. Ie. Common Greenshank, Brambling..

Occurrence
Regular: Recorded every year
Irregular: Not recorded every year, but at least once every 2 or 3 years
Casual: 3 or more years between records, but recorded on Adak at least ten times ever
Accidental: Recorded fewer than 10 times or not recorded in the last ten years

Abundance
Abundant: 100 + per day
Fairly Common: 26 to 99 per day
Common: 6 to 25 per day
Uncommon: Up to 5 per day, up to 25 per season
Rare: 1 to 5 per day, up to 5 per season

Asian Stray
A species normally found in Asia (or anywhere outside of North America)