Temps in the 50s, Mostly cloudy, intermittent rain, wind NW 15-20 increasing to 20-30 mph

When we checked Kuluk Bay this morning, we found a 1000 or so Short-tailed Shearwaters swirling around the bay, but heading out. When we later got up to the Palisades Overlook, we could see them streaming by Zeto Point in a continuous, endless line. With a few Laysan Albatross thrown in.

At Sweeper Cove, I fund a Horned Puffin to add to the trip list.

We headed down to Finger Bay, but it started raining as we arrived, so we turned around and headed back. Up at the South Quarry, the rain let up and we found a flock of Snow Buntings.

As we were watching them, a Peregrine swooped in and started chasing them. It was not successful as we watched.

The Peregrine was an Adak Year Bird for me. I had Gyrfalcon back in May, but no Peregrine.

I later caught up with it again at Contractors Marsh vicinity.

After the falcon departed, Gerry spotted a flock of Aleutian Cackling Geese flying over. I had heard some earlier in the day, but couldn’t spot them.

We headed up to Clam Lagoon and when we got to the Peninsula parking spot, the two Western Sandpipers were out on the flats. But flew off shortly after I identified them.

On the other side of the lagoon, I walked out to The Breaches and found 2 Ruddy Turnstones and a dozen Rock Sandpipers, and a Black Oystercatcher.

When we were returning around the north end of the lagoon, I spotted the Turnstones on the north shoreline.

The pair at The Breaches had flown off while I was there, so I assume these were the same birds.

Gerry and Linda decided to head back to town, while I birded around some more. Gerry had strained his back a few days ago and was not up for a full days’ birding.

At Contractors Marsh (hereinafter, The Marsh) I had three Pectoral Sandpipers flush from a little wet area on the side of the road.

Down at Sweeper Cove, a winter-plumaged Pigeon Guillemot showed off.

My eBird checklist can be seen at: https://ebird.org/checklist/S150309448

The Trip List stands at 41 and the Year’s list is at 75.

Aaron Lang arrives tomorrow with a group from Wilderness Adventures. I hope I find something in the morning to start their trip off with a bang.

Temps in the 50s, overcast and rain until mid-afternoon, partly sunny afterwards, Wind SW 15 mph

The feeders are getting active with local birds. That’s a first step…

I had a couple of Ancient Murrelets near Sweeper Cove this morning.

The rain and wind made birding difficult for most of the morning and early afternoon.

As it started to lighten up I was at the Seawall and had a Red-throated Loon. This seems to be rather early and I suspect it was the same one I had on my last day here in the Spring (May 31). This is not a very good photo, but you can just make out the red throat.

The number of Red-necked Grebes keeps growing at the Seawall. Today I had 13.

This Common Murre was rather close in.

It started to rain some more and, as I came back around to where the peninsula is, a large flock of waterfowl was near that shoreline.

As I pulled in to look them over, half of the flock flew off (but only 75 yards or so). As they flew off, two shorebirds flew in to take their place. A pair of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers in the classic juvenile plumage — red cap, orange breast, bold white line behind the eye.

I scoured the waterfowl flock (especially the teal) hoping to find something different. To no avail. Just Mallards, Pintails, Common Teal, and Common Eiders.

By the time I got back to town, the rain had stopped and the sun was out.

I made a pit stop at the house, then got gas for the car and headed back up to Warbler Willows and Adak National Forest. No luck at either location, but I updated my photo of Adak National Forest.

To top off the day, I took my mandatory eagle photo. This time a pair of young-uns.

The trip list is 33. No new year birds.

My eBird list is at https://ebird.org/checklist/S150243409

Temps in the 50s, mostly cloudy, occasional drizzle, Wind WSW 10-15 mph

A few nice birds today, but no rarities.

No birds at any of the feeders yet.

There were four Black Oystercatchers on one of the rocky islands off Sweeper Cove.

I had both species of Murre in Sweeper Cove.

There are a lot of curious young Pacific Wrens around this time of year.

Up at the Palisades Overlook, I found 3 Black Scoters ad 25 White-winged Scoters.

Up at Clam Lagoon, I walked the penisula and marsh edge. There was nothing on the peninsula, but the marsh edge produced a few birds.

First was a pair of Western Sandpipers.

They flew off and were joined by a third peep (identity unknown).

A little farther up the edge I flushed a Pectoral and a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper together.

At the north end of the lagoon, I found a Northern Shoveler (not a common bird on Adak).

Back down at Sweeper Channel, the tide was going out and there were 10 Rock Sandpipers there, doing their best Purple Sandpiper impersonations…

I had three Common Ravens today (up from two in May).

And spotted my first Black-legged Kittiwakes for the trip.

I had 28 Bald Eagles today, way up from last year. It looks that they are recovering from whatever crashed their population here the past few years.

The trip list stands at 31.

I added 4 birds to my Adak Year’s list which now stands at 74 (Western, Pectoral, and Sharp-tailed sandpipers and Black-legged Kittiwake).

You can see my daily eBird list at https://ebird.org/checklist/S150170818

Temp in the 50s, mostly sunny, light West wind

Not a great start!

My flight from Philly to Chicago was slightly early

Most of the time, his flight flies across southern Pennsylvania, but today it took the northern route and we flew over Presque Isle State Park.

The Chicago/Anchorage flight was about an hour late. Then my rental car was not ready when I arrived and I had to wait another half-hour or so for that.

I got to the hotel, unpacked some things and headed out to shop for food for Adak. However, my Garmin GPS went on the fritz and I had to use my phone instead. But since I didn’t have a mount for it (unlike the Garmin), I had to be constantly looking down to see the directions. Not a good way to drive.

I managed to get the shopping done, but had no time to go out birding. I was meeting fellow Pennsylvania birders Gerry and Linda Kruth for dinner. They are joining me on the island for a week.

We had a nice dinner and I went back to the hotel and crashed (not the car — me!).

Saturday’s flight to Adak arrived a little early.

On the way in, we got a wonderful look at Mt Sitkin (the active volcano about 30 miles east of Adak).

We got to our rental houses, unpacked the essentials and put away our food and headed out to do some birding.

Not much to report.

It was balmy, and we didn’t find any birds of note. Along the way we erected four bird feeders.

I showed Gerry and Linda some of the locations and we walked out the Clam Lagoon Peninsula. No shorebirds…

Only 16 species, all expected.

You can see my eBird checklist at https://ebird.org/checklist/S150078574

We will be doing a much more thorough search tomorrow.