Temps in the 50s, overcast, moderate to light rain all day, Wind SSW 5-10 mph

Another rainy day, but not as bad as the last one. Although it never completely stopped, many times during the day it was so light as to be stopped.

And the wind was not bad.

Only one trip bird today, but it was a nice one.

I finally caught up to one of the Eurasian Skylarks that had been reported. As usual, it was in the middle of the road. This photo was through the windshield in the rain…

At the Seawall, I saw some more Thick-billed Murres.

After not seeing any Oystercatchers the first week, I saw 12 today!

I had a Brambling at the National Forest this morning (one of many that are here right now).

I had Brambling on only 11 of my first 25 trips out here (although Bramblings were seen by others on some of those trips, just not by me.).

However, I have had Bramblings on the last 8 consectutive trips (Spring and Fall). They appear to be more regular now. I’m sure I just put the hex on next year’s spring trip…

Here is one of the many Peregrine Falcons hanging around.

As I mentioned a few days ago, the Wigeon population exploded. Well, so have the overall numbers of waterfowl. The numbers of Mallards, Northern Pintails, Greater Scaup, and Common Teal have all increased dramatically the past few days.

I have been here in other Septembers when the Wigeon numbers increaed dramatically at the end of September, but had not seen the other waterfowl increasel as well. I assumed that most waterfowl started arriving later in October. That is probably true, but this year it is certainly early.

Here is a photo of just some of the waterfowl on Clam Lagoon today.

The Tufted Duck is still on Lake Shirley.

Vicky, Jen, and Don leave tomorrow.

Here are three happy campers.

The trip list is 58.

Today’s list can be viewed at https://ebird.org/checklist/S276584792

The Trip Report can be viewed at https://ebird.org/tripreport/413629?welcome=true

Temps in the 60s!, mostly sunny!, Wind light and variable, changing to W 15-20 later in the day

Another beautiful sunrise.

We walked the marsh edge at Clam Lagoon this morning, but the only new bird was a Common Snipe.

Shortly after I left the girls, they had a flock of 11 Pacific Golden-Plovers fly over.

I had 4 Pacific and 1 Common loon today. And a flock of 60 Cackling Geese. Birds are moving…

We did not see the Tufted Duck today, but sunny days like this make for terrible lighting on Lake Shirley, and many of the ducks there were ensconced in the reeds.

I had another Gyrfalcon on the Seawall.

The lava dome on Mount Sitkin keep growing. Here are two photos showing the difference in the last few years.

The trip list is 57.

Today’s list can be viewed at https://ebird.org/checklist/S276403468

The Trip Report can be viewed at https://ebird.org/tripreport/413629?welcome=true

Temps in the 50s, partly cloudy, no rain, Wind W 15-25 mph

The rescheduled flight arrived today and bore away Aaron’s group and Ivan.

So there are only me, Vicky, Jen, and Don birding the island. They will all leave on Wednesday.

I spent a lot of time at Clam Lagoon and environs today.

Out on the lagoon were a couple of Northern Shovelers. Along the Seawall, I finally caught up with a Black Oystercatcher.

But the best bird of the day was a female Tufted Duck (my favorite duck!) on Lake Shirley.

When I first spotted it, it was swimming about with its head up. Of course, once I grabbed my camera, it tuck its head in and took a nap!

It was an interesting bird, in that it had white undertail feathers and some white around the bill. Both of these features are uncommon in Tufteds, but not unknown. The white undertail made it easy to pick out among all of the other female scaup present.

In late afternoon, I decided to take advantage of the sun to try and get a better photo of one of the Bramblings coming to the Thrush Feeder.

Success!

Not only that, but a Redpoll showed up and posed as well…

So I picked up 4 more trip birds today. Amazing.

The trip list is 56.

Today’s list can be viewed at https://ebird.org/checklist/S276203654

The Trip Report can be viewed at https://ebird.org/tripreport/413629?welcome=true

Temps in the low 50s, overcast, raining since last night until 6:30 pm, Wind S changing to W 10-15 mph

I forgot to take the weather photo today…

I thought today was going to be a complete washout (figuratively and literally).

And it was most of the day.

However, I went up to Clam Lagoon first thing and had a large number of waterfowl on the lagoon.

Overnight, a large flock of Wigeon came in. In the horrible conditions, I couldn’t tell much on them, but I returned later this evening and picked out a couple of American Wigeon.

I had a Brambling at the Thrush Feeder again and got a poor photo.

I didn’t get anything else to write about, so mid-afternoon, I returned to the house and watched the Oregon vs Penn State football game. It is a sad day in Happy Valley…

After dinner, the rain stopped, so I went back up to Clam Lagoon where I had the aforementioned Am.Wigeon.

I then continued around to the Seawall. As I was studying the gulls on the shoreline, a flock of 5 shorebirds flew in. A Rock Sandpiper, three Ruddy Turnstones, and a Dunlin (trip bird).

I continued down to the end of the Seawall to check out the flock of turnstones and rocks that have been hanging out there.

After a few minutes, the other flock joined them.

Unfortunately, no other shorebirds joined the fray…

The sun was going down (the clouds were just starting to break up to the west). So I headed home.

By the way, today’s flight was cancelled due to the weather, so Aaron’s group got another (very wet) day of birding.

The trip list is 52.

My fall trips average in the high 50s, so having 52 after one week is pretty good. And I am missing a number of common birds (puffins, oystercatcher, etc.).

One week down, one to go.

Today’s list can be viewed at https://ebird.org/checklist/S275925680

The Trip Report can be viewed at https://ebird.org/tripreport/413629?welcome=true

Temps in the low 50s, partly cloudy, some light mist first thing in the morning, Wind WNW 10-20 mph

Vicky, Jen, and I walked the Clam Lagoon marsh edge this morning.

When we arrived at the South Lookout, two Gyrfalcons were sitting out on the flats.

Our walk turned up the usual Sharp-tailed and Pectoral sandpipers, but unlike my walk the other day, several of these did not flush as soon as we saw them, allowing some nice photo ops.

Later, when I was sitting near the Thrush feeder eating lunch, the birds all scattered as another Gyrfalcon flew in and landed on a light-post.

I added Horned Grebe and Common Loon to the trip list.

A peregrine was in the water preparing to bathe when I happened upon it. It flew off rather than suffer the indignity of someone watching it take a bath…

And I found a dark-backed gull on the Clam Lagoon flats that I think is a Vega Gull. Earlier in the day, Aaron’s group had immature (first or scend cycle – I don’t remember which) Vega Gulls at Landing Lights and the Seawall. I did not see either of those, but I found an adult bird instead.

It was significantly darker than the Glaucous-winged Gulls it was with, but not as dark as Slaty-backed Gulls that I have seen out here. The photos do not do it justice to how much darker it was, but it was easily picked out with binos when scanning the flock.

I have been fooled before by lighting causing one gull to look darker than the others, but this gull was facing the same direction, in the same lighting conditions as the others.

Also, the primary tips were black, not gray.

However, with my poor record in gull identification, I may stand corrected…

The trip list is 50.

Today’s list can be viewed at https://ebird.org/checklist/S275671501

The Trip Report can be viewed at https://ebird.org/tripreport/413629?welcome=true

Temps in the 50s, partly cloudy, a few intermittent sprinkles first thing in the morning, Wind WNW 10-20 mph

Yes! Yes! Yessssss!

I’ll have what she’s having…

If I can’t see your pipit I’ll find my own!

During the above-mentioned sprinkles this morning, a nice rainbow formed.

There were a lot of shearwaters passing by Kuluk Bay this morning, but very far out.

There have been at least three different Brambling sightings so far. I saw one of them this morning (no photo op).

At the Marsh, I saw a ptarmigan flying hell-bent-for-election and soon saw why. A Gyrfalcon. The ptarmigan got away…

I added Snow Bunting to the trip list.

There has been a lone Cackling Goose hanging around and from the looks I got it appoeared to not have the white collar typical for the Aleutian subspecies. However, I finally got photos of it today and can see just a bit of a white collar. So it is the Aleutian type.

But the real excitement (for me, anyway) was a Siberian Pipit that I found on the east side of Clam Lagoon (not far from where I saw a Siberian Rubythroat many moons ago).!

These past few days, I have been driving very slowly, looking for lurking passerines along the edges of the road (a time-tested strategy out here).

I saw a small bird fly up from the road and into the grasses on the side of a bluff (it only flew up bout 10 feet). I didn’t see much white in the outer tail feathers, which is typical for the longspurs out here. But It still looked “different.”

I waited it out and it popped back out and flew up the road about 50 feet. I saw through my binos that it was a pipit and the bold eye-ring jumped out at me.

I got out of the car and started photographing it. It continued up the edge of the road until flying off into the grasses well off the road.

Note the following in these photos.

1. Dark back-streaking
2. Bold eyering,
3. White wingbars (as opposed to buffy)
4. Dark streaking underneath extending to as far back as the legs.
5. Not in the photos, but little white on the outer tail feathers.

These are all hallmarks of Siberian Pipit (as opposed to American Pipit).

This was a lifer for me and number 171 for my Adak List!

What will I find tomorrow?

Vicky and Jen from Sitka arrived today for a week (well, 6 days because of the cancelled flight).

The trip list is 45.

Today’s list can be viewed at https://ebird.org/checklist/S275490145

The Trip Report can be viewed at https://ebird.org/tripreport/413629?welcome=true

Temps in the 50s, partly cloudy, Wind WSW 10-15 mph

Ivan and Brad found am Eyebrowed Thrush at the National Forest this morning.

There have been more Eurasian Skylark sightings around Clam Lagoon and at the Andrew Lake Rec Center. I seem to be the only birder on the island right now who has not seen a Skylark this trip…

I had 31 Rock Ptarmigan today. Many of them pre-dawn as I was out filling feeders.

I also saw a Short-eared Owl on my feeder rounds.

Here is the mandatory Bald Eagle photo for the trip.

The Sanderlings were on a small rock outcropping along Clam Lagoon today.

I found 4 Pacific Golden-Plovers on Redshank Drive. I have seen more of these birds at this location over the years than any other.

I walked the Clam Lagoon Peninsula and the Marsh Edge this afternoon, but only found Pectoral and Sharp-tailed sandpipers.

Flies are attracted to the heat of the car and often ride along on the windshield.

Today’s flight was cancelled due to a volcanic ash cloud from Russia. It has been rescheduled for tomorrow (the flight, not the ash cloud…). So the birders who were leaving today got an extra day of birding, while those arriving lost a day.

Also, the power went out last night (around 3 AM). Luckily, the Adak Aleutian Experience (where I stay) has an emergency generator, so we had power, while most others did not. The power was restored sometime in the afternoon.

The trip list is 42.

Today’s list can be viewed at https://ebird.org/checklist/S275327922

The Trip Report can be viewed at https://ebird.org/tripreport/413629?welcome=true

Just a little breezy…

Temps in the 50s, overcast in the morning, partly cloudy in the afternoon, Winds west 20-50(!) mph

Tough birding.

At one point I stopped at the National Forest to fill the feeder. I made the mistake of parking tail-end to the wind. When I opened my door, it swung open hard, but I was able to control it so it didn’t warp the hinges or frame. However, when I got back in the car, I didn’t have the strength to close the door. So I had to get in, turn the car around, and then I could close it!

The wind was picking up water from every body of water (lagoon, ponds, puddles) and spraying all over the place, making keeping clean car windows difficult.

Here are some photos of the wind spray.

The only bird of note today was Mottled Petrel. Before last September, I never had this species. However, last year, after a storm (and similar winds to today’s) we had thousands of shearwaters, many albatrosses, and a good number of Mottled Petrels in Kuluk Bay.

We only had a smattering of shearwaters today, but a few Mottled Petrels were mixed in.

Andy’s group had a Brambling in town this afternoon.

After this spring’s bountiful Rock Ptarmigan counts (up to 111 in one day), they have been much harder to find on this trip. A high so far of only 10. I assume the hunters have had a part in this…

I went down to Finger Bay this morning, but didn’t add anything new. However, it reminded me to measure the width of the bay when I got back home. When you drive down to the bay, it looks like a short distance across. However, it is one-quarter mile at the point where you first approach it, making birds that are large look tiny in perspective. I was fooled many times (in our early trips) into thinking I was looking at auklets, when they were in fact, murrelets or murres! I know better now.

The wind is supposed to be only in the 20s tomorrow. Much more manageable for bird-finding.

The trip list is 38.

Today’s list can be viewed at https://ebird.org/checklist/S275163238

The Trip Report can be viewed at https://ebird.org/tripreport/413629?welcome=true

Temps in the 50s, overcast, Rain staring around 10 AM, wind SSW building to 40+ mph by late afternoon

The day started off with a bang (but not for me…).

As I was leaving Warbler Willows, Aaron called about a pipit near the Landing Lights. I got to his location within a few minutes, but the bird was gone and we could not relocate it. It appearred to be a Siberian Pipit (recently split from American Pipit). I have seen three pipits on Adak, but they were all the American race. Oh well…

I have mentioned other rare birds being seen by the other birders on the island. It’s not like I have been shirking. The Siberian Sand-Plover (why didn’t they leave the name Mongolian Plover alone???) was seen by Andy’s group after an all-morning hike down and back to Shagak Bay. The Skylark was found while I was assembling and distributing bird feeders and was gone by the time I arrived there. The Garganey was seen by Aaron’s group after they flushed the teal flock ffrom its hiding ponds and photograhed the flock as it flew away (I usually do this once each trip).

Such is birding on Adak.

After looking for the pipit, we all headed up to Clam Lagoon. A Bar-tailed Godwit was there and the Garganey was out on the mudflats with the teal.

I continued around to the Seawall while the others walked the peninsula and marsh edge. The group along the marsh edge flushed another (or the same) Skylark.

At the Seawall, I picked up some trip birds, including Pacific Loon, Ancient Murrelet, and Rock Sandpiper.

The rain started shortly thereafter and birding went downhill from there.

It just got rainier and windier as the day went on.

I stopped at the Thrush Feeder to refill it, but a young Rosy-Finch didn’t want to leave…

This photo was taken with my cell phone.

Sweeper Channel was somewhat sheltered from the wind and I got nice looks at Eurasian Wigeon and Rock Sandpiper.

A Brambling was also reported today up at Clam Lagoon.

The trip list is 35.

Today’s list can be viewed at https://ebird.org/checklist/S274992020

The Trip Report can be viewed at https://ebird.org/tripreport/413629?welcome=true

Temps in the 50s, partly sunny, wind SW 15-25 mph

A good day on Adakl!

Before I get to the birds…

On the flight from Anchorage to Adak, I always enjoy viewing the various islands along the Aleutian chain. When not totally overcast, the islands are visible, but even on a sunny day like Saturday, each has their own cloud cover.

Saturday night, we all got an early wake-up call. At 11:30 PM, we experienced a 5.5 magnitude earthquake that shook my bed for 10 or 15 seconds. No damage done…

Now to the birds…

The day started off great with my finding a Belted Kingfisher at Sweeper Channel!

An Adak bird for me.

There have been several reports in recent years, but most of them have been right before I arrived or right after I left. So it was nice to finally catchup with one.

Rosy-Finches and Song Sparrows have found most of the feeders already. Their community memory is getting stronger. It used to take several days. Now I had birds at the feeders the same day I erected them!

Remember this photo from last May?

Here is a close-up view of that “nest.”

Basically, just a cleared spot on a little mound. Quite different from the multi-ton behemoths in Sycamore trees that I see back home.

And, although it is not breeding season here, an adult Bald Eagle let me know that she didn’t like me snooping around her nest.

Up at the Seawall, I had a pair of Ruddy Turnstones.

Other birds found by the other birders the past two days include Gyrfalcon, Eurasian Skylark, Garganey, and Siberian Sand-Plover.

Today’s list can be viewed at https://ebird.org/checklist/S274818938

The Trip Report can be viewed at https://ebird.org/tripreport/413629?welcome=true