Temps in the 40s, overcast, rain, Wind S 15-30 mph

Woulda, coulda, shoulda…

On my Guide to Birding Adak, I mention that it is rare to have rain all day.

This is one of those days.

It started raining in the middle of the night and is still raining as I am writing this blog at 8 in the evening. And windy too!

In this weather, the birds need extra nourishment. The Seal Drive feeder was a little active.

Every once in a while, the passing stiff-wings get pushed (or voluntarily enter) into Kuluk Bay.

Last fall’s occurrence yielded shearwaters, petrels, jaegers, Fulmars, and albatrosses (including Short-Tailed), which I did not see.

This morning, when I scanned the bay (I check every morning), I saw such an event was happening.

It turned out not to be as productive as last year’s, but rewarding nontheless.

Besides the thousands of Short-tailed Shearwaters, there were about a dozen Black-footed Albatross. These events usually yield many Laysan Albatross, but I did not see any.

However, I did see what appeared to be Short-tailed Albatross.

I based my identification on the fact that they (three) appeared larger, were brown overall, but lighter underneath like an older juvenile. Unfortunately, I could not make out the color of the bill (light for a Short-tailed, dark for a Black-footed). That would have clenched it.

After returning home, I researched it a bit and found the some Black-footeds can appear lighter underneath as well.

I feel fairly confident that they were Short-tails, but not enough to put them on my list.

Maybe one of these days I will see a sub-adult or adult which will make it easy…

The VENT tour group left today and Marc, Tim, and Bob arrived.

The trip list is at 53.

You can see the total list at https://ebird.org/tripreport/576221

(Note: the eBird Trip List does not show the Gyrfalcon records for some eBird policy…)

My Fulmar and Black-footed Albatross took me to the magic 100 for my Year List!