Temps in the 40s (up to 50), rain all day, diminishing late afternoon wind SW 10-15 mph

Rain, rain, rain. After three fairly nice days, today was not fairly nice. The southeast winds brought hope of pelagics, but they were not very strong. Maybe tomorrow.

In spite of the weather, I added the Northern Shoveler and Tufted Duck to my trip list.

Lake Shirley is used by the gulls and terns up here as a freshwater bathing location. There is usually a steady stream of birds flying in and out most of the day. Today, the Slaty-backed Gull was using the facility.

As gas prices are rising and falling around the world due to the man-baby in the White House, the price is the same here as last year…

I didn’t say it was cheap…

I mentioned earlier that Ptarmigans were scarce this fall. But there are still enough around to play the “We are too dumb to get off the road” game. See this video.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vNWT-26EsPOEbuSHPq4cC0Fpm4epXYMa/view?usp=drive_link

Everyone else left today, so I am the only birder here for now. I got word that a few others may be arriving later. I will see.

The trip list is at 44.

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

Temps in the 40s, mostly cloudy, rain late in the day, wind SW 15-20 mph

I started out before sunrise to fix the Seal Drive and Thrush feeders.

I then went up to Warbler Willows, then the National Forest. No new birds.

I headed down to Finger Bay and Creek. There were tons of gulls and cormorants, harlequins, mergansers, eagles, and eiders, but nothing new. The salmon were still running.

I went back up to the National Forest to eat lunch and try for the Redpoll that had been reported there. No Redpoll, but three Pacific Wrens entertained me — one bouncing around my car.

This is a frequent experience of mine — young wrens and sparrows climbing on my car. I’m never fast enough to get photos of them doing this, but it is a fun experience.

The Slaty-backed Gull was at NavFac Creek Beach this morning.

I only saw one Gyrfalcon today.

The Seawall was most productive today.

A Steller’s Sea Lion prowled the coastline.

I had three species of loon, 3 Pacific, 1 Common, and 1 Red-throated.

I also found the Long-tailed Duck that had been reported yesterday.

On the way back around, I ran into the girls who told me they just saw one of the immature Gray-tailed Tattlers at Tattler Corner. I looked and looked, but could not find it.

Closer to town, I spotted two Red Phalaropes on the Kuluk Bay Kelp Bed.

Wilderness reported 4 Tufted Ducks at Lake Andrew today. I will try for them tomorrow.

Usually, this time of year, there are hundreds of Common Teal up at Clam Lagoon. They hide out much of the day in the teal ponds nearby, but venture out onto the southwest corner of the lagoon late in the day. But sometimes they are out there earlier. So far I have not seen that occurrence this trip.

I have only seen scattered teal here and there. One of these evenings I will go up there to confirm the numbers (as my body accommodates to the 5 hour time difference…).

Everyone leaves tomorrow, so unless some other birders show up that I don’t know about, I will be the only birder out here for the next week-and-a-half.

The trip list is at 42.

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

Temps in the 40s, Partly sunny, Wind W 10-15 mph.

After checking the feeders, I went to Sweeper Cove. The bay was calm and there were a lot of alcids present. Unfortunately, they were all Pigeon Guillemots and Common Murres.

The tide was high, so Sweeper Channel had no mud flats (or birds).

All of the other birders got together to walk some of the wet areas along Sweeper Creek for snipe and whatever else. While gathering for this endeavor a Peregrine and Gyrfalcon flew in. The Gyr (a brown immature) perched for everyone to get a nice look (and photos).

As I arrived, a flock of Aleutian Cackling Geese were flying over. Of course, the Gyr flew before I arrived, but I found it a few minutes later as I was driving past the Power Plant.

I headed up to the Airport Creek Bridge (next to the Landing Lights) and another Gyrfalcon flew in and landed on the structure. This bird was an immature gray morph.

I then headed over to The Marsh and had another Gyrfalcon! This one was an adult gray morph.

No wonder all of the Asian strays are hiding…

I checked Warbler Willows, Lake Jean, and Andrew Lake. Nothing of note.

The sandbags that anchor my feeders have all been deteriorating. So I am replacing them with rocks. I did the National Forest and the Blue Building today. I will do the others tomorrow.

The tattlers were not seen today.

As I was scanning at the Seawall, I saw shearwaters in the distance, so I started scanning for albatross. I didn’t see any albatross, but i did see a thousand or so Short-tailed Shearwaters. They weren’t close.

When scanning these migrating streams of stiff-wings, I set my scope on one spot and let the birds fly through my field of vision. If something different shows up, I attempt to follow it. This time however, a pair of Yellow-billed Loons floated into view! As usual, very far out.

Aa I was leaving the Seawall, a Peregrine Falcon flew by.

I ran into Wilderness and they told me the Slaty-backed Gull was at the Navfac Creek Beach.

It wasn’t there by the time I got there, but I found it just down the road at the Airport Creek Bridge.

The trip list is at 38.

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

Temps in the 50s, partly sunny, Wind NW 10-15 mph

Did a quick scan of Kuluk Bay and Sweeper Cove before heading up to Clam Lagoon to join the others to walk the marsh edge.

We left two of the cars up at the west lookout and piled into Don’s car to go back down to the south lookout from where we started our walk.

We were halfway up before we ran into any shorebirds, but we ended up with several Sharp-tailed and at least one Pectoral sandpiper.

The Sharp-tailed was a lifer for Nicole!

Don then headed for the Loran Station, the girls headed south, and I continued around the lagoon.

The Gray-tailed Tattler was still there. As I was approaching the Seawall, a Gyrfalcon flew by.

The Seawall produced the usual eiders, Harlequins, cormorants, etc., along with Horned and Red-necked grebes, Common Murres, lots of gulls and kittiwakes.

Lake Shirley only had Greater Scaup, no sign of the Tufted Duck seen last week.

Lake Ronnie had a lot of ducks (around 75), but only Mallards, Eurasian Wigeon, and Common Teal.

On the way back, I ran into the girls at the Seawall, where they had a phalarope in the scope. It was a Red Phalarope. A lifer for them.

At the Lake Andrew Rec Center, I had a Pacific Wren calling.

There have been very few Rock Ptarmigan so far this trip. A stark contrast to the over-abundance this past spring.

The feeders are all busy with rosy-finches and the occasional Song Sparrow.

Wilderness had a couple of Redpolls today and saw the Tufted Duck over at Lake Andrew.

The girls had THREE Gray-tailed Tattlers at Tattler Corner today!

The trip list is at 30.

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