Temps in the 40s, overcast, Wind WSW 20-30 mph

No Hobby today…

At Sweeper Channel, I found one of the few American Green-winged Teal that are around.

At the seawatch at Sweeper Cove, I found the White-winged Scoters that I saw yesterday.

The big excitement was a couple of Parakeet Auklets found at the Kuluk Bay Kelp Bed. They were between the Kelp Bed and the shore, so a decent view.

However, they spent more time underwater than above, so they were very difficult to photograph. I didn’t get any photos, but some of the others birders did. None of the auklets are regularly seen from the Adak shoreline, so this was a nice trip bird. I have had one other shoreline sighting.

The Common Gull was more cooperative today and I got some better photos.

Does this look like George Washington?

The trip list is at 86.

You can see the total list at https://ebird.org/tripreport/525344?welcome=true

A day-and-a-half to go…

Temps in the 40s, mostly cloudy, rare sprinkle, Wind WSW 10-15 mph

Not much new today. However, other birders keep seeing the Hobby… And I don’t!

I picked up White-winged Scoter and Thick-billed Murre today for the trip list.

The Common Gull was still at Clam Lagoon.

The only photo ops were of Bramblings and Hawfinches.

In the afternoon (after the plane left without Vicky and Jen, who chose to stay three more days!), they followed me around Clam Lagoon. When we got to the Blue Building Feeder, I showed them the pellets that I had mentioned in a previous post.

I had speculated that they were from a Short-eared Owl, but once I had the Eurasian Sparrowhawk at that location, I thought maybe that was the source.

Vickie pointed out to me that if the pellets have bones, they are from an owl. If not, they are from a hawk.

So we dissected one of the pellets. No bones.

I learned from some of the other birders here that had come out to Adak this winter to see the Sparrowhawk that it had been roosting inside the Blue Building. So we went inside and found lots of large poops and many pellets.

As much as I would like a nicer photo of that bird. I am not going to go in there when it is roosting.

The jet came and went today, taking home 16 birders. There are still a dozen or so out here, with more coming Saturday and next Wednesday!

I leave on Saturday…

The trip list is at 85.

This is now my best Spring Adak count ever!

You can see the total list at https://ebird.org/tripreport/525344?welcome=true

Note: I changed the Id on two previous reports. The Gray-tailed Tattler is a Wandering Tattler, and the Siberian Pipit is just an American Pipit. I updated the relevant posts. That did not change my species total, however.

They keep on coming…

Temps in the 40s, partly cloudy, Wind N to E 10-15 mph

I wasn’t even suited up to go out birding yet (7:15 AM), when Sam called to say he found the Fieldfare!

I threw my jacket on, grabbed my camera and raced out.

It was nearby, across from the Administration Building.

As I pulled up, Sam radioed me that it was up on the flagpole. Sure enough!

It flew down to a fence, where I got some identifiable (but not great) photos.

It flew off from there and we kept getting word out to the other birders in the area.

An army of birders quickly arrived and the search was on.

It was like whack-a-mole. It would be found in one place, but quickly fly off to be found again, and so on…

It eventually returned to the school parking lot where it was originally found.

I got a closer (but back shot only) photo there.

This was the pattern the rest of the morning. But it always returned to the parking lot.

Did I say it was a lifer?!!!

The plane was due today to take home the tour groups, but bringing in another bevy of birders.

Once they arrived, I gave them the info, and some headed right over, while others had to unpack some gear first.

Suffice it to say, after a wait, most got it.

I had put some mealworms in the area it was feeding most, hoping that would convince it to stick around. We will see…

This is the first record for Adak, and only the second record for the Aleutians (Shemya this past winter). St Paul had one in October 2024 and Gambell has had two records (1982 and 1985).

In other news, I finally got 2 of the 3 Siberian Whimbrels that had eluded me for several days.

The trip list is at 76.

I’ve had only 2 spring trips higher than this one. The highest was 81 in 2017.

You can see the total list at https://ebird.org/tripreport/525344?welcome=true

Temps in the 40s, partly sunny, Wind E 5-10 mph

The sea was calm today, allowing me to see some of the alcids I was missing. I added Common Murre, Horned Puffin, and Tufted Puffin. And saw a lot more alcids in general.

I went up to the Seawall for a morning look-see.

As I got near Clam Lagoon, I saw the Egrets perched on the Sparrpowhawk Grove of spruces.

As I approached the new Breaches by-pass, a Wandering Tattler flew up from the road and posed for me.

I had two Pacific Loons at the Seawall. The number of loons is down this year. It is not unusual to see 4 loons on the Seawall of multiple species. This year this is the first day that I saw 2 in the same location.

There was one Tufted Duck on Lake Shirley and two on Lake Ronnie.

After that, I headed out to the Loran Station.

In the short time I was there, I had 4 Laysan Albatross.

The drive to and from Loran is always an adventure — especially the last quarter mile or so.

This section of road — carved into a cliffside is extra fun.

You never know what you will encounter. For instance, this rock was new.

As was this one…

When I got back to town, I got a call from Sam that he had just flushed a Fieldfare, but had lost it. I joined him in the search, to no avail. Maybe tomorrow someone will stumble on it.

When I got back to the house, a Hawfinch was on my feeder.

After dinner, I went out again. As I was scanning Sweeper Channel, Stephan’s group arrived and told me they had a Terek Sandpiper a few hours ago, but not everyone in their group saw it, so they were back to try again. As they scoured the estuary and delta, I drove up the Channel. I spotted the bird at the pipeline bridge and alerted the others.

When I first saw and identified it, it was on the west side of the channel. It flew to the east side (out of view). I waited in my car before walking up to where it flew to so that I wouldn’t flush it before the others arrived.

When they got there and we peered over the side of the channel, the bird was gone. However, they soon spotted it way upstream. They hiked up the channel as it kept flying ahead of them.

I didn’t get photos, as the bird had flown across the channel before I was ready.

Good trip bird, however.

The trip list is at 74.

You can see the total list at https://ebird.org/tripreport/525344?welcome=true

Temps in the 40s, partly sunny, Wind W 15-25 mph

BREAKING NEWS! The Haas Department of Road Maintenance announces improvements to the road at the Breaches!

We (myself, Cody Brons, and his skid-loader) spent a few hours removing rocks and sand, widening and smoothing (a relative term) the road that was covered by the winter storm last winter. I supervised…

Here is what it looks like now.

We will see how it holds up with all of the birders running over it each day. If after a week, it needs some refining, we will return.

Now back to the birding…

When I checked the Seal Drive Feeder this morning, there were 3 Hawfinch on the street there.

These were not three different bird, just three different views. But there were three there.

Down at Sweeper Cove, the Back-headed Gull cooperated nicely.

When I got up to the National Forest, there was a Hawfinch there as well as two Brambling (later, one of the other groups had 6 Bramblings there!)

I headed up to Clam Lagoon to meet Cody there to work on the road. I got there early and the High Lonesome group was just in front of me. As we neared the Breaches, Stephan spotted a pipit. It was an American.

They went ahead and plowed through the gap. I waited for Cody to arrive. He arrived and we set about improving the road so getting stuck wasn’t an option anymore.

As we were just about finished, Stephan came back and got the privilege of trying it out.

Kudos to Cody! See above…

After we finished it up, I gave it another test run and it was 1000% better.

I started back and went to the Andrew Lake Rec Center and ate lunch (No, that is not an active Rec Center. It is abandoned. I bring my lunch with me).

On the road leading from there to Shotgun Lake, I flushed two Common Mergansers from a pond on the side of the road. It happened too quickly for me to get photos, but I believe they were Goosanders (the Asian subspecies of Common Merganser).

I stopped at the house and took a nap (all of that supervising was exhausting!).

I then headed up to the Marsh. On Redshank Drive (see the May 25, 2018 post), I saw a small shorebird which turned out to be a Temminck’s Stint.

It was soon joined by a Wood Sandpiper and they were feeding peaceably together.

Then another shorebird flew in. It was a Least Sandpiper (uncommon out here). It ran right at the two other birds and chased them off! I guess this was his feeding territory…

Shortly after that I heard Stephan talking to his group about a pair of Shovelers. I called him and he gave me the location. I needed Shoveler for my trip list.

I returned to the house, showered, had dinner, and worked on this post.

After posting the first draft of the post at 8 PM, I headed back out.

I went up to Clam Lagoon. Along the way, I ran into Stephan’s group. They were heading up to the Blue Building to see if the Eurasian Sparrowhawk might be roosting there.

At the lagoon, after scanning from the south side and not finding anything new, I went up to the peninsula to scan from there.

As I was approaching it, the two Great Egrets that have been hanging out around the lagoon flew out of one of the side ponds. I have seen the two who were hanging out at Andrew Lake, but not these guys.

I started scanning and I found a light-phase Parasitic Jaeger. As I have mentioned previously, 99% of the jaegers out here are dark. So it draws attention when you see a light jaeger.

I continued scanning and, low and behold, I spotted the Falcated Duck!

It was too far out for photos, but it was still a better view than I had on Saturday.

So I decided to walk out there and see if I could get close enough for better photos.

Yes! Not Nat Geo winners, but good enough.

And a side bonus was that Jaeger didn’t like me out there and kept circling me.

Good thing I went back out.

AND, the others got the Sparrowhawk!!

Although I already posted a rainbow shot, this one was a double…

And Mt Moffet looked fine on this sunny day.

The trip list is at 68. This is my Spring Trip average and I’m not even through the first week!

There are at least a half-dozen species that others have seen that I have not and there are some local species that I have missed so far. So this will be a banner trip when all is said and done.

You can see the total list at https://ebird.org/tripreport/525344?welcome=true

Temps in the 40s, mostly cloudy, rain in the morning, Wind S to SW to N to NW15-25 mph

Slow day today.

I found the Black-headed Gull down at Sweeper Cove this morning.

Wood Sandpipers continue in good numbers. On the road, in any little wet area, etc.

The shorebird flock near Landing Lights varies during the day. Sometimes it is all Rock Sandpipers, sometimes Dunlins and Red-necked Stints, etc.

I saw a Peregrine Falcon twice today at Clam Lagoon.

But the bird of the day was a Common Tern!

This is the longipennis subspecies, normally found in Asia.

Aaron (of course!) found it sitting (the bird, not Aaron!) on the Landing Lights structure.

Notice the black bill and dark overall plumage.

This was an Adak bird for me!

There are at least 4 previous records for Adak, the most recent in 1987.

I was passing by there about an hour or so later, and noticed it was no longer sitting there.

However, there were two terns flying around, so I thought I might get a flight shot.

No such luck. The birds were Arctics.

Aaron and his group from Wilderness Adventures left today, but another group from there came in, as did a High Lonesome tour group, and veteran Adak birder, Sam Brayshaw.

So I am not alone…

The trip list is at 62.

You can see the total list at https://ebird.org/tripreport/525344?welcome=true