The day started with a bang… and got better!

Temps in the 40s, mostly cloudy, winds light NNE

As I was loading up the truck this morning, Sam told me that yesterday he had seen what he was pretty certain were a pair of Garganey! They had flushed from Sweeper Creek and quickly disappeared, providing only a quick view and no photo-op.

So this morning I headed to the Airport Channel (a good place for birds like this to hide out) and, lo and behold, as I pulled into the road that runs by the channel, two ducks exploded out and also quickly disappeared! I saw them well enough to identify them as Garganeys, but again, no photo-op.

I searched all of the nearby ponds and streams for the next hour or so, to no avail. Maybe they will appear again and sit still long enough for a photo. We will all keep looking.

The last Garganey sighting on Adak was in September 2007.

We are starting to see some activity at the feeders. Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches are showing up. That is a positive sign (it has been 20 months since the local birds have seen birdseed!).

At Clam Lagoon, the Brant is still present. And the (or a) Bar-tailed Godwit reappeared, as well as the Sanderling.

Also, the Black-headed Gull is still hanging around.

By the time I got to the Seawall, it was time for lunch, so I watched the bayside as I was eating. A Steller’s Sea Lion swam by and there were numerous loons — mostly Pacific — but at least one Arctic.

After lunch, I decided to scan the horizon for stiff-wings and was rewarded with at least one Layson Albatross and many Short-tailed Shearwaters.

As I was scanning for more, I saw a flock of dickey-birds (that’s a technical term!) flying in off the bay towards me. They were too far out to identify in the scope, but they flew with a bouncing motion like finches. As they got closer, I lost them in the scope and tried to relocate them with my binoculars. No luck.

So there is a flock of finches of indeterminate identification roaming the island. Redpolls? Brambling?

I continued around Clam Lagoon, stopping as usual at Lake Shirley. This year, Lake Shirley has been a bust! The few ducks that are using it fly away as soon as a vehicle rounds the bluff from the Seawall. Many of the other waterfowl here seem extra-jumpy this year, which is surprising, as there were few hunters here over the winter. Go figure…

Also, there have been no Tufted Ducks. Since 2005, we have had only two May trips without Tufteds (2012 and 2013), so it is unusual not to see any.

As I was driving down the east side of the lagoon, a Pluvialis plover flew by with white rump. The only Pluvialis with a white rump is Black-bellied, and there are only a handful of records on Adak! But, yes it was!

Number 155 for my Adak list!

Not a bad day…

The trip list is 50.

Temp in the 40s, mostly cloudy, wind ENE 10-15 mph

Still nothing exciting. No action at the feeders, yet…

The Brant is still at Clam Lagoon. I found three Pacific Golden-Plovers in the middle of the road near Palisades Lake. They flew off the road as I neared them.

The highlight of the day was a Black-headed Gull that Sam and Steve found early this morning near the Landing Lights. It stayed in the area all day, flying up to Navfac Beach and back.

There was a large (80+) flock of Black Scoters off of the Candlestick Bridge. More White-winged Scoters today as well.

There were a lot of Pacific Loons up and down the coastline. I estimated a total of 25! There were several Common Loons as well, and Sam and Steve found a Yellow-billed Loon at Lake Andrew (of course it was gone by he time I got there!). Yellow-billed Loons just don’t like me. Whenever they see me coming, they either disappear or swim out so far as to be unphotographable!

The Hi-Lonesome tour group went out on a boat for Auklets, etc. today, but I haven’t talked to them yet about how successful it was.

The trip list is 43, but I haven’t been beating the bushes for local birds like Snow Bunting and Pacific Wren, yet.

More travel details

In addition to the flight changes mentioned yesterday, I also encountered rental car changes. I had originally reserved a small SUV for Anchorage. I had read that there was a shortage of rental cars because the rental companies sold off much of their fleet during the pandemic travel slowdown. So I was a little surprised that I had no problem reserving the car I wanted.

Well… After my flight schedule changed, I cancelled the reservation and went to reserve a new one for the new time frame. Not only did they no longer have any SUVs (of any size) available, the daily rental prices had doubled or tripled! So I reserved a standard car.

When I arrived at the Rental Car center at the Anchorage Airport, I asked if they had any cancellations and had any SUVs in the parking lot.THEY DID! So I ended up in a Toyota 4Runner (a lot larger than I needed), but a great birding car (height and visibilty-wise). And double the price of my original reservation.

So if you are planning a birding trip, reserve your vehicle early!

Nemesis no more!

Temp in the 40s, overcast to partly sunny, NW wind 15-20 mph

Getting Here

If you are not interested in my travel perambulations, just scroll down to Now for the Birds.

Nineteen months since I have been here! Just a few things have happened in that time… A bittersweet return, to say the least.

The usual flights that I would take to get here were changed because of the pandemic, so instead of flying out of Phillie at 6 am on Friday and arriving in Anchorage at 1 pm, I left at 5 pm on Thursday and arrived just after midnight. So I had all day Friday to bird and shop. However, the Adak flight has changed as well. It used to leave at 2:30 pm and arrive around 4:30. Now it leaves at 9:30 am, stops in Cold Bay, and arrives on Adak around 12;30 pm.

So there was no time to bird Anchorage this morning, but more tme to bird on Adak after arriving (but less on the day leaving Adak). I will elaborate on other travel issues in a later blog (on one of those boring days…).

Now for the Birds

In Anchorage on Friday, Dave Sonneborn graciously offered to take me chicken hunting again (with a camera, not a gun) as he did two years ago (unsuccessfully, last time). We again went up to Glen Alps, walked down the trail to the power line trail and started walking and scanning the open patches near and far. A few hundred yards down the trail he found a nice male not more than twenty yards off the trail! This is the only native chicken I still needed for the ABA area, so Thank You, David! Barb and I had tried for this bird many times, but just failed to connect.

As I was photographing this bird, a female stepped out from behind a nearby bush and joined him.

We stopped by Potter marsh and then Dave had other things on his agenda for the day, so he dropped me off back at the hotel. I went and did my food shopping, then decided to go up to Arctic Valley. We had always gone up there in the early morning, so I thought it might be a different experience in the afternoon. Nope!

However, I got a nice shot of an Orange-crowned Warbler.

But the highlight was an addition to my Alaska Mammal list. A Porcupine!

I didn’t have anything out of the ordinary the rest of the day, got back to the hotel, had dinner, and fell exhausted into bed.

Got up the next morning and headed to the airport. Met two birders (Sam and Steve) with whom I had been in email touch with, as well as the Hi-Lonesome tour group.

Sam and Steve are staying in Unit D of the same 4-plex as I am. So I offered to give them the 50-cent tour.

We headed out and filled feeders around town (this means scattering birdseed on various driveways, etc).

We went by Sweeper Cove and then Sweeper Channel. At the channel, the usual Rock Sandpipers were in full display. This was a lifer for Steve!

We went by the Airport Ponds, and Contractors Marsh but didn’t see anything of note. As we approached the Thrush Feeder, Sam pointed out a Sandhill Crane in a nearby field! Not a rarity, but uncommon on Adak.

When we got to Clam Lagoon, we stopped at the South Lookout and Sam spotted a Brant! That was only the fourth one I have seen out here.

There were the usual assortment of ducks, including one American Green-winged Teal.

Out on the Penninsula was a lone Sandering. And a lone Bar-tailed Godwit was out in the middle of the flats,.

Highlights at the Seawall included two Long-tailed Ducks, Pacific and Common loon, Arctic Tern, and Horned Grebe. A pair of American Wigeon down near Candlestick Bridge topped of the list (the majority of Wigeon out here are Eurasian).

Not a ‘Stop the presses!” kind of start, but satisfying non-the-less.

Looking forward to a full day tomorrow.