Temp in the 40s, mostly cloudy, occasional light shower, Wind SW 20-30 mph

The wind is supposed to have a westerly bent for the rest of our stay, so things should be picking up.

Today was the first day of sustained SW wind, so we hope tomorrow will bear fruit.

To see what the winds are doing up here, click on the following link.

https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/overlay=temp/orthographic=-181.40,56.69,1291/loc=-178.723,51.805

We had several loons today, including 4 Pacific, 1 Arctic, 1 Common, and 1 Red-throated. The Arctic was a trip bird.

The only other new trip bird today was a Green-winged Teal (American – vertical stripe). The most abundant duck on Adak is the Common Teal (Eurasian – horizontal stripe). The Europeans have split Common from Green-winged, but the Americans have not (except us!).

Here is a shot of a common Teal.

Common Teal, Clam Lagoon, May 22, 2018

So, OUR trip list stands at 59.

The Tufted Duck was back on Lake Shirley today. We did not see the Gadwall, as most of the ducks took off as we rounded the bend.

There were only two Pacific Golden-Plovers today.

More birders are arriving tomorrow. More eyes (more birds?)!

Temp in the 40s, Overcast, then partly sunny, then overcast and rain, Wind S 5-10 increasing as the day went on.

The weather is finally changing. Not a minute too soon!

Staring at the same birds each day can get tiring — Ie. No new birds today.

The morning feeder-check produced a nice Snow Bunting.

Snow Bunting, Sandy Cove Cliffs Rock Feeder, May 21, 2018

We only found one Pacific Golden-Plover up at the plover spot today — although they may have just been feeding elsewhere.

The birdlife off the Seawall was minimal, to say the least. One Pacific Loon, hardly any Eider or Harlequin Ducks, a few Red-breasted Mergansers, and the normal Pelagic and Red-faced cormorants. No scoters, grebes, other loons or alcids!

The Gadwall was still with the scaup on Lake Shirley. The swan was gone.

All of the feeders now have activity at them, so we hope the Asian birds brought in with the change of weather will be attracted to the feeding activity.

The fish factory was processing today, so there was a good number of gulls at the outflow pipe off the Sweeper Cove Breakwall.

Glaucous-winged Gulls feeding at Fish Factory Outflow, May 21, 2018

Unfortunately, they were all Glaucous-winged. Not even the several Glaucous Gulls in the area joined in!

The other group of birders that we expected on Saturday changed their plans and three of them arrived by sailboat today and the rest will arrive by plane on Wednesday. Then they are off to Attu! By sailboat!!!

The Kuaka, Small Boat Marina, May 21, 2018

You won’t find us on something that small…

The trip list remains at 57.

The weather is changing!

Temp in the high 40s, partly to mostly sunny, Wind NNW 15-25 mph

At Sweeper Cove this morning, we found the “Vega” Gull near the breakwall.

“Vega” Herring Gull, Sweeper Cove, May 20, 2018.

There was nothing new at Sweeper Creek or the Airport Ponds.

At the Landing Lights, the small flock of Ruddy Turnstones and Rock Sandpipers continues. The godwit has not been seen since Thursday.

At Contractor’s Camp Marsh, we heard winnowing snipe and found 7 Pacific Golden-Plovers at their “usual” spot. There  is a semi-moist area towards the east end of the marsh that attracts golden-plovers every year. Although you can find them elsewhere, this is THE spot to find them regularly. Not a rarity, but aren’t they beautiful?

Pacific Golden-Plover, Contractor’s Camp Marsh, May 20, 2018.

Nothing new on Clam Lagoon, but when we got to Shotgun Lake, we found what we assume was the Tundra Swan that had been on Andrew Lake. This was at 11:05 am.

Tundra Swan, Shotgun Lake, May 20, 2018.

Tundra Swan, Shotgun Lake, May 20, 2018.

We continued around the Lagoon, and at the northeast corner, had a Gyrfalcon fly by.

Gyrfalcon, Clam Lagoon, May 20, 2018.

Gyrfalcon, Clam Lagoon, May 20, 2018.

Although the gray/brown plumage was similar to the one we had seen down at the Hilltop Quarry, we never saw that one fly. So we don’t know if it was the same bird. The molting primaries certainly make this individual distinctive.

The Seawall produced a (another?) Surf Scoter.

At Lake Shirley, the Gadwall from yesterday had joined the flock of Greater Scaup. No tufted Duck today.

We continued down the east side of the lagoon and then went up to Lake Ronnie.

Much to my surprise, when I crested the bluff to look down on the lake, there was a Tundra Swan! This was at 1:00 pm. It looked like the same bird from Shotgun Lake. The same amount of darker plumage on the neck, etc.

Tundra Swan, Lake Ronnie, May 20, 2018.

When we went back around, there was no swan on Shotgun Lake.

By the way, I forgot to mention yesterday that the swan was also only our second record on Adak.

When we got back to the house, our tire was waiting for us! The “Tire Guy” found the leak and patched it up.

As I said yesterday, the flight was extremely early, so when we got to the airport to greet arriving birders, they were all gone.

We met up with one group today — Dale & Cheri Horkman and Jingyi — from Seward. We updated them on recent sightings and answered their questions. Later, I took them up to show them where the plovers were hanging out.

I have been unable to contact the other group — if they even arrived…

The trip list is 57.

A day of seconds…

Temp in the 40s, overcast and slight drizzle in the morning, partly sunny in the afternoon. Wind E switching to NE 15-25 mph

We forgot to mention our flat tire from yesterday. Luckily, we saw it in the morning before we headed out for the day, so Lisa (our lodge manager) was able to put the spare on and let us go birding.

Well, today as we were nearing the Thrush Feeder, the spare went flat (don’t know what we ran over…). So Lisa came up and switched back to the tire that went flat yesterday. Surprisingly, she couldn’t find the leak in that one, so she inflated it and it sat overnight and seemed fine! Well, after spending the rest of the day on it, we arrived back at the house and it was deflating again!

So this time she is taking it to the “tire guy.” We hope he is the cure.

Back to birding…

It was a dreary start to the day, and although it brightened considerably by afternoon, the wind was strong and cold.

All but one of the feeders have Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches at them, but no Asian birds yet.

At the Palisades Overlook, Barb spotted a loon which turned out to be a Red-throated. Only the second one we have seen out here. There were also three Pacific Loons.

When we got to the east side of Clam Lagoon, we found a Gadwall in one of the East Side Ponds. This also was only our second record out here.

Gadwall, East Side Ponds, May 19, 2018

At the Seawall, barb found a pair of Surf Scoters.

We finally found the Tufted Duck on Lake Shirley.

As I was scanning the gulls on Clam Lagoon, a black-legged Kittiwake joined them, then flew off. We saw several others as the day went on. They are much more numerous in the fall, when we can see hundreds.

Once we came back to the Seawall, I scanned for new birds and found a Laysan Albatross flying by (and not so far out as to be non-enjoyable!).

When we ran into the other birders, they told us there was a Tundra Swan on Andrew Lake, so we headed down there and saw it. But it was WAY out…

Back down at Sweeper Cove, there were several Glaucous Gulls still hanging out.

Glaucous Gull, Sweeper Cove, May 19, 2018

Glaucous Gull, Sweeper Cove, May 19, 2018

And John Puschok told us a “Vega” Herring Gull was there and we found that as well.

“Vega” Herring Gull, Sweeper Cove, May 19, 2018

That brought our trip list up to 54.

PS: More birders were due in on today’s flight, but it arrived so early, that by the time we got there to greet them, everyone was gone! So I expect we will hook up tomorrow.

PPS: The repair parts for the Puk Uk arrived on the plane, repairs were done, and the trip to Attu left this evening. Good luck guys (and girls)!

Temp in the 40s, partly sunny, wind east 10-15 mph

Still in the doldrums.

We picked up 5 trip birds today, nothing unexpected.

We decided to go down to Finger Bay and creek. We stopped at both quarries along the way, At the first one, we had a singing Pacific Wren (this is THE place on Adak to get Pacific Wren when all else fails). They are harder to find in spring, but are everywhere in fall, once the young are off the nests.

We also had a Common Loon on the lake next to the quarry.

At the quarry at the top of the hill, we had several Snow Buntings and a Gyrfalcon overlooking the area.

Gyrfalcon, Hilltop Quarry (on road to Finger Bay), May 18, 2018

Nothing new at Finger Bay or along the creek.

On the way back up to town, we spotted a Bald Eagle on its nest.

Bald Eagle on nest, Sweeper Cove, May 18, 2018

They don’t have any trees to nest in up here, so they nest on cliff ledges or on top of rock chimneys. The Bald Eagles that nest near our home in Pennsylvania were already feeding young when we left for our trip up here.

There is activity at most of the feeders up here, but no new birds so far.

The Attu tour group’s boat had a maintenance problem, so they are here until tomorrow (when the parts arrive). They have had a few birds that we haven’t and vice versa. Our most notable miss so far is Tufted Duck. They had one on Lake Shirley, but it has eluded us.

We are expecting the winds to change to the west Sunday night, so we expect things to start picking up on Monday.

Trip list is 46.

Temp in the 40s, partly sunny, Wind East at 15-20 mph.

Nothing earth-shattering today, but a few nice birds.

Aaron had reported about a half-dozen Glaucous Gulls while he was here. We have seen three, so far.

Glaucous Gull, Sweeper Cove, May 17, 2018.

As we made the rounds today, we filled the various feeders that we maintain while we are here. Some of them already had seed in them from the previous tour groups, but we did not see anything unusual at any of them today.

The Rock Sandpipers are back displaying and raucously calling in the Sweeper Channel, as well as at the Landing Lights.

Rock Sandpipers and a Ruddy Turnstone, Landing Lights, May 17, 2018.

Also at the Landing Lights today was the first Bar-tailed Godwit of the season (the previous tour groups had none)!  We also had Black Oystercatcher and Semipalmated Plovers to get our shorebird list started.

As I walked out to the Landing Lights jetty, this young Bald Eagle didn’t want to leave.

Bald Eagle, Landing Lights, May 17, 2018

Up at Clam Lagoon, there was a flock of Cackling Geese, plus the usual suspects — Buffleheads, Mallards, Common Teal, Northern Pintails, Eurasian Wigeon, Marbled and Kittlitz’s murrelets, Red-breasted Mergansers, otters, etc.

Cackling Geese, Clam Lagoon, May 17, 2018. Note the white neck collar, typical of the Aleutian subspecies.

Aleutian Terns were back, as well as Parasitic Jaegers.

Out on the Flats, Barb spotted the Black-headed Gull that Aaron also had told us about.

On Goose Rocks, a lone Emperor Goose was appropriate! Note — we did not see a single Emperor Goose on either of our trips last year. The Seawall also produced several Pacific Loons, a Red-necked Grebe, 10 White-winged Scoters, Harlequin Ducks, and Common Eider.

The winds aren’t supposed to turn to the west until Monday, so we expect another few days in the doldrums.

Our trip list is 41.

Our flights were uneventful. We arrived in Anchorage on Tuesday afternoon, checked in, did our shopping, then went to West Chester Lagoon (on the Audubon Bench side).

Nothing of note, but an Arctic Tern was actively feeding right in front of us.

Arctic Tern, West Chester Lagoon, Anchorage, May 15, 2018

Arctic Tern, West Chester Lagoon, Anchorage, May 15, 2018

We got dinner and went to bed (having been up since 2:30 AM Eastern time!)

The next morning, we met up with Dave Sonneborn. He took us up to the Glen Alps trail to look for our nemesis chicken, the Willow Ptarmigan! After an hour or so of futile searching, we returned to the car and headed down to Potters Marsh.

On the back side of the marsh we ran into John Puschok, who was headed out to Adak to lead his tour out to Attu. He informed us that he had just had a Northern Waterthrush back down the road a little bit, so we walked down there and it was singing away.

Northern Waterthrush, Potters Marsh, May 16, 2018

We then headed back up to the Audubon Bench and Dave picked out a couple of Whimbrel and a Hudsonian Godwit for us. The godwit and the Northern Waterthrush were state birds for us. The godwit was too far out for photos.

When we got to the airport, we talked some more with John and found out that he ad gone up to Arctic Valley this morning (the place we usually go, but didn’t today) and he found two Willow Ptarmigan right on the trail that I always walk when we go up there!!!!!

AAAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

Oh well…

The flight to Adak was early and smooth.

At the airport, Aaron Lang informed us that the Great Egret was still here. So after doing some quick unpacking, we headed up to where it was hanging around (the Landing Lights). As we were heading up there, the plane took off (right over the Landing Lights!), so when we got there, the bird was flying around. It flew up the sand dune a little, circled, and then flew south along the shore.

Great Egret, near Landing Lights Beach, May 16, 2018

That was an Adak bird for us.

We checked the lower end of Clam Lagoon and Shotgun Lake, but didn’t find anything of note.

More tomorrow.