A nice way to end the week.

Temp in the 50s, mostly cloudy, occasional rain, mostly sunny in the afternoon, 10-20 mph NW wind.

The lighting on Lake Shirley is backlit except in the early morning. So in order to better scan the waterfowl there, we decided to head straight there this morning. Upon arrival, the lighting was better. We scanned the flock and found the two male Tufted Ducks. We were looking to see if there were any females lurking in there — there weren’t.

Tufted Ducks (fourth from the left and second from the right) with Greater Scaup, Lake Shirley, Sept 18, 2014.

Upon returning to the seawall, a quick scan of the horizon revealed shearwaters passing by as usual, but also a surprising number of Laysan Albatross. We were seeing two or three at a time! We probably counted a couple dozen! In the past, if we saw one or two from shore, we thought we were doing pretty well, so this was really a treat.

When we got back to town, the heavens opened up with a heavy rain. We birded the area as best we could — checking feeders, etc., and then headed back north. As we approached Clam Lagoon, we saw that it was sunny out towards the Loran Station, so since we had so many albatross at the seawall, we thought it might be a good idea to try up there.

Part way out the road to Loran, a Gyrfalcon flushed from the side of the road and cooperatively perched on a nearby utility pole.

Gyrfalcon, road to Loran Station, Sept 18, 2014.

Gyrfalcon, road to Loran Station, Sept 18, 2014.

Out at the Loran Station, the seabirds were less than overwhelming, but there were shearwaters flying by (although not close) and Frank got a good view of a Fulmar through the Questar.

We returned to Clam Lagoon, drove around to the seawall and found the Horned Grebes and Red-necked Grebes had returned (or never left).

At Lake Shirley, the waterfowl flock was joined by four Northern Pintail — I told you they should be here.

As we were driving back up the east side of Clam Lagoon, Mount Adagdak created an interesting cloud formation.

Mount Adagdak, Sept 18, 2014.

This brings our trip list to 52, which is the average for our September trips — with a week to go.

Temp in the 50s, overcast and light rain most of the morning, partly cloudy in the afternoon, light to moderate NW wind.

We went down to Finger Bay this morning, picking up Snow Bunting for the trip along the way. The most interesting thing down there was not the birds, but the salmon. We see a salmon run every September throughout the island. Every stream has salmon making their way to spawn — and the accompanying eagles, ravens, and gulls. We have seen a lot of salmon in Finger Creek in the past, but nowhere near this many. In the photos below, every little black dot in the creek is the fin of a salmon! The water was literally boiling with fish. There was hardly any room for more.

Finger Creek salmon run, Sept 17,2014.

Finger Creek salmon run, Sept 17, 2014.

Dead salmon stranded by receding high water on Finger Creek. Sept 17, 2014.

Most places we went today were very quiet.– very few birds. The numbers of Lapland Longspurs appear to be declining as they start to migrate. There were still three peregrines patrolling Clam Lagoon, so shorebirds stayed under cover. There were none on the peninsula, but I found three Pectoral and two Sharp-tailed sandpipers along the marsh edge. There were also two smaller shorebirds that flushed with the Pectorals, but disappeared before I could identify them.

The grebes were gone at the seawall, but shearwaters continued to parade by.

When we went by Lake Shirley, the flock of scaup was half as many as yesterday and no Tufted Duck or wigeon. We went up to Lake Ronnie to see if they were hiding there. They weren’t, but there was a flock of variable-plumaged Mallards, one Greater Scaup, some Common Teal, and one Northern Shoveler. Here is a sample of some of the Mallard plumages.

Mallards (and one Greater Scaup) on Lake Ronnie, Sept 17, 2014.

On the way back past Lake Shirley, the number of scaup had increased, and a scan revealed TWO Tufted Ducks! Tufted Duck normally don’t arrive until late September/October, so now we are wondering if two spent the summer (not unheard of) or we have some early migrants.

On our trip out to the Loran Station on Saturday, we took the following photo.

Loran Station area, Sept 13, 2014.

One of the more picturesque places on the island.

Trip list is 48.

Doldrums…

Temp in the low 50s, overcast and light rain most of the morning, partly cloudy in the afternoon, moderate NW winds.

The rain put a damper on the morning birding. Just the usual suspects. No auklets (or much of anything else) on Kulik Bay. Although the tide was out, there were no shorebirds in Sweeper Channel. Even the shovelers didn’t make an appearance.

The feeders had a few Rosy Finches and Longspurs, but that was it. We headed out to Lake Andrew and found four Eurasian Wigeon on Haven Lake. Lake Andrew had a few scaup.

The flats were exposed on Clam Lagoon, but a pair of Peregrine Falcons sitting out there and one flying over made for few shorebirds showing themselves!

We have not seen the Brambling since we found it two days ago. There was a lot of activity off of the seawall, but the only shorebird was a single turnstone. There were thousands of shearwaters still flying by (way out!) and we were able to pick out a Black-footed Albatross with them (our only new trip bird for the day).

The Tufted Duck continues at Lake Shirley.

As we drove down the east side of Clam Lagoon, two small birds landed in the road in front of us (NOTE: 99.999% of all small birds in the roads at this time are Lapland Longspurs!). One of them was a longspur, but the other was not. It had a boldly patterned face — somewhat like a Lark Sparrow — and what could be described as a spot on its breast, but it quickly flew up and into the thick vegetation on the side of the bluff (before I could get my camera on it). We waited around and searched for a half-hour or so to no avail. Nothing in our field guides quite matches what we both saw, so we are at a loss as to what it was. It was likely one of the Asian buntings, but we will never know unless it reappears over the next week-and-a-half.

We worked our way back to town and, while checking the feeders, were treated to a couple of raptors.

Bald Eagle, Sandy Cove Bluff, Sept 15, 2014.

Peregrine Falcon, Sandy Cove Bluff, Sept 15, 2014.

One other note. While I was scanning the auklets yesterday morning, a porpoise (species to be determined) came up right into three auklets I had in the scope and may have taken one of them. I never saw it surface again. Then today, while scanning a gull-and-kittiwake feeding-frenzy from Palisades Overlook, a large tailfin appeared in the middle of it and never surfaced again. So there are some cetaceans around, just not very cooperative ones.

The wind is supposed to pick up from the west again over the next few days. Hope it brings good birds.

Penn State 13 – Rutgers 10

Philadelphia Eagles 30 – Indianapolis Colts 27

At least it was a good weekend for out teams!

So close and yet so far…

Temp in the low 50s, partly cloudy, moderate to light wind

Got out at first light today. The wind was blowing steadily, but diminished as the day went on until it was almost calm by noon. It started to pick up again in late afternoon.

In Sweeper Cove, we found our first Black Oystercatchers of the trip — eight of them. In Sweeper Channel, there were two Shovelers. They looked like a pair in eclipse plumage. So they could have been the ones we had in May.

We started to drive north towards Clam Lagoon, but noticed a lot of activity on the now-calm Kulik Bay. We stopped and started scoping and were rewarded with hundreds of auklets! Most were way out at the limit of the scope, but a few ventured in close enough to be identified. One particular bird came in and joined a flock of eider and was easily identified as a Crested Auklet (crest and all!). This was a lifer for Frank (Barb had seen these on a previous boat trip out of Adak)!

In addition to the Crested, we could also make out Least and Whiskered Auklets. However, nothing was within camera range.

As the auklets dispersed seaward, we continued up to Clam Lagoon. Frank walked the marsh edge and the peninsula. Along the marsh edge, he found two Sharp-tailed Sandpipers.

Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, Clam Lagoon, Sept 14, 2014.

The peninsula only had a few Rock Sandpipers.

The road from town to (and including) the west shore of Clam Lagoon was recently graded. So it is smooth sailing from town to the Blue Building feeder at the northwest corner of Clam Lagoon where — by-the way — we had a Brambling today.

Brambling, Clam Lagoon Blue Building, Sept 14, 2014.

The seawall provided our first Horned Grebes for the trip, and although there was a lot of activity there, the only shorebirds were Rock Sandpipers and Ruddy Turnstones.

We continued down to Lake Shirley, where the flock of Greater Scaup had grown dramatically from yesterday. We scanned through the flock and although the wigeon that we had the previous few days were gone, we were surprised by a Tufted Duck. This is the first Tufted Duck that we have had on a September trip. Like the aforementioned shovelers, one of the birds we had on the last day of our May trip was a Tufted Duck on Lake Shirley! Did this bird stay? Who knows…

When we got back to town, we ran into the police chief and got more details on the “small hawks” he mentioned. Well, after a few questions, we determined he was describing Peregrines (like Sparrow Hawks, but bigger…).

We headed over to Sweeper Creek, and had a flock of 21 Cackling Geese fly over — also a first for a September trip.

Barb decided to get pizza for dinner, so stopped at the new restaurant — the Bluebird Cafe!. The the co-owner mentioned she had a pretty bird in her yard this morning. She went on to accurately describe a Siberian Rubythroat! This was less than a hundred yards from our house!!! Aarghhhh! Of course we set about scouring the area, to no avail.

And so it goes…

Birthplace of the winds…

Temp in the low 50s, mostly cloudy, occasional light rain, west wind 25-30 gusting to 50 (maybe more)!

Since it was so windy, we decided to go look for birds who don’t mind a little breeze — seabirds. So we drove out to the Loran Station (the northern tip of the island). However, the visibility was less than desired. We gave it a try anyway and were rewarded(?) with one Short-tailed Shearwater and a bunch of Black-legged Kittiwakes. Whoop-dee-do!

When we got back to Clam Lagoon, the tide had actually receded a bit and exposed some flats. A quick scan of the peninsula revealed a couple of shorebirds at the bend, so Frank headed out there. He quickly found a couple of Rock Sandpipers and two peeps. They turned out to be a Western Sandpiper and a Red-necked Stint. A little farther out, he found a Ruddy Turnstone, then a couple of Sanderlings and more Rock Sandpipers. Nice to see some shorebirds!

Ruddy Turnstone, Clam Lagoon, Sept 13, 2014.

Sanderlings and Rock Sandpipers, Clam Lagoon, Sept 13, 2014.

Western Sandpiper (left) and Red-necked Stint, Clam Lagoon, Sept 13, 2014.

Over at the seawall, a Gyrfalcon was hunting.

Gyrfalcon, Clam Lagoon, Sept 13, 2014.

If the wind dies down a bit tomorrow, Frank will walk Contractors Marsh and/or the Clam Lagoon marsh edge.

We drove around town a bunch, looking for “small hawks” to no avail.

We saw one adult Peregrine today, so we may have four here right now.

Remember the ONE shearwater mentioned above? When we got back down to the palisade overlook, there were thousands in Kulik Bay! Try as we might though, we could not find any albatross mixed in.

Here’s hoping these high winds dropped some other birds on the island that we will discover tomorrow.

Temp in the low 50s, mostly cloudy, occasional rain, west wind 25-40 mph.

The high winds and high water levels made birding difficult — passerines stayed low and there was little accessible shorebird habitat. There was practically no kelp (prime shorebird habitat) washed up on the seawall and very little mudflats around Clam Lagoon. Towards the end of the day we saw some lessening of the high water levels, but we have been here before when the water was virtually at high tide 24/7 for a week! We hope this is not one of those times.

The only shorebirds we could find today were three Rock Sandpipers. Here is this trip’s obligatory Rock Sandpiper photo…

Rock Sandpiper, Clam Lagoon, Sept 12, 2014.

The other highlight(?) of the day was at least three Peregrines scattered about the island — one in town and two up at Clam Lagoon (based on plumage and molt).

There is a partial-albino Pacific Wren at the Elfin Forest. It is paler than the others and has at least one completely white tail-feather. I got some so-so photos, but I will hold off posting them in hopes of better.

We have scattered birdseed at the usual locations. It usually takes a few days for the Rosy-finches and Song Sparrows to find it. Then we sit back and hope the feeding activity attracts passers-by — especially Asian ones!

Not much waterfowl around yet, mostly local breeders. One duck of note was a Northern Shoveler. at Sweeper Channel. On the last day of our May trip, we had a pair (M/F) of shovelers at that same location. Did they stay? Did they nest? There is at least one previous nesting record for Adak (2005).

Alas, no “small hawks.” We cruised around town looking for cuckoos or whatever, but no luck. Of course, the weather conditions didn’t help.

More tomorrow.

Arrival…

Our flights to Anchorage were uneventful. Birding in Anchorage on Thursday morning was also relatively uneventful. Best birds were a Dipper (a bird we don’t always get), a couple of Gray Jays, and a Belted Kingfisher. The kingfisher was a new Alaska bird for us!

The flight to Adak was delayed an hour because of a crew change, so we didn’t get there until near 6 pm. That gave us only a couple of hours before dark, so we headed up to Clam Lagoon, but the tide was so high, there were no mudflats.

The best bird of our quick run around the lagoon was a Peregrine Falcon, especially since we didn’t see any this past May.

Peregrine Falcon, Clam Lagoon Seawall, Sept 11, 2014.

Peregrine Falcon, Clam Lagoon Seawall, Sept 11, 2014.

However, the most intriguing note of the day was the comment from the local police chief that there were “several small hawks hanging around.” Back in June, John Pushock’s group found several Common Cuckoos in town. They look like accipiters when they fly. Could that be what is still here?

We will be looking tomorrow.