Another shorebird day.

The weather was mostly(!!) sunny, but windy. By the way, the temperatures up here have ranged from the high-30s at night to the mid-40s during the day, occasionally edging towards 50 when the sun shines and the wind dies down (rare). As usual, while most of the island basked in sunshine, Mount Moffet kept his hat on and occasionally dispensed a sprinkle or two.

A good day for walking.

As we rounded the south end of the Sandy Cove Bluffs, heading towards Sweeper Cove, a pair of shorebirds flushed from a roadside ditch and flew off. We could not tell what they were.

At Sweeper Cove this morning, Barb saw an all-dark alcid that looked peculiar. I quickly got on it and we determined it was an immature Tufted Puffin. In all of our trips up here we had never seen any young puffins, so this was new. The photo below is heavily enhanced due to poor lighting conditions at the time.

Young Tufted Puffin, Sweeper Cove, 09/20/12

What looks like a white wingbar is actually the young bird’s wing feathers still growing out of their casings.

We headed down to Finger Creek. We had no new birds there, but saw a lot of dead or dying salmon, as the salmon run was coming to a close.

Dead Salmon in Finger Creek, 09/20/12

While I was hiking up the stream, Barb witnessed and documented the following.

Bald Eagle poop, Finger Creek, 09/20/12

We returned to Sweeper Cove to see if the young Puffin was still around in better lighting conditions. No luck. As we headed back up towards the Sandy Cove Bluffs, I joked that we would have another chance to identify those shorebirds that flew off previously (as if they would return!).

Yep, they did! They were Pectoral Sandpipers.

Pectoral Sandpiper, near Sweeper Cove, 09/20/12

We headed up to the Elfin Forest to walk the small ponds there in hopes the Baikal Teal had returned. No luck. I also walked down to some small ponds over the hill from there in the direction the bird had flown last week. No luck.

When we got to Clam Lagoon, Barb dropped me off at the southern end so I could walk the flats. There were no shorebirds along the marsh edge, so I walked over towards the peninsula.

Frank walking the Clam Lagoon Flats, 09/20/12

As I walked out on the peninsula, I saw a bird feeding in the water way out at the tip. Most of the birds I usually see along this stretch are beach-feeders, so I was intrigued as to what it might be. I did not have my scope and the bird was too far for binos. So I took some long-range photos and started working my way towards it.

Shortly thereafter, a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper walked out of the reeds, saw me and flew away. I continued up the beach. Then, as if on cue, a little parade of shorebirds walked out from the edge of the reeds and fed and preened casually along the shoreline. Eventually there were 4 Western Sandpipers, one Red-necked stint, one Pectoral Sandpiper, and a Sanderling. As is usually my experience on the peninsula, the birds were not wary and allowed close-enough approach or photos.

Pectoral Sandpiper being followed by Red-necked Stint, Clam Lagoon, 09/20/12

I continued out towards the tip where the mystery shorebird was still feeding, with the little flock rambling ahead of me. As I got closer, it looked like a Rock Sandpiper! What the heck was he doing out here feeding in the water instead of being back on the rocky shore where he belonged? I was hoping for something much more exotic…

As I was returning to Barb, the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper made a second appearance, again flying off too quickly for a photo.

I returned to the truck and we continued around the lagoon. At Seal Rock Cove, we added Ruddy Turnstone to the day’s list.

Ruddy Turnstone, Clam Lagoon, 09/20/12

This made for an 8-shorebird day (Black Oystercatcher at Sweeper Cove not mentioned above).

One week down, one to go.

Today was not very birdy, but had its interesting moments.

The weather was overcast with intermittent showers (more mittent than inter!). Therefore, I did not do too much hiking around.

Only a few things of note.

Up at Clam Lagoon, the number of Common Teal and Northern Pintails have increased. There were eleven Greater Scaup on Lake Shirley, the most that we have seen so far on this trip. A Peregrine Falcon circled us several times — I think it may have had a kill nearby from which we disturbed him.

Peregrine Falcon, Clam Lagoon, 09/19/12

As we drove north along the seawall, I got out to scan for shorebirds and seabirds. I noticed a commotion out in the water about a hundred yards ahead of where I was standing. There were two Stellar’s Sea Lions sticking their heads out of the water with their mouths wide open. Several gulls were hovering overhead. I took some pictures and then the Sea Lions dived. As I was watching for them to resurface, I suddenly heard a loud roar! The Sea Lions had resurfaced right out from where I was standing and were calling (ROARING!). That is how they got there name. We had never heard Sea Lions before, so this was very exciting. Note the external ears–that is how you tell a Sea Lion from a Seal.

Sea Lions, off the Clam Lagoon Seawall, 09/19/12

Sea Lion, off the Clam Lagoon Seawall, 09/19/12

We headed over towards the east side of Lake Andrew. As we were approaching the lake, Barb spotted some feathers on the road. I got out and picked up a wing. It appears to be that of a Short-eared Owl (If anyone reading this post can identify it as something else, please let us know). For size determination, the walkie-talkie next to the wing is nine inches long (to the tip of the antenna).

Short-eared Owl wing, near east side of Lake Andrew, 09/19/12

Short-eared Owl wing, near east side of Lake Andrew, 09/19/12

We have only seen one Short-eared Owl out here in all of our trips, so this is an interesting find. They have nested on Adak as recently as 2004-2005.

We continued over to the west side of Andrew Lake, and in one of the ponds, found three Eurasian Wigeon — the male had enough orange color to its head to distinguish it from American Wigeon. Most of the wigeon we have seen so far on this trip were in eclipse plumage and difficult to determine which species they are, but we were leaning towards Eurasian for most of them.

Eurasian Wigeon, near Lake Andrew, 09/19/12

We did a quick look at Contractor’s Marsh, and as we pulled in, a shorebird flew overhead, circled and landed a hundred yards out in the marsh. It appeared dark-backed and did not have white spots on the sides of the tail as Pectorals and Sharp-tails do. As I walked out into the marsh to try to see it again, a Long-billed Dowitcher flew out nearby. This was a new bird for the trip. The mystery shorebird flushed again, but gave an even poorer look and disappeared farther out in the marsh. I walked a long section in the direction it flew, but we never saw it again.

Better luck tomorrow.

Light wind and partly sunny skies today!

We checked our “feeders” and found several Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches had found them, but nothing else, yet…

Other than the spots that we put out bird seed, the only other feeder in town is along Bayshore Drive, which we check every day. Unfortunately, it has a guardian.

Guarded bird feeder

Despite this, we often see Rosy-Finches and Song Sparrows here.

At Sweeper Cove, a nice flock of Guillemots swam nearby showing several plumages.

Pigeon Guillemots, Sweeper Cove, 09/18/12

Since it was a sunny day, we drove up to White Alice–a promontory west of town with the cell phone towers–to look for Snow Buntings. No luck, but a pretty view.

Shagak Bay and Kanaga Island from White Alice, 09/18/12

We headed up to Clam Lagoon and had a Common Loon close by, but backlit. We have had several Northern Pintails the past few days and these two were most cooperative.

Northern Pintails, Seal Rock Cove, 09/18/12

Out on the Clam Lagoon Peninsula, one Red-necked Stint and two Western Sandpipers were still present.

Red-necked Stint (left) and two Western Sandpipers, Clam Lagoon, 09/18/12

This is interesting because last year at this time I had one Red-necked Stint and two Western Sandpipers at the same spot!

Over at the seawall, we had three Sanderlings (and 30 more later in the day). As we were coming back around the northern end of Clam Lagoon, a pipit flew up from beside the road and flew out of sight. After circling around, we relocated the bird. Out on the Aleutians, three Asian pipits regularly show up — Olive-backed, Pechora, and Red-throated. Unfortunately, this wasn’t one of them. It was just an Amercan Pipit (and the American race to boot!).

American Pipit, Clam Lagoon, 09/18/12

However, it was only the third pipit we have seen out here, so it was still a nice bird. At least it got our adrenaline pumping…

Two notes about bird perches.

The most reliable spot on the island to find Pacific Wren is in a quarry just south of Sweeper Cove. There, several rusting pieces of equipment provided hiding spots and singing perches, especially a particular piece near an escarpment that had a U-shaped pipe on which the wren loved to perch and sing its little heart out. (See last May’s blog for pictures of just that!) Well sometime the past few months, someone removed that piece of equipment for scrap metal, so the wren’s perch is now gone.

Last Saturday, as we reported, we spotted a Eurasian Kestrel perched on the metal frame that used to hold the Adak National Forest sign. Well, good thing we saw the bird there on Saturday, because today someone removed the frame! We assume it was for scrap metal, but maybe someone is finally getting around to replacing the sign that had vanished several years ago (but we doubt it).

More tomorrow.

Shorebirds, shorebirds…

Today started out overcast, but quickly turned to mostly cloudy with an occasional drizzle (and windy). We saw nothing new at Sweeper Cove or around town, so we headed north. Our first shorebird of the day was a Rock Sandpiper at Landing Lights Beach.

Rock Sandpiper, Landing Lights Beach, 09/17/12

The tide was very high in Clam Lagoon, so we headed around to the seawall, where we found a lone Ruddy Turnstone.

Ruddy Turnstone, Clam Lagoon Seawall, 09/17/12

A little farther down the seawall, we found two Rock Sandpipers and a Western Sandpiper.

Rock Sandpiper (top) and Western Sandpiper, Clam Lagoon Seawall, 09/17/12

I mentioned the shearwaters that are streaming by the island in yesterday’s post. Here is a long-range photo taken today showing just a few of them.

Short-tailed Shearwaters, Clam Lagoon Seawall, 09/17/12

When we came back around Clam Lagoon, I decided to walk out the peninsula. This is getting to be my favorite location on Adak. I find good birds there, they are usually cooperative, and the lighting is generally good for photos. Today was like Noah’s Ark — two-by-two.

The first bird I noticed was a sleeping Western Sandpiper. As I got closer, I noticed two other shorebirds nearby. It was another Western and a Red-necked Stint. As I walked further out the peninsula, the birds kept walking ahead of me and were soon joined by two Sanderlings. I then noticed another Red-necked Stint had joined in. So two-by-two-by-two!

Two Red-necked Stints and a Western Sandpiper (center), Clam Lagoon, 09/17/12

Sanderlings, Clam Lagoon, 09/17/12

We then went down to Contractor’s Marsh, which I walked while Barb drove around. Halfway across, a flock of 8 Pectoral Sandpipers flew in and landed about 40 yards from me in thick vegetation. I headed over towards them, but they flushed before I could get a photo. They circled around, giving Barb a chance to see them, and landed at the other end of the marsh.

We continued south, down to Sweeper Cove, where we sat a while and watched for whatever might fly in. On the jetty next to us a Pelagic Cormorant flew in and posed nicely.

Pelagic Cormorant and Glaucous-winged Gull, Sweeper Cove, 09/17/12

As did a Harlequin Duck…

Harlequin Duck, Sweeper Cove, 09/17/12

A Black Oystercatcher emerged from behind the rocks, making it a 7-shorebird day (our best ever was 9)! The oystercatcher was soon joined by 6 others, including one juvenile, identified by the black tip of its bill and dark eye.

Black Oystercatchers (juvenile on left), Sweeper Cove, 09/17/12

Not a bad day. No kestrel, though..

After the excitement of yesterday, today was bound to be a letdown. And it was…

The day started out overcast and rainy and stayed like that most of the day. Just light rain and drizzle, but enough to be unpleasant to stand out in.

We all searched in vain for another sighting of the Eurasian Kestrel. We not only did not find the kestrel, but didn’t even see any of the other falcons (Gyrfalcon and Peregrine) that have been hanging around.

We added a few trip birds — Black Scoter, Northern Pintail, Marbled Murrelet — but nothing exciting. Thousands of Short-tailed Shearwaters were streaming past the seawall. Usually, when this is happening, it only takes a short time to spot an albatross or two flying along with them. Today, we spent a good twenty minutes scanning the flock to no avail. That was how it was today!

Up where the Airport Creek empties into Kuluk Bay at the Landing Lights Beach, an eagle was dining on something at the stream edge which we could not identify. The salmon are running right now in some of the streams and it wasn’t one of them. I walked down to where the eagle was feeding, interupting its meal, and looked at the thing it was chewing on. It was a hard mass about 12″ by 6″ by 5″ with these stem-like growths coming out of it. I took a photo. Can anyone tell us what it is? Send me an email at fbhaas@ptd.net.

Mystery eagle food (no, those are not eyes, they are stubs of the same kind of stalks seen on the middle of this thing)

We had 26 Sanderlings on the flats at Clam Lagoon and three Ruddy Turnstones at Seal Rock Cove. Not much else of note.

We watched the plane from Anchorage land and then went to the airport to see John, Jack, and Colin off.

John Puschock, Jack Wykoff, Colin Campbell bid farewell at Adak airport

We will be the only birders on the island for the next 10 days!

In keeping with today’s weather…

Rainbow over Sweeper Cove

Hoping for new birds tomorrow.

PS. I posted a correction to our post from two days ago. After further research (and comments from more knowledgeable birders) we decided the mystery duck was an eclipse-plumaged Greater Scaup, not a Tufted Duck.

After a very windy and rainy night, the morning was partly-cloudy and windy.

We checked Sweeper Cove and Sweeper Creek. No new birds.

We headed up towards the airport ponds and flushed a large flock of Rock Ptarmigans.

Rock Ptarmigans, Adak, 09/15/12

There are many multi-family groups like this at this time of year.

We headed north. As we were driving up Bayshore Drive across from Adak National Forest (not a real National Forest, just called that by the locals — it is the largest stand of trees on the island — about 30), Barb noticed something sitting on the frame that used to hold the ANF sign. She said it was a hawk. I quickly got on it and saw that it was a falcon. We quickly ruled out all but Eurasian Kestrel! It was an immature. This is a first record for Adak and the central Aleutians.

Eurasian Kestrel, Adak National Forest, 09/15/12

Eurasian Kestrel, near Adak National Forest, 09/15/12

This was a lifer for us. We tried calling John, but only got his voicemail. So Barb drove up to the Palisades Overlook and tried calling him on the radio. Luckily she got him and John et al arrived several minutes later. Unfortunately, while I was waiting for Barb and John to return, the bird flew off and behind the nearby ridge, emerging several minutes later playing with a Gyrfalcon and heading towards town and out of sight.

So John continued to drive around looking for it and finally caught sight of it flying back up the hill where ANF is (although distantly) and all three got to see it.

We continued up to Clam Lagoon, where the only highlight was a flock of 11 Sanderlings out on the flats.

It will be hard to top the Kestrel on this trip, but we certainly hope to…

Light breezes and partly-cloudy skies greeted us at dawn this morning. We headed down to Sweeper Cove (via a couple of feeder spots where we put out birdseed) and had a bunch of both Horned and Tufted puffins. Although the lighting was poor, I did manage to get a serviceable photo of one of the Horned.

Horned Puffin, Sweeper Cove, 09/14/12

Sweeper Creek had a couple of Rock Sandpipers. We headed to the general store to get a few items that we couldn’t ship (eggs, coke). We cruised around the town a little bit, looking for the wagtail that had been seen there the previous week, but had no luck.

We headed north along the bayshore, had a Peregrine Falcon just south of the Landing Lights,  briefly checked Contractor’s Marsh, then headed to Lake Andrew. As usual this time of year, there are tons and tons of Lapland Longspurs flying down the roads as you drive along. As Isaac said when we asked him how soon the longspurs leave, “Not soon enough!”

At Clam Lagoon, we arrived just as John, Colin, and Jack (Wykoff) were about to walk out the Clam Lagoon Peninsula. I joined them, while Barb stayed back at the truck. Just around the first bend was a Red-necked Stint. This is the third consecutive trip on which we have had Red-necked Stint on the Clam Lagoon Peninsula!

Red-necked Stint, Clam Lagoon, 09/14/12

Out at the tip, I photographed a Song Sparrow–“Up close and personal.”

Song Sparrow, Clam Lagoon, 09/14/12.

Barb and I continued around Clam Lagoon, while the others headed south.

We turned in to Shotgun Lake, but there were no birds there. However, as we started to leave, I looked back and a dozen ducks flew in. They were mostly Mallards, two Eurasian Wigeon, and one smaller dark duck. The road on this side of the lake is pretty far from the birds, so even with our scopes, it was difficult to determine what the mystery duck was. So we drove around to the other side and I crawled through the grasses to the edge of the bluff overlooking the lake and started taking pictures.

After looking at the photos on the camera, we felt the bird might be a Tufted Duck, but we had only seen this species in spring plumage before, and this was different. We decided we would have to review the photos on the computer screen when we got back to town in order to determine the correct identification.

We tried to call John, but we had no signal. We continued around Clam Lagoon. We had a dozen Red-necked Grebes and several Pacific Loons and one Arctic and one Common Loon off of the seawall. We checked Lake Ronnie from Zeto Point, and had a dozen Mallards and two Greater Scaup. Frank spotted our first Black Oystercatcher for the trip from up there and we saw another one fly by at Goose Rocks.

As we came back around Clam Lagoon, we stopped at Seal Rock Cove and spotted our first “mixed flock” of shorebirds — 19 Ruddy Turnstones and 1 Rock Sandpiper.

Ruddy Turnstone and Rock Sandpiper, Seal Rock Cove, 09/14/12.

We got back to town, got gas (still $6/gal.), and went to the house to review the photos.

After reviewing the photos, we decided it was a Tufted Duck. Not a lifer, but a first for a fall trip. [Added 9/15: CORRECTION! After advise from Isaac and some more research on the web, we have decided it is an eclipse plumage Greater Scaup — not a Tufted Duck.]

Greater Scaup in eclipse plumage, Shotgun Lake, 09/14/12

The five-hour time shift is hard to adjust to, but each day gets easier. We usually get fully adjusted to it the day before we head home…

Looking forward to tomorrow.

It is 6 a.m. here, my body thinks it is 11 a.m. and the sun doesn’t come up until 8 a.m. So I guess I will work on this blog…

Our Philly, Chicago, Anchorage flights on Wednesday were uneventful. We got our rental, got to the motel, retrieved our luggage (sent ahead of time), did our food shopping, got dinner and retired for some needed rest — but not before checking on the Phillies score — Phl 3 Mia 1, only 3 games back in the wild card race!

Thursday morning, we birded the usual spots around Anchorage — Arctic Valley, West Chester Lagoons, Ship Creek, etc. Nothing of note. A California Gull was reported at Cuddy Park, so we went there to check it out. There was a single immature gull there. It didn’t look right, but we are terrible on immature gulls, so we took some photos to study later. It turned out to be just a Mew Gull.

Mew Gull, Anchorage, 09/13/12

We stopped at small park (Russian Jack Springs Park) and found chickadees, Orange-crowned Warbler, and a Golden-crowned Sparrow.

Golden-crowned Sparrow, Anchorage, 09/13/12

Black-capped Chickadee, Anchorage, 09/13/12

We stopped at Goose Lake where last May we got photos of a Pacific Loon way across the lake. This time there were two and they were much closer.

Pacific Loon, Anchorage, 09/13/12

We got back to the motel, packed, and got to the airport. The flight left and arrived a few minutes early. I got some more photos of Mount Sitkin (this is an active volcano thirty miles east of Adak). Compare this late-summer photo with the one I took as we left Adak last May (scroll down to see that post).

Mount Sitkin, 09/13/12

We got our rental truck (always a surprise here).

Rental Truck, Adak, 09/13/12

Everything seems to work and it is quiet! Amazing!!

John Puschock, Colin Campbell, and Jack (didn’t get his last name) met us at the rental house and we followed them up to the Elfin Forest. They had found a Baikal Teal a week ago and it was hanging out in a small pond there. However, the bird was very skittish and hid in the reeds. We drove past the pond, but did not see the bird. We parked 50 yards away and John started to circle around to get a different angle and possibly flush it towards us. Unfortunately, the bird flushed before John got around and it flew away from us towards the sun. So all we saw was the silhouette of the north end of a bird going south…

Oh well. We will have two weeks here to try to get a better view.  We saw a Baikal Teal in Phoenix, AZ last year, and although the Arizona birders are counting it, we are always suspicious of exotic waterfowl showing up in the lower 48 states, as there are a lot of waterfowl collectors and escapes are common. A Baikal Teal on Adak however would have unquestioned provenance.

We did a drive around Clam Lagoon, but found nothing new. While working on my Google Adak Birding Map a few months ago, I noticed a pond that I had not seen before. It was on the west side of the Clam Lagoon Seawall, hidden by the dike. So as we were passing by, we stopped and I clambered up the dike, and sure enough, there was a hidden pond there. Although there were no birds on it right then, it looked like a good place for ducks to hide when flushed from the roadside ponds along that stretch of road. I have dubbed it “Hidden Pond” — not very original, but it will have to do for now, until we spot something rare there!

We hope to have more exciting news tonight…