Partly sunny and light winds.

More waterfowl are moving in. We had more Pintails, Eurasian Wigeon, and Black Scoters. Had our first Shovelers of the trip. Also, three more Emperor Geese.

Shorebirds are scarce and no “funny-looking” passerines. Only three-and-a-half days to go.

Waiting for the next wave…

 

Bright and sunny, light wind.

No lifers, but added a few trip birds. The first Eurasian Wigeon of the season and a flock of Emperor Geese (also first of the season).

A Pectoral Sandpiper at Lake Jean, posed nicely for us.

Had some more Ruddy Turnstones and Rock Sandpipers. You may be wondering why Ruddy and not Black. Although Black Turnstones nest north of the Aleutians in Alaska, there are only two records for the entire Aleutian chain! I guess they don’t like crossing the Bering Sea.

And last, but certainly not least, we finally had a cooperative Peregrine Falcon.

Trip list is now 52.

Anther typical day on Adak. Intermittent showers and intermittent sun.

No new birds. Frank did not walk the lagoon today (trying to give his little toe a rest! He believes it is broken).

The highlight of the day was a flock of a dozen Rock Sandpipers on the seawall. It’s pretty grim when Rock Sandpiper is the highlight!

Too bad eagles up here aren’t tame…

The first half of our trip was pretty good.

One lifer (Little Stint) and several semi-lifers. A semi-lifer is a bird that falls into one or more of the following categories:

1. Different age/sex/plumage
2. Different race/subspecies
3. Better or longer looks
4. Photos (or better photos)

The semi-lifers were:

Red-necked Stint (Age/plumage)
Common Sandpiper (Looks/better photos)
Ruff (better photos)
Vega Gull (Race/subspecies)
Slaty-backed Gull (Age/plumage)
Baird’s Sandpiper (better photos)

Today was very windy, but partly sunny. After checking Sweeper Cove and other points south, we headed up to Clam Lagoon. The only new bird there was a lone Black Scoter.

While going past Lake Shirley, a Peregrine swooped at a couple of Bald Eagles and Frank got a few photos of the bird.

With the winds out of the north, Frank walked the edge of Clam Lagoon from north to south (duh!). The Ruff and a couple of Pectoral Sandpipers were there, but there was no Stint on the peninsula.

As Frank was walking the edge, a Peregrine flew by and was promptly pursued by two Parasitic Jaegers (2 of the 3 we saw today).

Our trip list (Adak only) stands at 49. Our average fall total has been 59, so we are a little low with a week to go. Our best fall trip was in 2007, when we had 68!

The forecast is for north and northwest winds the next few days, so prospects are good.

Today broke overcast, but calm.

Sweeper Cove and Kuluk Bay were like glass. It was very easy to pick out alcids, etc. on the water, but because it was so peaceful, there weren’t many.

However, we did see our first Black Oystercatcher of the trip on one of the rocky islands just off shore.

By the time we got up to Clam Lagoon in late morning, it was still calm. We spotted a shorebird nestled against the edge of the marsh, so Frank decided to walk the edge again to see what was there.

The bird turned out to be the Ruff hanging out with a Pectoral Sandpiper.

A few other shorebirds of undetermined species flushed along the way and back into the marsh.

As Frank got near the north end of the marsh, it began to rain, so he did not go out the peninsula to see if the stint was still there.

Along the seawall, we saw more Horned Grebes, our first Common Loon of the trip, and five Rock Sandpipers flew by (our largest count for the trip).

The bay was calm and a lot of birds were feeding there, but nothing out of the ordinary.

When we returned to town later in the afternoon, we went down to Sweeper Cove and drove over to the jetty. A lot of gulls had gathered at the fish processing plant outflow. This plant had been shut down the past few years, disappointing birders, as it attracted a lot of gulls. Well, it opened back up this summer, and a fishing boat had just arrived earlier in the afternoon and it was churning.

We studied the gulls and Barb soon picked out a darker-backed one. After a minute or two, frank finally found the one she was looking at and started taking pictures (what else?). It turned out to be a Vega Gull. This species is recognized by Europe, but is still considered a race of Herring Gull by the AOU. We’re counting it!

We headed back towards the house and stopped at the Bayshore Overlook for one last glance at the bay. We spotted a large swarm of shearwaters out in the bay heading north. We quickly drove north up to Palisades Overlook, hoping to catch them nearby, but apparently they took a right and headed back out to sea! Oh well, next time.

The weather forecast is for 25-40 mph winds tonight, gusting up to 60! Hope it brings some new birds.

Another pleasant day on Adak, hence no new birds. We didn’t even add a trip bird!

The Red-necked Stint, Baird’s Sandpiper, and Ruff are still here, but the number of Pectorals has gone down to a few (from about a dozen).

One interesting note. Rock Ptarmigan are abundant on Adak and are seen easily as you drive around. They are out in the middle of the road or on the edges and flush, flashing their white wings. This trip, we saw one “chicken” on Sunday, and then no more until today. Isaac said they are more secretive when they have young around, but on past September trips we have seen them out in the open with a dozen young in tow (see photo on the Birding Adak link on my home page). So we thought it was highly unusual not to see but one!

Well today changed all that. We saw a couple dozen.

We have learned from our trips up here that no two visits are alike. The breeding birds in spring arrive at different times in different years and the migrants are all over the map; both in numbers and occurrence.

A good example is Wood Sandpiper. On our first trip (May 2005), we had half-a- dozen and they were tame and easily approachable. The following spring, Schutsky’s tour group (Bird Treks) had over a hundred. The following spring we had one! Subsequent trips produced none, one, and four. So what seemed from the first two spring trips to be an easy bird to get here turned out not to be.

Here’s another Red-necked Stint photo. However, this one is showing cleavage!

Bad weather, good birds. Good weather, no birds!

After three days of wind, rain, and clouds, today dawned bright, sunny, and calm. The calm changed through the day, but the bright and sunny did not.

We found fewer shorebirds today and the only rarity still here was the Red-necked Stint. We could not find either Common Sandpiper, the Ruff, or the Little Stint. Even the Red-necked’s companion Westerns were gone.

It was a nice day for taking pictures, but that was about it.

Isaac found a “Japonicus” American Pipit (we did not see it) and saw several interesting passerines flying by, but neither he nor we could find any on the ground.

So here are some pictures of common stuff.

We’re overrun with em!

Barb’s comment upon finding our second Common Sandpiper of the day/trip!

The day started with rain and fog. Just enough to prevent us from identifying the swarm of shearwaters in Kuluk Bay. The sun came out about a half-hour later, but the shearwaters were gone.

We headed up to Contractor’s Marsh, but just as Frank started to walk it, it started to rain again and he thought better of it.

So we headed for Clam Lagoon (where else?) and Frank walked the edge of the marsh. He kicked out about a dozen shorebirds including Pectoral, Sharp-tailed, Baird’s, and a Ruff.

After the walk, we headed around to the seawall, where we relocated the Common Sandpiper and got better photos of it. We also saw a Rock Sandpiper there, our first of the trip.

We continued around to Candlestick Bridge and back. When we got back to the western side of Clam Lagoon, Frank walked out the peninsula and found that the two Western Sandpipers and the Red-necked Stint were still there.

We went back down to town and checked Sweeper Creek channel. What did we find, but another Common Sandpiper! Hence Barb’s comment…

Isaac arrived shortly after we called him and got to see it also.

We then headed back up to Contractor’s Marsh and Frank began to walk it. He saw a couple of Pectorals and at least one Sharp-tail and two smaller shorebirds that flew away and could not be relocated.

Also on our trip around Clam Lagoon earlier we saw the Slaty-backed Gull that Isaac had told us about.

No lifers today, but still a good day all around.

Another day on Adak. Another stint!

The weather today was typical of Adak; 20-25 mph winds gusting up to 40, showers in the morning followed by steady rain in the afternoon.

By the time we got to Clam Lagoon in the afternoon, it was raining steadily and blowing hard. We were able to spot two of the Western Sandpipers and the Red-necked Stint from the road. We continued around Clam Lagoon, finding our first Ruddy Turnstones and a couple Pacific Golden Plovers. We continued on to Candlestick Bridge without noticing anything new. On the way back along the seawall, Frank saw a small shorebird fly in. It was a peep of some sort, but he was not sure what species. He started to take photos, while Barb tried to crane her neck to see through the other side of the car to see the bird. She caught a glimpse, but then the bird disappeared into the rocks.

Frank continued to scan the rocks for the peep, when what should pop up, but a Common Sandpiper! Frank yelled “Common Sandpiper” and started frantically to take photos. Barb was able to see this bird and got satisfying looks. This was our second Common Sandpiper on Adak. We had one on our first trip in May 2005, but this view (and photos) was much more satisfying.

This would be a lifer for Isaac, so Barb left me standing in the rain to keep tabs on the bird while she drove to a location where she could get cell phone reception to call Isaac. After several tries, she finally found a spot and got through to Isaac and he headed straight for our location. Of course, as soon as I got out of the car and Barb drove off, the Common Sandpiper disappeared!

Isaac arrive a short time later. While discussing the Common Sandpiper location with him, Frank showed him the photo of the peep. Isaac found it interesting, but did not commit an identification at that time. After about half an hour, Isaac relocated the Common Sandpiper and everyone was happy.

We returned to our house, Frank changed out of his soaking wet jeans, downloaded the photos to the computer and we tried to identify the peep. We had pretty much settled on Little Stint, when Isaac arrived and confirmed the bird, having relocated it as well!

With the sun having broken through the downpour, we hurriedly drove back up to the seawall, and after about twenty minutes, Barb spotted the Little Stint and got great looks at it (as did Frank).

This was a lifer for both of us.

We headed back to town. As we approached Palisades Overlook, we saw a new fishing vessel approaching the factory ship anchored in Kulik Bay. We stopped to look at it and saw a lot of bird activity around it. There were hundreds of shearwaters and gulls ahead of and trailing the ship. The shearwaters were mostly Short-tailed, but Barb thought she may have seen some with more white in the underwing, hinting at Sooty, but was not positive at that distance. However, Frank set up the Questar and quickly picked out a Black-footed Albatross! Another lifer for Frank and a more memorable sighting for Barb, as the lifer she had was while throwing up on a pelagic off Washington!

Not a bad day…