Good birds, bad photos…
Temps in the 40s-50s, mostly cloudy, rolling fog off and on, Wind SW 5-15 mph
After the usual rounds, I decided to go up to Andrew Lake to look for the Lesser Scaup that Aaron had reported.
While scanning a flock of Greater Scaup, I didn’t find the lesser, instead, I found a Tufted Duck! It was a female or immature with a scraggly tuft, but unmistakable. Too far for decent photo, but here is one anyway.
I then headed f or Clam Lagoon.
I had mentioned in a previous post about the Pectoral Sandpipers working the kelp beds on the Seawall. Well today, I was watching one feeding vigorously at one particular goody (don’t know what), when a Song Sparrow flew in and chased the Pec away and started in on the morsel itself! The Song is much smaller than the Pec, but this was his territory…
As I was on the East Shore, Aaron called to say he had a Double-crested Cormorant out at the Loran Station. This would be an Adak bird for me. There are only two other Adak records from December 1984 and April 1986.
So I “raced” out there (knowing it would be the better part of an hour since Aaron had seen it).
No luck. There were plenty of cormorants sitting on the rocky island that he had seen it on, just no Double-crested…
Oh well, it wasn’t a total waste, as i picked up Northern Fulmar and Laysan Albatross for the trip.
When I returned, I went back out to Andrew Lake, where the other birders had seen a Ring-necked Duck. An adult male, no less. I have seen only one other on Adak (May, 2015) and it was a female.
I ran into Aaron’s group along the way and we all went out together. We stopped where I had seen the Tufted, but no luck. I continued out to where the Ring-neck was reported and found it.
Unfortunately, by the time Aaron’s group caught up to my location, the duck had swum behind a point.
I told them I was going to check Lake Jean (a southern adjunct to Andrew Lake) for the Tufted while they hoped for the Ring-neck to reappear.
I drove out Lake Jean, and out at the point where it joins Andrew Lake, I found a Tufted (Notice that I didn’t say “the Tufted.”).
This one was a male!
Definitely a different bird than earlier. I did not see the female with this flock.
I called Aaron and his group came down and they all had nice looks at it.
I headed back to town, freshened up, had an early dinner, and reviewed my photos of the day. I couldn’t find the cormorant in any of the photos I took out at the Loran, but Aaron recommended that I go back out in case it had just been fishing and had returned to the roost.
So I did. Still no luck.
The Trip List is 57. The Year List is 88.
Today’s List: https://ebird.org/checklist/S197204673