{"id":1620,"date":"2021-05-18T05:18:23","date_gmt":"2021-05-18T09:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/monday-may-17-2021\/"},"modified":"2023-08-24T12:06:24","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T16:06:24","slug":"monday-may-17-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/monday-may-17-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday, May 17, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The day started with a bang… and got better!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Temps in the 40s, mostly cloudy, winds light NNE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I was loading up the truck this morning, Sam told me that yesterday he had seen what he was pretty certain were a pair of Garganey! They had flushed from Sweeper Creek and quickly disappeared, providing only a quick view and no photo-op.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So this morning I headed to the Airport Channel (a good place for birds like this to hide out) and, lo and behold, as I pulled into the road that runs by the channel, two ducks exploded out and also quickly disappeared! I saw them well enough to identify them as Garganeys, but again, no photo-op.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I searched all of the nearby ponds and streams for the next hour or so, to no avail. Maybe they will appear again and sit still long enough for a photo. We will all keep looking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last Garganey sighting on Adak was in September 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are starting to see some activity at the feeders. Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches are showing up. That is a positive sign (it has been 20 months since the local birds have seen birdseed!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Clam Lagoon, the Brant is still present. And the (or a) Bar-tailed Godwit reappeared, as well as the Sanderling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, the Black-headed Gull is still hanging around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time I got to the Seawall, it was time for lunch, so I watched the bayside as I was eating. A Steller’s Sea Lion swam by and there were numerous loons — mostly Pacific — but at least one Arctic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Arctic Loon, Seawall, May 17, 2021<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After lunch, I decided to scan the horizon for stiff-wings and was rewarded with at least one Layson Albatross and many Short-tailed Shearwaters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I was scanning for more, I saw a flock of dickey-birds (that’s a technical term!) flying in off the bay towards me. They were too far out to identify in the scope, but they flew with a bouncing motion like finches. As they got closer, I lost them in the scope and tried to relocate them with my binoculars. No luck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So there is a flock of finches of indeterminate identification roaming the island. Redpolls? Brambling?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I continued around Clam Lagoon, stopping as usual at Lake Shirley. This year, Lake Shirley has been a bust! The few ducks that are using it fly away as soon as a vehicle rounds the bluff from the Seawall. Many of the other waterfowl here seem extra-jumpy this year, which is surprising, as there were few hunters here over the winter. Go figure…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, there have been no Tufted Ducks. Since 2005, we have had only two May trips without Tufteds (2012 and 2013), so it is unusual not to see any.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I was driving down the east side of the lagoon, a Pluvialis plover flew by with white rump. The only Pluvialis with a white rump is Black-bellied, and there are only a handful of records on Adak! But, yes it was!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Number 155 for my Adak list!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Black-bellied Plover, Clam Lagoon, May 17, 2021<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Black-bellied Plover, Clam Lagoon, May 17, 2021<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Black-bellied Plover, Clam Lagoon, May 17, 2021<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Black-bellied Plover, Clam Lagoon, May 17, 2021<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Not a bad day…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trip list is 50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The day started with a bang… and got better! Temps in the 40s, mostly cloudy, winds light NNE As I was loading up the truck this morning, Sam told me that yesterday he had seen what he was pretty certain … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1621,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,261],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2021-may","category-may-17-2021"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1620"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1686,"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1620\/revisions\/1686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/franklinhaas.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}