Sunday May 20, 2012

Our flights to Anchorage on Saturday were on time and uneventful. We did our food shopping and then did a little birding. We stopped by Goose Lake to look for the Pacific Loon that had been reported, but no luck.
However, I did get great shots of a pair of American Wigeon who were quite friendly.

Male American Wigeon, Goose Lake, Anchorage, May 19, 2012

Female American Wigeon, Goose Lake, Anchorage, May 19, 2012

A Mew Gull also cooperated.

Mew Gull, Goose Lake, Anchorage May 19, 2012

You can never get enough Magpie photos.

Black-billed Magpie, Anchoarge, May 19, 2012

On Sunday morning, we ventured out for more birding in the Anchorage area. We went up Arctic Valley and had lots of Robins, Varied Thrushes, Dark-eyed Juncos, Yellow-rumped and Wilson’s Warblers, Fox and White-crowned Sparrows, but nothing new. We stopped at Goose Lake again on the way back and found the Pacific Loon.

Pacific Loon, Goose Lake, Anchorage, May 20, 2012

We got to the airport after lunch and met Bob Schutsky and Warren Hanson, who would also be birding Adak. The flight left and arrived early. On the approach to the Adak Airport, I was able to get a nice shot of Finger Bay and the road leading to it.

Finger Bay showing access road

We talked to the two birding tour groups who were departing the island as we were arriving and found out it has been slow so far.
However, they had seen both a female White Wagtail and a black-backed male White Wagtail. This would be a lifer for us, but they had not seen them since Wednesday.
After unpacking, we drove down to the Sweeper Cove jetty, where they had seen the male Wagtail. We saw a black-and-white bird fly up from the jetty and disappear over the other side, but we could not relocate it. We are aware that we have frequently seen Snow Buntings out on the jetty, so the bird we saw could have been one of those. We will try again in the morning.