Temp in the 40s, partly sunny, W wind 10-20

The feeders are attracting finches, but no Asian relatives yet.

We went down to Finger Bay and Creek, but had nothing of note there.

At Clam Lagoon, we had only 17 Bar-tailed Godwits, but added three Pacific Golden-Plovers to our trip list.

We finally caught up to one of the Gyrfalcons that the other tour groups had reported. It was sitting on the Blue Building (literally using the bird feeder!). It was a very pale (but not white) bird. We have never seen a white Gyrfalcon out here. They have all been gray or brown.

Gyrfalcon, Blue Building, May 18, 2016

Two Ruffs (actually a Ruff and a Reeve) had been seen the past few days at Contractor’s Camp Marsh, so we finally decided to look for them, but did not find them.

The two tour groups leave tomorrow evening. We hope the shifting winds bring something good in for their last day.

Our trip list is 41.

Temps in the 40s, Partly sunny, N wind 10-15.

We started the day by checking feeders. The Sandy Cove Bluffs feeder has been taken over by ravens, as has the Adak National Forest feeder! The other feeders have begun attracting rosy-finches, so we hope their feeding activity will in turn attract vagrant passersby…

The Airport Ponds were hosting two pairs of Tufted Ducks. And we found another male in the ponds below the Airport Escarpment.

We found two Common Snipe calling and displaying at Contractor’s Camp Marsh. Warbler Willows have not leafed out yet, so they are not as attractive as in the fall, when they provide more cover for passerines. So we didn’t find anything there. Haven Lake had a few Eurasian Wigeon.

At Andrew Lake, we got our first Common Loons for the trip and then spotted a Black-legged Kittiwake, which obligingly came in and landed beside the road in front of us.

Black-legged Kittiwake, Andrew Lake, May 17, 2016

A trip out to the Loran Station was unproductive, as was our swing around Clam Lagoon and the Seawall. But on our return around the lagoon, we had nice (if distant) looks at several pairs of Kittlitz’s Murrelets.

Kittlitz’s Murrelets, Clam Lagoon, May 17, 2016

Frank walked out the Clam Lagoon Peninsula and found the godwits. There were 25 of them. We continued down towards town and spotted 3 more on Landing Lights Beach.

Bar-tailed Godwits, Clam Lagoon, May 17, 2016

Our trip list is 39.

Temp in the 40s, overcast, wind NNW 10-20 increasing to 15-25+

There are a lot of birding eyes and ears here this week. High Lonesome has 8 people (led by Stephan Lorenz), Wilderness has 10 (led by Aaron Lang), half-a-dozen+ waiting for the Attu tour boat to arrive (Zugunruhe Tours, led by John Puschok), Bill and Cathy Mauck, and us. The boat people expect to leave tonight, the other tour groups will be here until Thursday, and Bill and Cathy will be here the same as us (2 weeks). There will be other birders arriving and leaving during our stay. Some coming for a few days, other coming early to wait for the Attu tour to return and go out on the Adak Pelagic tour (John Puschok). So we hope the extra manpower will help find some good birds.

Today we started at Sweeper Channel, where we had a couple Semipalmated Plovers and Rock Sandpipers. A pair of Tufted Ducks were on the Airport Ponds. At Clam Lagoon, the 13 Bar-tailed Godwits were still there. As we left the south lookout to go up and turn around, we noticed a funny sound. I got out and saw we had a flat tire (not the first time we have experienced this up here!).

We phoned for help because the last time, the jack in the car didn’t work. However, after calling, I noticed the jack looked different, so I tried it and it worked! I raised the car and took off the flat tire. When I unloaded the spare, I saw that it too was flat! So we had to wait until they could get someone to render assistance. Bill and Cathy came by during this time and offered to drive us into town instead of waiting out in the cold. Barb agreed, but I stayed with the car. Two-and-a-half hours later (!!!), we were back on the road again, albeit without a spare…

We drove back up to Clam Lagoon and continued around. We had several Pacific Loons, but not much else of note. However, on the return swing, at the Seawall, we had three Surf Scoters — a rare bird on Adak. And — since we had Black and White-winged scoters earlier in the day — we scored a scoter trifecta! And — it was a new Adak bird or us.

Surf Scoters, Seawall, May 16, 2016

At the north end of Clam Lagoon, a flock of 4 Black Oystercatchers flew in.

Black Oystercatchers, Clam Lagoon, May 16, 2016

When we got back down to the Clam Lagoon flats, the godwit population had grown to 29.

The other tour groups had two Ruffs and several Common Snipe at Contractor’s Camp Marsh today.

Our trip list is 33. Slow start…

After arriving in Anchorage on Saturday, we did our food shopping and then did some birding. A Red-throated Loon had been reported from Lake Hood, so we looked for it. It was there, and VERY cooperative! In Pennsylvania, Red-throateds are usually seen out in the middle of a lake during rain storms in migration, so this was a real treat.

Red-throated Loon, Lake Hood, Anchorage, May 14, 2016.

Red-throated Loon, Lake Hood, Anchorage, May 14, 2016.

This was a state bird for us. At Ship Creek, Frank spotted a Greater Yellowlegs, which was also a new Alaska bird for us.

On Sunday morning we headed up to Arctic Valley and added Townsend’s Warbler to our state list.

Townsend’s Warbler, Arctic Valley Road, Anchorage, May 15, 2016

A Fox Sparrow up at the ski area posed nicely.

Fox Sparrow, Arctic Valley Ski Area, Anchorage, May 15, 2016.

At Potter Marsh, we added Downy Woodpecker to our list and ran into the High Lonesome tour group, which were also flying out to Adak today.

We flew out to Adak and arrived in rain. John Puschock had seen a Black-crowned Night-Heron earlier in the day, but it had flown away. This was a first record for Adak. We hope it is still in the area.

After unpacking, we headed out to do a little birding. We had received a report from a resident that some swans were hanging around a lake on the road up to Bering Hill. Being that there are several roads going up Bering Hill, we started driving around several of them, checking all of the lakes and ponds. We didn’t find any swans, but after 11 years and 18 trips to Adak, we finally saw some Caribou! They normally are only found in the southern end of the island, where we never have gone (it is accessible only by hiking or ATV). So it was nice to finally add them to our Adak list.

Caribou, Bering Hill, May 15, 2016

At Clam Lagoon, we had 13 Bar-tailed Godwits. By this time (8:40 pm), we were pretty tired and called it quits.

More tomorrow.