A day of seconds…

Temp in the 40s, overcast and slight drizzle in the morning, partly sunny in the afternoon. Wind E switching to NE 15-25 mph

We forgot to mention our flat tire from yesterday. Luckily, we saw it in the morning before we headed out for the day, so Lisa (our lodge manager) was able to put the spare on and let us go birding.

Well, today as we were nearing the Thrush Feeder, the spare went flat (don’t know what we ran over…). So Lisa came up and switched back to the tire that went flat yesterday. Surprisingly, she couldn’t find the leak in that one, so she inflated it and it sat overnight and seemed fine! Well, after spending the rest of the day on it, we arrived back at the house and it was deflating again!

So this time she is taking it to the “tire guy.” We hope he is the cure.

Back to birding…

It was a dreary start to the day, and although it brightened considerably by afternoon, the wind was strong and cold.

All but one of the feeders have Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches at them, but no Asian birds yet.

At the Palisades Overlook, Barb spotted a loon which turned out to be a Red-throated. Only the second one we have seen out here. There were also three Pacific Loons.

When we got to the east side of Clam Lagoon, we found a Gadwall in one of the East Side Ponds. This also was only our second record out here.

Gadwall, East Side Ponds, May 19, 2018

At the Seawall, barb found a pair of Surf Scoters.

We finally found the Tufted Duck on Lake Shirley.

As I was scanning the gulls on Clam Lagoon, a black-legged Kittiwake joined them, then flew off. We saw several others as the day went on. They are much more numerous in the fall, when we can see hundreds.

Once we came back to the Seawall, I scanned for new birds and found a Laysan Albatross flying by (and not so far out as to be non-enjoyable!).

When we ran into the other birders, they told us there was a Tundra Swan on Andrew Lake, so we headed down there and saw it. But it was WAY out…

Back down at Sweeper Cove, there were several Glaucous Gulls still hanging out.

Glaucous Gull, Sweeper Cove, May 19, 2018

Glaucous Gull, Sweeper Cove, May 19, 2018

And John Puschok told us a “Vega” Herring Gull was there and we found that as well.

“Vega” Herring Gull, Sweeper Cove, May 19, 2018

That brought our trip list up to 54.

PS: More birders were due in on today’s flight, but it arrived so early, that by the time we got there to greet them, everyone was gone! So I expect we will hook up tomorrow.

PPS: The repair parts for the Puk Uk arrived on the plane, repairs were done, and the trip to Attu left this evening. Good luck guys (and girls)!

Temp in the 40s, partly sunny, wind east 10-15 mph

Still in the doldrums.

We picked up 5 trip birds today, nothing unexpected.

We decided to go down to Finger Bay and creek. We stopped at both quarries along the way, At the first one, we had a singing Pacific Wren (this is THE place on Adak to get Pacific Wren when all else fails). They are harder to find in spring, but are everywhere in fall, once the young are off the nests.

We also had a Common Loon on the lake next to the quarry.

At the quarry at the top of the hill, we had several Snow Buntings and a Gyrfalcon overlooking the area.

Gyrfalcon, Hilltop Quarry (on road to Finger Bay), May 18, 2018

Nothing new at Finger Bay or along the creek.

On the way back up to town, we spotted a Bald Eagle on its nest.

Bald Eagle on nest, Sweeper Cove, May 18, 2018

They don’t have any trees to nest in up here, so they nest on cliff ledges or on top of rock chimneys. The Bald Eagles that nest near our home in Pennsylvania were already feeding young when we left for our trip up here.

There is activity at most of the feeders up here, but no new birds so far.

The Attu tour group’s boat had a maintenance problem, so they are here until tomorrow (when the parts arrive). They have had a few birds that we haven’t and vice versa. Our most notable miss so far is Tufted Duck. They had one on Lake Shirley, but it has eluded us.

We are expecting the winds to change to the west Sunday night, so we expect things to start picking up on Monday.

Trip list is 46.

Temp in the 40s, partly sunny, Wind East at 15-20 mph.

Nothing earth-shattering today, but a few nice birds.

Aaron had reported about a half-dozen Glaucous Gulls while he was here. We have seen three, so far.

Glaucous Gull, Sweeper Cove, May 17, 2018.

As we made the rounds today, we filled the various feeders that we maintain while we are here. Some of them already had seed in them from the previous tour groups, but we did not see anything unusual at any of them today.

The Rock Sandpipers are back displaying and raucously calling in the Sweeper Channel, as well as at the Landing Lights.

Rock Sandpipers and a Ruddy Turnstone, Landing Lights, May 17, 2018.

Also at the Landing Lights today was the first Bar-tailed Godwit of the season (the previous tour groups had none)!  We also had Black Oystercatcher and Semipalmated Plovers to get our shorebird list started.

As I walked out to the Landing Lights jetty, this young Bald Eagle didn’t want to leave.

Bald Eagle, Landing Lights, May 17, 2018

Up at Clam Lagoon, there was a flock of Cackling Geese, plus the usual suspects — Buffleheads, Mallards, Common Teal, Northern Pintails, Eurasian Wigeon, Marbled and Kittlitz’s murrelets, Red-breasted Mergansers, otters, etc.

Cackling Geese, Clam Lagoon, May 17, 2018. Note the white neck collar, typical of the Aleutian subspecies.

Aleutian Terns were back, as well as Parasitic Jaegers.

Out on the Flats, Barb spotted the Black-headed Gull that Aaron also had told us about.

On Goose Rocks, a lone Emperor Goose was appropriate! Note — we did not see a single Emperor Goose on either of our trips last year. The Seawall also produced several Pacific Loons, a Red-necked Grebe, 10 White-winged Scoters, Harlequin Ducks, and Common Eider.

The winds aren’t supposed to turn to the west until Monday, so we expect another few days in the doldrums.

Our trip list is 41.

Our flights were uneventful. We arrived in Anchorage on Tuesday afternoon, checked in, did our shopping, then went to West Chester Lagoon (on the Audubon Bench side).

Nothing of note, but an Arctic Tern was actively feeding right in front of us.

Arctic Tern, West Chester Lagoon, Anchorage, May 15, 2018

Arctic Tern, West Chester Lagoon, Anchorage, May 15, 2018

We got dinner and went to bed (having been up since 2:30 AM Eastern time!)

The next morning, we met up with Dave Sonneborn. He took us up to the Glen Alps trail to look for our nemesis chicken, the Willow Ptarmigan! After an hour or so of futile searching, we returned to the car and headed down to Potters Marsh.

On the back side of the marsh we ran into John Puschok, who was headed out to Adak to lead his tour out to Attu. He informed us that he had just had a Northern Waterthrush back down the road a little bit, so we walked down there and it was singing away.

Northern Waterthrush, Potters Marsh, May 16, 2018

We then headed back up to the Audubon Bench and Dave picked out a couple of Whimbrel and a Hudsonian Godwit for us. The godwit and the Northern Waterthrush were state birds for us. The godwit was too far out for photos.

When we got to the airport, we talked some more with John and found out that he ad gone up to Arctic Valley this morning (the place we usually go, but didn’t today) and he found two Willow Ptarmigan right on the trail that I always walk when we go up there!!!!!

AAAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

Oh well…

The flight to Adak was early and smooth.

At the airport, Aaron Lang informed us that the Great Egret was still here. So after doing some quick unpacking, we headed up to where it was hanging around (the Landing Lights). As we were heading up there, the plane took off (right over the Landing Lights!), so when we got there, the bird was flying around. It flew up the sand dune a little, circled, and then flew south along the shore.

Great Egret, near Landing Lights Beach, May 16, 2018

That was an Adak bird for us.

We checked the lower end of Clam Lagoon and Shotgun Lake, but didn’t find anything of note.

More tomorrow.