Temp in the 50s, partly sunny, no rain until late afternoon, Wind W 20-30 mph

There were new birds on the island today, just not new birds for our trip list!

We did not see any shearwaters in Kuluk Bay today and at the Seawall, they were few and far out.

Also at the Seawall, the number of Red-necked Grebes jumped to 15 from 7. No loons today.

Near the Palisades Overlook, we came upon a lone Cackling Goose sitting in the middle of the road. It flew off to the side when it saw us.

Cackling Goose, Palisades Overlook, September 20, 2016

After the last two September trips where we found good birds (Wood Warbler and Blackpoll Warbler) at Warbler Willows, we now check that location twice-a-day. So far, to no avail…

If there are any Asian birds that blew onto the island the last two days, we haven’t found them yet.

PS: They got the gas pumps fixed.

Temp in the 50s, partly sunny, very occasional sprinkle, wind WSW 15-30 mph

No new birds today.

The only shorebirds today were a pair of Western Sandpipers at Clam Lagoon. The pair of Pacific Loons are still at the Seawall.

There was a large flock of waterfowl on Shotgun Lake today, including about 50 Northern Pintails, 15 Mallards, and 4 Eurasian Wigeon.

The most interesting event of the day was a Steller’s Sea Lion off the Seawall that attracted a flock of gulls. You can see why in the pictures below.

Steller’s Sea Lion with Glaucous-winged Gulls, Seawall, September 19, 2016

Steller’s Sea Lion with Glaucous-winged Gulls, Seawall, September 19, 2016

Steller’s Sea Lion with fish (this is what all the fuss was about!), Seawall, September 19, 2016

The tides out here are an enigma. For instance, since we got here, the tide has been low in the morning and high in the afternoon. Then, this past Saturday there was this very low tide in the afternoon! Since then, the tide has been high 24-hours a day! This is not unusual, we have experienced such odd tide schedules here on past trips. In fact we have experienced a week or more of consistent high tide and vice versa!

I decided to do some research on this and found a great visual tide chart at http://www.tide-forecast.com/locations/Adak-Bight-Adak-Island-Alaska/tides/latest

It turns out that the tide isn’t high all of the time — it just looks that way. The tide is currently in the following pattern — very low tide in the middle of the night (when — foolish us! — we’re sleeping), then a normal high tide, then only a very small dip to low tide, then high tide, and then a big drop to low tide in the middle of the next night. So during the day, it looks like high tide all of the time! Now, why it doesn’t go to a normal low tide during the day, we don’t understand. We think it might have something to do with the interactions between the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, but we could be way off base. I guess we need a tide expert…

By dawn tomorrow, there will have been more than 24 hours of west winds (strong west winds). If they brought any good birds in today, we didn’t see them. Maybe tomorrow…

Temp in the 50s, Partly sunny, scattered drizzle late in the PM, Wind SW 15-30 mph

No new birds today. In all of our trips up here there are always a few days — usually in the middle — when we don’t get anything new. This is that stretch of days. We are hoping that the westerly winds that started yesterday will blow something in.

At Clam Lagoon today, we had 5 Sanderlings, 2 Western Sandpipers, 6 Pectoral Sandpipers, and 1 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. Its amazing how little effect the strong winds have on these little birds feeding on an open mudflat. I was hard-pressed to keep upright!

Western Sandpiper (front) and Sanderling, Clam Lagoon, September 17, 2016

Western Sandpiper, Clam Lagoon, September 17, 2016

At the Seawall, we had three Ruddy Turnstones and one Rock Sandpiper.

Ruddy Turnstone, Seawall, September 17, 2016

Again, there were shearwaters well withing binocular range. And again, we spent some time scanning for other pelagics, to no avail!

We saw at least two — maybe three — Peregrines today.

Come on, west winds!

Temp in the 50s, mostly sunny, wind NW 10-15 mph

Except for a brief shower at dawn — which created the following rainbow — this was the most precipitation-free day so far.

Rainbow, Adak, September 16, 2016

Note: this satisfies the annual rainbow photograph quota for 2016.

At Sweeper Cove, two Emperor Geese flew over — apparently not the ones we saw the other day, as there was no juvenile with them.

At Sweeper Channel, there were a couple of cooperative wigeon.

Two Eurasian Wigeon and a Common Teal, Sweeper Channel, September 16, 2016

The number of Eurasian Wigeon are slowly increasing this trip, but have not yet exploded like last September’s trip, when the number tripled overnight.

At Clam Lagoon, there were two Western Sandpipers and two Sanderlings out on the flats.

Two Western Sandpipers (left) and two Sanderlings, Clam Lagoon, September 16, 2016

At the Seawall, the shearwaters were mostly far out, with an occasional few coming within binocular range. With good viewing conditions, we spent a lot of time scanning the birds at the horizon, looking for albatrosses. No luck!

At Lake Shirley, the Peregrine made another appearance, this time sitting for a while.

Peregrine Falcon, Lake Shirley, September 16, 2016

No new birds today.

The trip list remains at 49.

PS: When we mention that this or that bird has not been seen by us the last few trips, etc., keep in mind that we are on the island only two weeks in May and two weeks in September each year. That leaves eleven months with no birders out here recording the birdlife. It was different when Isaac lived here for five years, but not now. So we are just recording a glimpse of the birdlife on Adak each trip.

Temp in the 50s, mostly cloudy, occasional rain/drizzle, wind N 10-20 mph

This morning there were still a few shearwaters close to shore in Kuluk Bay. We have never before had so many consecutive days with shearwaters being close like this. Although the majority of the shearwaters are passing by farther out, there is still a smattering of birds venturing in closer. This has been a real treat. Still no other pelagics, however…

At Sweeper Cove, there was a Black Oystercatcher (one of 5 we saw today).

We decided to make our obligatory drive up to White Alice (a promontory west of town on which the cell towers are located and affords a view of Shagak Bay on the west side of the island). We frequently see Snow Buntings up there, but not today. However, there was a family (families?) of Ravens cavorting in the wind.

Common Raven, White Alice, September 15, 2016

On the way back down, Barb spotted a Gyrfalcon which went by too fast for me to get photos.

At the Palisades Overlook, there was a feeding frenzy of gulls and kittiwakes. While scanning through them, I found a Parasitic Jaeger. This jaeger had some pale coloration on the belly, unlike 99% of the jaegers up here which are normally dark.

At Clam Lagoon, it was raining again, so I did not walk out the peninsula. However, we spotted the Sanderling flock out on the flats. It had grown to 15 birds.

At the Seawall, Barb saw an Arctic Loon. The grebes were still there. There was another feeding frenzy which, this time, was joined by 2 or 3 more Parasitic Jaegers.

At Candlestick Bridge, we again saw the whale for four surfacings of one-second each! Based on the size and dorsal fin, it was likely a Minke.

At Lake Shirley, a Peregrine Falcon made an appearance.

Peregrine Falcon, Lake Shirley, September 15, 2016

When we got back to the other side of the lagoon, I walked out the peninsula. The Red Knot was not there. No where any other shorebirds either. I walked down the marsh edge and had only two Pectoral Sandpipers and a Long-billed Dowitcher, none of which hung around long enough to be photographed.

Our triplist is 49.

One week down, one to go.

Temp in the 50s, mostly cloudy, occasional rain/drizzle, Wind NW 10-15 mph

Kuluk Bay off Sweeper Cove was like a sheet of glass this morning — a strong contrast to the rough seas since we arrived. There were a lot of birds (but most far out), including still a few shearwaters.

Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches and Song Sparrows have found our various feeders, so activity is picking up — just waiting for an Asian passerine to stop by.

We headed up to Contractors Camp Marsh, where I walked a portion of it while Barb drove around. We flushed many Pectoral/Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and at least one Snipe (Wilson’s until proven otherwise).

As I was out walking, Barb found two Long-billed Dowitchers.

Long-billed Dowitchers, Contractors Camp Marsh, September 14, 2016

We then checked Warbler Willows — no luck — and headed to Adak National forest to stop for lunch and see if any funny-looking birds might pop out of the trees. No funny-looking ones did, but a curious Song Sparrow had to check out our truck.

Song Sparrow on hood of truck, Adak National Forest, September 14, 2016

There are a lot of young Song Sparrows (and young every other species) around this time of year, but the young Song Sparrows always seem extra curious and tame.

The Red Knot is still out on the Clam Lagoon Peninsula.

At the East Side Ponds, a pair of Pacific Golden-Plovers few in front of us and landed on an island in the middle.

Pacific Golden-Plover, East Side Ponds, September 14, 2016

The water was relatively calm at the Seawall and we saw 7 Red-necked Grebes and 5 Horned Grebes — no loons today. There were 5 Black Oystercatchers on Goose Rocks. Only a few shearwaters were seen passing by.

At Candlestick Bridge, we saw the back and dorsal fin of a cetacean. It showed that much of itself three times (one second each) and then disappeared. This has been our experience with most whales and dolphins up here. They do not linger and certainly don’t stay at the surface for more than a second. All of those videos that you see on television nature specials, where the whales or dolphins are swimming along the surface, frequently breeching, etc…. ALL LIES!

Back at the Seawall, we found a lone Western Sandpiper.

Western Sandpiper, Seawall, September 14, 2016

We returned to Contractors Camp Marsh to look for more shorebirds. In the area where we had the dowitchers, there was a flock of Common Teal and Northern Pintails. The pintails were stretching up there necks and picking off bugs. I wanted to get a photo of that behavior, but by the time I got into position, they decided to tuck their heads in and take a post-prandial nap!

We saw more Pectorals, etc., but no new species.

We did a late-afternoon check of Sweeper Cove and were surprised by a flock of 18 Cackling Geese flying over. Although not rare, this is only the second of our nine September trips that we have seen them (we almost always get them on our May trips).

Our triplist is 48.

Temp in the 50s, mostly cloudy, occasional light rain/drizzle (the “occasions” being when we stop and get out of the truck!), wind S 10-15 mph.

Not much new birdwise today.

We added Black Oystercatcher to the trip list.

The Red Knot is still here and the Sanderling flock has increased to 11. Also, we had an immature Peregrine Falcon today.

Our one incident today happened near the Seawall. There is some old chainlink fencing here and there, often topped with barbed wire. Such exists at the south end of the Seawall. As we were parked there, Barb glanced at the nearby fencing and saw a longspur hanging from the top wire — and fluttering.

I went over and saw that it had gotten its foot caught in one of the barbed wire barbs. The fence was too high for me to reach, so Barb pulled the truck next to it and I climbed on the bed to reach it. Its foot was already mangled and bloody, but I managed to pull it out and the bird flew away.

Longspurs sure have sharp beaks!

Lapland Longspur caught in barbed wire, September 13, 2016

When we went down to Finger Creek the other day, before turning down the switchback to get to the road next to the creek, I walked over to the bluff that overlooks the creek to see if the road had cleared from the flooding of the past few days. It had, but as I looked down, I was surprised to not see salmon in the creek. This creek is usually brimming with salmon this time of year.

However, when we drove down to creekside, I could see why I had that impression. The stream was full of salmon, but unlike previous years, the water was still so high that their dorsal fins and backs were not sticking out of the water! The water has normally been so low that you see hundreds of salmon backs and fins all across the creek!

Barb photographed the Salmon eggs (roe) in the stream.

Salmon eggs, Finger Creek, September 12, 2016

I found a new mushroom today and am working on its Identification (with the assistance of Kitty LaBounty). I will post it once she IDs it.

Our triplist is 43.