The bad weather ended more quickly than originally forecast, and although it wasn’t perfect, the rain was sporadic today and the winds were not as strong as predicted.
It was a slow day, bird-wise. No new birds, not even trip birds. We saw one of the Hawfinches this morning and there were a lot of gulls at the fish plant outflow pipe. However, they were all Glaucous-winged.
At Clam Lagoon, the five Bar-tailed Godwits were feeding on the flats. The Snow and White-fronted geese were in one of the Seawall Ponds. The Brant was on Goose Rocks (so named by us because on our first trip here an Emperor Goose was on it). The Tattler was no longer at the inlet, but a lot of terns were feeding just inside the lagoon. Here is a little gallery of Arctic Tern photos.
Arctic Tern, Clam Lagoon, May 27, 2012
Arctic Tern, Clam Lagoon, May 27, 201
Arctic Tern, Clam Lagoon, May 27, 2012
As we went back around the lagoon, we ran into Paul and Bob, who stated they just saw the Brant in the main lagoon. We don’t know if the Brant that we saw on Goose Rocks was the same one or not.
The boat from Attu (the Puck-Uk) arrived late morning. We met it at the dock and gave John Puschok and Isaac Helmericks the info on the geese. They loaded up their tour group and headed for Clam Lagoon. They found the geese and the Brant (two new Adak birds for John, one for Isaac).
On our way back up to Clam Lagoon, we spotted the other White-fronted Goose at Contractor’s Marsh. We did another tour of Clam Lagoon, and although we did not find any new birds, I did get a nice shot of one of the Jaegers.
Parasitic Jaeger, Clam Lagoon, May 27, 2012
We then went to Lake Jean. The Common Loons were still there, but this time they were close enough together that I could get them in the same photo.
Common Loons, Lake Jean, May 27, 2012
Our trip list is at 57. Not bad considering that we haven’t had east winds that drive shearwaters and albatross in closer to shore and we did not take a boat trip to look for auklets. We have had some fantastic birds show up in the last few days of May in the past. We hope history repeats itself.