Mid-40s, partly cloudy, occasional sprinkle (even snow!), strong (but lighter than yesterday) NW winds.
We started out today checking the feeders as usual and had the Pine Siskin around 8:30 am. Sweeper Cove was sleepy, but we had 7 phalaropes in Phalarope Cove. Sweeper Creek provided no new birds so we headed up past the Airport Ponds towards Contractor’s Marsh. As we were driving the road between the airport and the marsh, I spotted some birds flying over which looked interesting, so I told Barb to stop and I jumped out of the car. The birds were two smaller ones and a larger raptor flapping away. I dismissed the larger bird as an eagle and concentrated on the other two birds, which turned out to be Aleutian Terns.
Just as I announced their identification, Barb yells “Short-eared Owl!” What I had only glanced at was an owl! It was flying away from us, so we hopped back into the car and raced to catch up–which we did.
Short-eared Owl, Adak Airport, May 26, 2013
Short-eared Owl, Adak Airport, May 26, 2013
Short-eared Owl, Adak Airport, May 26, 2013
Our only other experiences with Short-eared Owl on Adak were in May 2008 when we saw one flying in from the Bering Sea while we were at the seawall, and last fall when we found the wing of one near Andrew Lake. This was our first opportunity to get photos.
We saw the Black-headed Gull again today at Landing Lights Beach. At the Seawall, I was able to pick out a couple of Laysan Albatross way out. Steve and Alan reported another Wandering Tattler at the Seawall Ponds.
We met the tour group returning from Attu and shared war stories. Their trip was not very good (for Attu!). They got Tufted Duck, Smew, Wood Sandpiper, and others, but no megahit. There tour group included a film crew from Japan who were making a documentary about the 70th anniversary of the battle of Attu (when the US kicked their butts of the island!) For anyone interested in this bit of WWII history, I recommend The Thousand Mile War (Brian Garfield).
Isaac arrived on the plane to go on the second Attu trip (as co-leader), so we met him at the airport and took him over to the siskin location, as he needed it for his Adak list. No luck. The bird did not appear on demand as it had a week ago for John.
Steve and Alan left today and the second Attu trip departed, so we are once again the only birders on the island for the next four days.
The trip list is now 58 and counting…