A good day for “dickey birds.”

Temp in the 50s, partly sunny, light winds in the morning, becoming S 10-15 by late afternoon.

It is a rare day on Adak without wind, but this morning was the exception.

Overnight, the rain stopped and the wind all but vanished. It must have been a good night for small birds to migrate, as the Lapland Longspur population on the island crashed. Instead of seeing hundreds, we were seeing teens!

At Sweeper Cove, we saw another dolphin–just one this time. It was not frantically hunting like the pod from the other day, but was gently rising to the surface and going back under. We only got glimpses of it three times before it disappeared (no photos). The dorsal fin did not appear bi-colored like the White-sided Dolphins, and we did not see the lower half of the body for other markings. We will look it up when we get home, but it is unlikely that we will be able to identify it.

At Contractor’s Marsh, a Gyrfalcon has taken up territory, much to the dislike of the ravens and the Peregrine that had already staked it out.

Gyrfalcon, Contractor’s Marsh, Sept 17, 2013.

Common Raven chasing Gyrfalcon, Contractor’s Marsh, Sept 17, 2013.

We proceeded up to Adak National Forest and found a threesome of Pacific Wrens.

Pacific Wren, Adak National Forest, Sept 17, 2013.

While photographing these erstwhile little birds, another bird flew around to a higher branch. It was not a wren! It was a crossbill–as you can see, aptly named.

Crossbill, Adak National Forest, Sept 17, 2013.

We both identified it as a Red Crossbill (juvenile–hence no red), but got equivocal when we studied the photos. It might be a White-winged Crossbill. We have solicited help from experts and will let you know the results.

Crossbill, Adak National Forest, Sept 17, 2013.

In any case this is a terrific record. A Red would be a first for Adak and a White-winged a second!

At Haven Lake, a flock of ducks included wigeons, Mallards, and Common Teal. We also heard a snipe there.

At Clam Lagoon, only a few Sharp-tails and Pectorals were out feeding on the flats–and scooted back into the marsh.

The seawall was quiet, except for 15 Red-necked Grebes, 20 turnstones, and a Pacific Golden-Plover.

Pacific Golden-Plover, Seawall, Sept 17, 2013.

.At Lake Shirley, we caught a Peregrine bathing. It flew up towards the seawall, where we caught up with it shortly.

Peregrine Falcon Seawall, Sept 17, 2013.

We went over to a marsh near the road to Lake Andrew, where I walked to see what I could find. All I kicked up was a Pectoral. But while I was doing that, Barb took this picture of a moth that landed on the windshield (Lepidopterists, feel free to chime in!).

Moth, Sept 17, 2013.

Back at Adak National Forest, we tried again for the crossbill. No luck. However, we enjoyed the aerial antics of some Common Ravens.

Common Ravens, Adak, Sept 17, 2013.

We started checking all of the conifers that had cones to see if the crossbill showed up elsewhere. As we approached the Naval Admin Bldg feeder (seed thrown on the sidewalk under a spruce tree), we saw it was just about out of seed. So we pulled up next to it and as I reached for the door handle to get out, I looked up to see a Brambling not ten feet away! It promptly flew off. I scattered some fresh seed and we went to check on another feeder. Nothing there, so we returned to the Naval feeder and the Brambling was back.

Brambling, Naval Admin Bldg, Sept 17, 2013.

As I said, a good day for dickey birds!

Our trip list is 61, just one off our best September list.

A day and a half to go.