Temp in the 40s, Overcast, fog, occasional drizzle, Wind NW 10-15.
The birds, they are a-movin’…
Nothing at the feeders during the morning rounds.
At Sweeper Cove, a Pacific Loon is hanging out just outside the small boat marina. But every time I try to get close to get a good picture, it sees me coming and swims farther out!
We headed up to Sweeper Creek and, as we were leaving that area, we turned down a road near the Power Plant that goes down to a little wet area (There are a LOT of “little wet areas” out here!). As we approached, three shorebirds flew out, circled and landed behind a nearby building. I walked around it and found two Wood Sandpipers (don’t know what happened to the third). We called Bill and they arrived shortly and had nice looks at one of the birds.
Wood Sandpiper, near the Power Plant, May 21, 2016
We found four Tufted Ducks still at the Airport Ponds.
We returned to town for a pit stop and decided to check the feeders again. At the Seal Drive Feeder another Brambling popped out. This one was brighter than the Elfin Forest one from yesterday, and we later found out that Bill and Chris were looking at the Elfin Forest bird about the same time we were looking at this one. So two Bramblings, so far…
Brambling, Seal Drive Feeder, May 21, 2016
We could not reach Bill, so we continued on.
The godwits appear to have left and we found no other shorebirds at Clam Lagoon.
We headed over to Andrew Lake and finally spotted a Red-necked Phalarope for the trip.
Back to town we went. When we saw the Seal Drive Brambling earlier, it was raining, so I got very poor pictures. So we decided to try again. We pulled up to the feeder location and shortly a Hawfinch popped out! We called Bill and they arrived shortly and not only saw the Hawfinch, but got nice looks at the Brambling as well.
Hawfinch, Seal Drive Feeder, May 21, 2016
I was informed by Kitty LaBounty (who was with us on Adak last May) that the sure way to identify a Morel is to look inside. They are hollow.
Morel it is!
Our trip list is 54.
Note: I made a typo on the trip list spreadsheet earlier, so this is the new correct number.
Keep those birds coming…