More dickey birds…

Temp in the 40s, Partly sunny!, Wind N 10-15 mph.

Did we mention the earthquakes? We had one on Monday morning about 3:30 and another around 9:30 PM last night. Now these are not building-tumbling temblors. These are more three-shakes-and-done. They are most noticeable when lying in bed, as the bed rocks a little.

Also yesterday, we saw an injured male Tufted Duck at the Airport Ponds. Its left wing appeared to be damaged somehow. It could not lift it to flap it. We did not see it today.

The Yellow Wagtails up at the marsh have been frustrating me no end! I have been trying to get a photo, but every time I approach the area, they see me before I see them and they take off. They hide in the reeds and are impossible to see. So I am trying a new tactic. I went out and placed some sticks (pieces of boards) into the marsh where they hang out and hope they will perch on them (sure!). This was suggested by Keith’s group.

As we were driving out of the marsh (after placing the sticks) we got a call from Keith’s group that they had a Hawfinch at the Thrush Feeder (less than a quarter-mile from where we were). John’s group was also just leaving the marsh, so we all arrived shortly and the Hawfinch flew in, then out, then in, etc. affording everyone good views and photo-ops.

Hawfinch, Thrush Feeder (near Navfac Creek), May 19, 2017.

That now makes six Asian passerine species! Wow!

Over at Haven Lake, we found a good bird — American Wigeon. All wigeon out here are presumed Eurasian until proven otherwise. Americans occur here every year, but in very low numbers.

We went up to the Blue Buildings to try for the Eye-browed Thrush. While walking around looking for it (we did not see it) I found a pair of Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches courting. While one just sat nearby (I assume the Female), the other cocked his tail and fluttered his wings, trying to impress.

Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch courting, May 19, 2017

Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch courting, May 19, 2017

Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch courting, May 19, 2017

Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch courting, May 19, 2017

The fish-processing ship left last night, but what appears to be another is now anchored in Kuluk Bay. Although a fishing boat tied up to them this morning, we have not seen any signs of fish-processing going on and the gulls are ignoring it.

More and more Bramblings are finding our feeders. Here are some more photos.

Bramblings at a “feeder”, Adak, May 19, 2017

Bramblings, Adak, May 19, 2017

Brambling, Adak, May 19, 2017

Just as the Yellow Wagtail is frustrating me photo-wise, Barb is getting just as frustrated not being able to see the Rustic Bunting and White Wagtail since we first found them. Each day since, other groups have seen one or the other or both, but every time we stop by, they are nowhere to be found! This afternoon, we made a concerted effort that only resulted in my seeing the wagtail fly across the creek and out-of-sight over the bluff (Barb didn’t see it!) and Barb getting a brief glimpse of the bunting before it vanished into the weeds. So, still frustrated…

The Puk-Uk arrives tonight and Keith’s group will be going out for auklets tomorrow. Then, on Sunday, the boat leaves for Attu.

Our trip list is 62.

Temp in the 40s, Overcast, but higher ceiling than recent days, making it brighter, NNE wind 10-15 mph, no rain!

Both wagtails were seen again today. It is unclear whether we have one wandering Eye-browed Thrush or as many as three! One has been seen the past two days up at the Blue Building Feeder at the northwest corner of Clam Lagoon and today one was found hanging around one of the old buildings at Contractors’ Camp Marsh.

Red-necked Grebes moved in last night, with 12 off the Seawall. The tern numbers (Arctic and Aleutian) also jumped overnight with dozens of them coursing over Clam Lagoon and the Seawall.

The fish-processing ship stopped processing yesterday afternoon and all of the pelagics left. A small fishing boat came in late this morning and the processing started up again. But no pelagics showed up today. However, a Pomarine Jaeger joined the feeding frenzy (spotted by Stefan, and later photographed — poorly — by me). Since the ship was a half-mile offshore, I set my camera up and started snapping pictures of the flock of birds, in hopes of picking out something interesting when I downloaded them. It worked. I found a Glaucous Gull in several of the photos. That plus the jaeger brings our trip list up to 60.

Glaucous Gull with Glaucous-winged Gulls, Kuluk Bay, May 18, 2017.The tour groups left today, as did the Anchorage/California group and Andrew from the Anchorage group. John Puschok arrived today with three birders in preparation for their Attu trip. Their boat — the Puk-Uk — is expected to arrive tomorrow night, giving the Anchorage group a chance to go out and see the Whiskered (and other) Auklets.

More tomorrow.

Temp in the 40s, overcast, foggy at times, occasional drizzle, Wind 15-25 NW.

Bramblings have started to show up at the feeders in town, but they seem not to linger. This is in contrast to our previous records of one or two birds finding a feeder and then staying there to feed and roost.

The Bramblings are everywhere. One observer today tallied 166! There are many more. There are records of such fallouts on the Western Aleutians, but this is the first such recorded event for the Central Aleutians. It is very enjoyable.

Brambling, Adak, May 17, 2017

The Rustic Bunting and White Wagtail were seen again today in Sweeper Channel!

Across from the High School Spruces, a Semipalmated Plover was trying to lure us away doing the “broken wing” act.

Semipalmated Plover doing the “broken wing” act, May 17, 2017

The fish processing ship in Kuluk Bay continues to attract large pelagics. Today, in addition to many Laysan Albatross, there were several Black-footed Albatross. But still too far for good photos.

The Bar-tailed Godwits continue on Landing Lights Beach.

Bar-tailed Godwits, Landing Lights Beach, May 17, 2017

At Lake Andrew, we had two Common Loons.

Common Loon, Lake Andrew, May 17, 2017

We learned late today, that there was a Yellow-billed Loon on the eastern side of Lake Andrew (in easy photo distance) since Monday! We had only gotten over there once so far this trip and it was fogged in. Yellow-billed is the one loon we have seen several times out here that has never been within photo range. Aargh!!!

There was a pair of Tufted Ducks on Lake Ronnie and several Black Oystercatchers at several locations. The only other shorebird of note was a Wandering Tattler at Clam Lagoon.

One of the other groups had a Short-eared Owl.

We ended today with a call from Aaron that there were a Herring Gull and a Vega Gull at Clam Lagoon. Vega Gull is an Asian subspecies of Herring Gull. We have seen the Vega variety before, but not the “American” Herring Gull out here.

So we headed up there and got to see the Herring, but the Vega had flown off.

“American” Herring Gull, Clam Lagoon, May 17, 2017

Our trip list is 58.

Many of the birders here are leaving tomorrow, but a few are staying until Sunday.

We will miss the extra eyes and ears.

Second time’s the charm, almost…

Temp in the 40s, W wind 10-25 mph, overcast, sporadic rain.

The feeders have still not attracted much, although a few Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches have found a few of them. We added a lot of common — and one not-so-common — Adak migrants today, raising our trip list to 52.

There was nothing unusual at Sweeper Cove or Sweeper Creek. We tried for the Eye-browed Thrush again, but no luck. The Tufted Duck count at the Airport Ponds is up to 3. A quick run around Contractors’ Camp Marsh yielded our first Red-necked Phalarope for the trip.

We spent all morning around town and nearby, checking a lot of places. We planned to go up to Contractor’s Camp Marsh after lunch with Stefan’s group and the guys from Anchorage. It s always better to do such a large area with extra eyes and ears.

We met up with them and while Barb stayed back at the truck, I walked out with the others. At the edge where the drier section met the wetter section, one of the guys spotted the Yellow Wagtails in the marsh. Of course, they disappeared into thicker vegetation before I could catch up to them! However, they soon took flight, and both Barb and I got views of them in the air. They circled around and returned to the same area, but disappeared again as quickly as before. They flew two more times, but Barb and I never got up-close-and-personal views. But, it was good enough for now. No photos…

I plan to try again in the next few days when the wind subsides a bit.

While we were there, we also had a number of Wilson’s and Common snipe, and four Pacific Golden-Plovers.

Pacific Golden-Plovers, Contractors’ Camp Marsh, May 16, 2017.

We headed up to Clam Lagoon and played leap-frog with Stefan. He got to the Blue Building Feeder before us and found the Eye-browed Thrush there. Of course, it flew away before we got there! So another miss.

Along the northern shore of Clam Lagoon, a gray Gyrfalcon flew by us headed for Stefan. We called him and his group also saw it.

At the northeastern corner, there was a feeding frenzy going on.

Glaucous-winged Gull feeding frenzy, Clam Lagoon, May 16, 2017.

We saw the usual suspects along the Seawall and east side of Clam Lagoon.

We had one Bar-tailed Godwit at Clam Lagoon and saw 16 others down on Landing Lights Beach.

It was getting late, so we headed back to town. By the way, we have been running into several flocks of Bramblings up and down Bayshore Drive, as far north as Contactors’ Camp Marsh. However, they have been very flighty and haven’t hung around for photo-ops.

We checked the Seal drive feeder — nothing — and as we drove out of that area, Barb drove up one of the nearby loops that has a spruce tree at one of the abandoned houses. We didn’t see anything there, but as we rounded the bend, a flock of Bramblings flew out. This time however — maybe it was the pouring rain — they were a little more cooperative.

Bramblings, Adak, May 16, 2017.

11 of the 30+ Bramblings, Adak, May 16, 2017.

Bramblings, Adak, May 16, 2017.

Brambling bathing (in the rain no less!), Adak, May 16, 2017.

See? We weren’t making this up!

In addition to the 52 species we have seen so far, the other groups have also had Eye-browed Thrush, Peregrine Falcon, Common Redpoll, Black Oystercatcher, and maybe a few others.

The winds are supposed to switch back to a more northerly direction the next few days. Not the best scenario.

Regardless, we will be out there looking…

You win some, you lose some.

Temp in the 40s, overcast, rain and drizzle much of the day, some sun late in the day, Wind 15-30, NW.

We started out on our usual routine of checking feeders, Sweeper Cove and Channel.

We had just put out seed yesterday, so except for Rosy-Finch and Snow Bunting at the Sandy Cove Bluffs feeder, there was no action. At Sweeper Cove, we had our first Ancient Murrelet of the trip.

As we were driving up Bayshore Drive, we spotted the Brambling flock — but again, non-cooperative. We then got a call from Stefan that he had found an Eye-browed Thrush at the High School Spruces. We (and the other groups nearby) headed over there. The bird was not being terribly cooperative, and since we have seen them previously on Adak, we headed out to look for other stuff while the other groups tried to get better looks at the thrush. They eventually all got satisfactory views. We tried later in the day, but did not see it.

There is a fish-processing ship anchored in Kuluk Bay and it has attracted Laysan Albatross and Fulmars. These birds are coming in much closer to shore than normal, providing nice views through a scope, but not very good photos. I took some anyway…

Three Laysan Albatross and Glaucous-winged Gulls, Kuluk Bay, May 15, 2017.

Laysan Albatross and Glaucous-winged Gull, Kuluk Bay, May 15, 2017.

Laysan Albatross and Glaucous-winged Gull, Kuluk Bay, May 15, 2017.

Laysan Albatross and Glaucous-winged Gulls, Kuluk Bay, May 15, 2017.

We headed north. At the Navfac Creek overlook, there was a flock of 150+ Black Scoters.

We headed up to Clam Lagoon. The tide was in as we started around, so we headed over to the Seawall. There, we had 5 Pacific Loons, a Red-necked Grebe, and the usual sea ducks and cormorants.

We came back around Clam Lagoon. The tide was starting to recede and one Bar-tailed Godwit was feeding on the flats. As we were leaving the lagoon, we ran into Stefan who told us they had 14 godwits down on Navfac Creek Beach. He also told us Aaron had been trying to reach us because he had found two — not one, but TWO! — Yellow Wagtails at Contractor’s Camp Marsh! Our nemesis birds on Adak are wagtails. Both yellow and white have occurred on the island while we have been here, but we have always missed them.

So, although the birds had been seen several hours ago — and passerines tend not to stick around Adak unless at a feeder — we headed down to the marsh to look for them. By this time the wind had increased to 25-30 MPH and it was drizzling. We drove and walked around the area where they had been seen, but no luck.

So we continued south, tried briefly for the thrush, and then did Sweeper Creek and Channel. We drove up the channel, watching and listening to the resident Rock Sandpipers. At the place where the road ends,we stopped as usual and scanned the streamsides. No sooner had we stopped than Barb yelled “White Wagtail!”

Sure enough, a White Wagtail was actively feeding across the creek along the edge of the vegetation. So we didn’t get the Yellows, but this was nice compensation. We quickly called the other groups and they all started heading our way.

White Wagtail, Sweeper Channel, May 15, 2017.

White Wagtail, Sweeper Channel, May 15, 2017.

White Wagtail, Sweeper Channel, May 15, 2017.

As I was taking photos of the wagtail, I turned away for a second and lost sight of him. I put up my binos and scanned the streamside and spotted a little-brown-job with a distinctively-marked head pattern. I said to myself, “I’ve never seen one of those before!” and quickly alerted Barb to it as I started taking photos of this new bird. It turned out to be a Rustic Bunting. Readers of our previous blogs may remember that we had a Rustic Bunting in September 2014. However, that was a fall-plumaged bird, not striking like this guy. Also, that sighting lasted ten seconds at most and afforded no photo opportunity.

This was  MUCH nicer.

Rustic Bunting, Sweeper Channel, May 15, 2017.

Rustic Bunting, Sweeper Channel, May 15, 2017.

Rustic Bunting, Sweeper Channel, May 15, 2017.

Rustic Bunting, Sweeper Channel, May 15, 2017.

The wagtail and bunting worked their way down the channel towards Sweeper Cove. By the time the other birders arrived, the wagtail was gone, but the bunting was still visible. Most of them got good views, but the bird was very active and was hard to pin down. As they were watching the bunting, I walked down to the Sweeper Estuary (as I call it), and there was the wagtail. I radioed the others, and they came down and many of them saw it before it took off, heading towards the airport. We found out later that Stefan and his group — who were out of range when we found these birds — later found the wagtail in the estuary. But not the bunting.

Although we had seen White Wagtails in Europe last year, this was a North American bird for us. And the Bunting was certainly a more enjoyable sighting than our first one. The nice looks at albatrosses was also very rewarding.

Not a bad day.

So…

So far, there have been 5 species of Asian passerines. Unheard of! Two or three is what we usually expect. There had been very strong southwest winds for several days before our arrival, and we suspect that is what brought all of these birds here. Who knows what else lurks out there as I write this…

I mentioned yesterday that there were 18 birders out here. That might be a record. In any case, there’s High Lonesome, led by Stefan, with Joe and Susan; Wilderness, led by Aaron, with Kris, Steve, Luann, and Mike; 4 from Anchorage, Keith, Eric, Enric, and Andrew; and a group of 6 from Anchorage and California, Sue, Frank, Mark, Janet, and Susan — yes, there are three Sues!

Some of them are only staying until Thursday.  They certainly lucked out on the right week so far.

We started this trip on a bad note. Our limo driver overslept! Instead of picking us up at 2:45 am, he didn’t arrive until 3:30. With many apologies, he put the pedal-to-the-metal and got us to the airport at 4:30 for a 5 am flight. Fortunately, we had TSA PreCheck, so we sailed through security and arrived at the gate just as the last passengers were boarding. Whew!

We got to Chicago on time and the flight from there to Anchorage arrived a little early. We got the car, checked in at the motel and headed out to shop. On the way, we stopped at Spenard Crossing, having heard that a pair of Redheads were there. That would be a state bird for us. We got them.

Redhead, Spenard Crossing, Anchorage, May 14, 2017

Also there, Barb spied a Mew Gull nesting 20 feet up in a spruce tree! We still are not accustomed to seeing gulls and shorebirds up in trees…

Mew Gull on nest, Spenard Crossing, Anchorage, May 14, 2017

We got our shopping done, got supper, and crashed for the night.

Sunday morning, we headed up to Arctic Valley (as usual). Keith Confer, an Anchorage resident — a birder going out to Adak — had scouted the area out for Willow Ptarmigan — one of our nemesis birds. He had heard some up there and some friends of his had flushed some in recent days. So I walked up the trail and played the call and got a response! The bird was calling from a willow thicket that I could not get very near, as there were several inches of fresh snow and walking off-trail was treacherous. The bird did not call again and did not show itself. So my sum experience with Willow Ptarmigans at this point is finding feathers a couple of trips back and now hearing one. So I guess that makes it two-thirds of a lifer…

Although we didn’t see the ptarmigan, we did see a few of the regular species up there.

A very angry-looking Golden-crowned Sparrow.

Golden-crowned Sparrow, , Arctic Valley, Anchorage, May 14, 2017

A fairly cooperative Savannah Sparrow.

Savannah Sparrow, Arctic Valley, Anchorage, May 14, 2017

And plenty of Robins.

American Robin, Arctic Valley, Anchorage, May 14, 2017

Robins are plentiful in Anchorage, but I just hadn’t taken the time to photograph one before.

We also saw several Snowshoe Hares — already in their summer coats.

Snowshoe Hare, Arctic Valley, Anchorage, May 14, 2017

We birded several other locations. There was a pair of Greater White-fronted Geese at Potter’s Marsh — a new Alaska Mainland bird for us — and finally ended up at Lake Hood. There we found a pair of Barrow’s Goldeneyes and the friendly Red-throated Loon was back.

Barrow’s Goldeneyes, Lake Hood, Anchorage, May 14, 2017

Red-throated Loon, Lake Hood, Anchorage, May 14, 2017

On to Adak. Our flight left about a half-hour late.

We arrived, got to our house, and started unpacking. We go a call from Aaron Lang that there was a flock of about 30 Brambling up near where Isaac used to live! We had never seen more than one or two Brambling at a time out here and the maximum we had ever seen during our two-week stays was about six!

We finished unpacking, loaded up the truck with our birding gear and headed out. We set birdseed out at several of the usual locations. We had a pair of Tufted Ducks on the Airport Ponds. We did a quick run up to Clam Lagoon and Shotgun Lake. We didn’t see anything obviously different, so we headed back down to look for the Bramblings.

As we dove through the area, Stefan, from Hi-Lonesome Bird Tours was also looking. He went one way, we another. He called us shortly after we split up to say he had found them. We went to his location and watched as a large flock of Bramblings worked their way up the roadside and finally disappeared up a hillside. I was unable to get photos, as they stayed just far enough ahead and kept moving. Maybe tomorrow. It was still pretty exciting.

There are 18 other birders here besides us. Lots of eyes and ears!

It is midnight here so I am signing off and will fill you in with the details of the other groups here tomorrow.