Nice start!
Our flights to Anchorage were uneventful.
After doing our food shopping, we went out and did a little birding, but didn’t find anything unusual.
This morning we headed up to Arctic Valley, as we always do. Since we started coming up here, we have driven up the Arctic Valley Road (which goes up to the Arctic Valley Ski Area) one of the easier roads to drive and get up to high elevation. We always make it our first priority in order to get up there before any other vehicles. The point being to find ptarmigan out on the roadsides before they get scared off.
Well, every time we have done this, one or more vehicles have beaten us to it, and we see no chickens of any kind!
Until today…
Just a mile or two up the road, we spotted a dark lump on the side of the road, which turned out to be a Spruce Grouse! Then another mile or so and we saw another one, and then farther up, another one!
Spruce Grouse, Arctic Valley Road, Anchorage, Sept 13, 2017 (Number 1)
Spruce Grouse, Arctic Valley Road, Anchorage, Sept 13, 2017 (Number 2)
Spruce Grouse, Arctic Valley Road, Anchorage, Sept 13, 2017 (Number 3)
We were really hoping for Willow Ptarmigan (the only one we don’t have), but at least we had grouse.
Once we got to the top, there were no other vehicles there – hence our success.
It was very windy in Anchorage today. The wind noise may also have helped to mask the sound of our car as we came upon the grouse. The wind made dicky-birding difficult, to say the least.
Later, we were birding along Ship Creek and Barb spotted a Greater Yellowlegs. Last year, I saw one, but Barb missed it. So now she picked up an Alaskan bird that I had on her.
Greater Yellowlegs, Old Power Plant Pond, Ship Creek, Anchorage, Sept 13, 2017
Our flight to Adak left early. In talking to the flight attendants (whom we have gotten to know over the years) we found out that the fish-processing plant on Adak was back to full time operation. They said they had been having 50-60 passengers per flight out to Adak – very unusually high. This bodes well for Adak’s economy and possibly for birders looking for gulls. The plant discharges waste into the bay and that attracts and concentrates the gulls. We will see.
The weather when we arrived was partly sunny and in the 50s. There was a moderate south wind.
After unpacking and getting our gear together, we headed up to Clam Lagoon. There was nothing special there. On the way back we decided to stop at the Warbler Willows – a practice that we have adopted since having the Wood Warbler there three years ago. We stop there at least twice-a-day in the fall.
I got out of the car and walked over to get a view of the willows and spotted a bird in the far willows that I had never seen before. I called to Barb and she came over as I was taking photos.
She saw the bird – it was sitting mostly in the open – and I then circled around to try to get closer. Unfortunately, the bird disappeared into the thicker bushes and did not reappear.
However, I did get some nice photos.
It was a Grey-streaked Flycatcher! Only the second record for Adak. The previous one was seen by Jon Pushock and Devitch Farbotnik back in 2004.
Gray-streaked Flycatcher, Warbler Willows, Adak, Sept 13, 2017
Gray-streaked Flycatcher, Warbler Willows, Adak, Sept 13, 2017
Not a bad start for the trip!
This evening, just after looking at the photos on the computer, the power went out. That was around 8, it is now 9:45. We have had power outages many times before out here, so we are not worried. And it’s not very cold, yet.
So if you are wondering why there was no posting Wednesday night, that is why.