The westerlies are paying off!

Temp in the 40s, mostly cloudy off-and-on rain, Wind SW 15-30 mph

The day started off wet and windy, with no new birds.

Up at the plover hotspot, the number of Pacific Golden-Plovers was up to 10. And these appeared to be new birds, as the birds we had two days ago were all in breeding plumage, save one. Today’s were mostly in non-breeding plumage or in-between. So there is a daily turnover going on. We are not just seeing the same birds over and over.

Pacific Golden-Plover, Contractors’ Camp Marsh, May 23, 2018

At Clam Lagoon, the murrelets are all paired up. But they are difficult to get close to. This is about the best I can get.

Marbled Murrelet, Clam Lagoon, May 23, 2018

At Lake Shirley, the Tufted Duck is still present, but the Gadwall is not.

That was about all we had to report today, but then Jon Boone and Jim Deforge arrived on today’s flight, stowed their gear, and went out birding.

I was about to start tonight’s blog, when I got a call from Jim informing us that hey had two Hawfinches at the feeder at Adak National Forest!

Good thing I filled that feeder this afternoon!

We quickly headed up there and saw them. Here are two photos of the male and one of the female.

Hawfinch (female and wet!), Adak National Forest, May 23, 2018

Hawfinch (male), Adak National Forest, May 23, 2018

Hawfinch (male), Adak National Forest, May 23, 2018

Gary Lyon arrived tonight as well, and he and his group also got the Hawfinches. It looks like they won’t be sailing to Attu until Friday at the earliest.

We just new the past day-and-a-half’s winds had brought in something. We just had to find them.

The westerlies continue. We hope to find more goodies tomorrow.

The trip list is 60.