They just keep coming…

Temp in the 40s. partly sunny, showers in the morning, Wind North 15-20 mph

Note: If anyone read yesterday’s blog before I corrected it, please note that the “Little Stint” was actually a Semipalmated Sandpiper. More on this below.

It took ten days, but we finally got out mandatory rainbow photo for the trip.

We decided to head up to Adak National Forest first thing this morning in order to see the Hawfinches before they hid on us all day!

Well, we got there, and although it took about 15 minutes, they finally appeared.

We headed down the hill, checked the Thrush Feeder, then went into the marsh.

At the “Plover Spot”, we saw 3 Pacific Golden-Plovers. Then I saw another shorebird which I immediately recognized as a Spotted Redshank! In breeding plumage no less!

Thankfully, Jim and Jon were in radio distance and got to our location in a few minutes. This was a lifer for Jim, Jon, and me. Barb had one in New Jersey many years ago, but this was a semi-lifer, as her previous one was in non-breeding plumage.

No question on this ID.

There are two other records for Adak — one on May 30,1972 and one on Sept 20,1975.

What a bird!!!!

A nice way to start the day.

Now, about yesterday…

I am allowed to make one bone-headed ID mistake each trip. Yesterday’s Little Stint was this trip’s quota.

When I saw the bird, I new it was a peep/stint. It had dark legs, so Least, Long-toed, and Temminck’s were ruled out. Baird’s and White-rumped are very distinctive, so they were ruled out also. That left Western, Red-necked, and Little. Westerns have long bills and always some rufous feathers somewhere, so that eliminated that species.

So that left the two stints. Having seen both Red-necked and Little, I felt confident that I could tell them apart. The bird just didn’t look like a Red-necked to me, so I convinced myself (and the others around me) that it was a Little Stint.

After posting it to this blog last night, I received several messages from good birding friends who are much better at this than I am, pointing out that this was in fact a Semipalmated Sandpiper!

Semi had never even crossed my mind, as they have never occurred here (although Isaac had a glimpse of what he thought as one several years ago) and are rare in the Aleutians as a whole.

So. The bird was a Semipalmated Sandpiper. New for Adak and new for our personal Adak list (and trip list),

Back to today.

We headed up to Clam Lagoon. There was a Common Loon on the lagoon — unusual location.

The score today at Lake Shirley was Tufted Duck 1; Gadwall 0.

As we drove down the east side of the lagoon, we got a call from Jon that there was another peep with the one from yesterday and they thought t might be a Temminck’s!

We raced around the lagoon (boy, we wish Candlestick Bridge was repaired — maybe when we win the lottery…)

We got there and saw the bird. It had yellow legs, which meant it was either a Least Sandpiper, a Long-toed Sandpiper, or a Temminck’s Stint. The Long-toed is fairly distinctive in shape and appearance, so was ruled out.

We’ve seen two Temminck’s Stints here, one in spring and one in fall. At first, this bird did not strike me as a Temminck’s — the jizz just wasn’t right. But after looking at it more carefully (especially after yesterday’s fiasco), I was finally convinced it was.

But, just to be certain, I sent photos to my friends — Aaron and Isaac — and they concurred.

Whew!

This also was a lifer for Jon and Jim!

Here are a few photos.

Its amazing how different a bird can look in different positions and lighting!

While observing the peeps, a nearby Semipalmated Plover kept chasing them away anytime they got near her nesting area.

She tried to lure us away as well.

Later, we went back up to Adak National Forest, just to see if anything new showed up. We pulled up and a few minutes after sitting there, a bird flew out and started flycatching above the forest. It landed briefly, but not long enough for me to get the camera on it. It then continued flycatching back and forth across the road and trees until it finally flew east and disappeared. It was flying so erratically that I could not get my camera on it. When it had landed, i did see that i had a long tail (like a Song Sparrow, for instance), but we could not tell what it was. It was totally backlit as well.

We called Jon and Jim and they arrived, but none of us could relocate the mystery bird.

One that got away…

On the way back to town, there were a couple of Glaucous Gulls hanging out near the Landing Lights.

The trip list is 65.

Keep em comin!