Temp in the 50s, partly sunny, wind 10 SW mph

Final day

No new shorebirds or passerines, but out at Lake Andrew, Barb spotted a Northern Harrier. By the time I jumped out of the truck to get photos, it was gone.

It was an “orange” bird, thereby excluding Hen Harrier. This is the second time that we have had a harrier at Lake Andrew that quickly got away. Our other two encounters were more photo-friendly.

After all of the great trips we have had over the last couple years, we knew we were headed for a let down. Well this was it. No lifers.

However, it was our third best trip species-wise (60). And our second best year list (92).

We added Redhead to both of our Adak lists and Barb added Leach’s Storm-Petrel (I had one previously).

The shearwaters, Fulmars, and petrel were certainly the highlight of the trip.

As I mentioned earlier in the week, the plane did not arrive on Wednesday, so today’s flight had more passengers than normal. The plane arrived on time, but since the TSA agent comes out with the plane and examines EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF BAGGAGE, the plane left an hour late! This made our connection in Anchorage iffy, but the pilot put the pedal to the medal and we arrived just as our flight to Chicago was boarding. Whew!

That flight left on time and arrived early, but the gate was not empty, so we sat on the tarmac for 40 minutes and were late!

Our layover in Chicago is three-and-a-half hours, so it was no problem.

The flight to Philadelphia left about a half-hour late and, as we were landing, he aborted (there was a plane on the runway where it shouldn’t have been) so we circled for another thirty minutes before finally landing.

So we got home about an hour late, but safe (and with our luggage!).

We will return next May.

PS: We got the Rock Wren this morning (Oct 8)