Temps in the 50s, mostly cloudy, Wind WNW 5-15 mph

Aaron, the Adak Magician, pulls another duck out of his hat!

I had checked Sweeper Channel early and had a dozen teal and a few wigeon. I checked through them thoroughly (they weren’t very far up the channel) and they all flew off when I drove up the dike. I left there and headed up towards the Marsh.

Just as I was arriving there, I got a call from Aaron that he had a Baikal teal at Sweeper Channel!!!

I raced back and discovered about two dozen teal, several Mallards and more wigeon — and a Baikal Teal! This was obviously a different flock than I had earlier.

In any case, another Adak bird for me. Here is a poor, but identifiable photo. Notice the white spot just behind the bill.

It was pretty far up the channel, so after everyone got satisfactory views, several of us walked up the dike in hopes of closer photos. I got the above photo about halfway up and then everything flew. I did not get a flight photo, but Aaron did, showing the distinctive upper wing pattern

This was a Lifer for me that did not increase my life list.

Back in 2010, we had scheduled a trip to southeast Arizona. A Baikal Teal had been found in Phoenix, so we made a side trip up there to see it. Although we questioned its provenance, the state records committee accepted it, so we put it on our list. I was never really comfortable with that, so I am now dropping that sighting from my list and replacing it with this one.

Other than that bird, I had another Laysan Albatross and a few Short-tailed Shearwaters off the Seawall.

And 9 Black Scoters of Navfac Beach.

While walking back from taking the above photo, I noticed that the Seaside Ragworts were in seed.

The seed head is very similar to a Dandelion’s.

My trip list is 59 and the annual list is 84.

You can see today’s eBird list at https://ebird.org/checklist/S150779532