Temp in the 50s, mostly cloudy, sunnier in the afternoon, wind NW 10-15 mph

Lapland Longspurs are in abundance this time of year — gathering in flocks, flying up from the roadside, and just being nuisances. This one stayed still long enough for a photo.

As Isaac once answered us when we asked how soon the longspurs leave in the fall “Not soon enough!”

There are daily flocks of Aleutian Cackling Geese flying over.

I went down to Finger Bay today and had 11 Black Oystercatchers there. No other birds of note, but the salmon run has started. The creek had some salmon in it, but not the thousands to come over the next few weeks. And the creekside is not yet festooned with rotting salmon carcasses.

I added two White-winged Scoters at the Seawall.

The stint saga continues. It now appears that the bird with the Sanderlings on Monday was a Red-necked and the one with the Western Sandpipers yesterday (and today!) is probably the same bird.

And the Least Sandpiper is still here.

The Western Sandpiper flock is now 12.

But the most fun for me so far this trip has been seeing the Short-tailed Shearwaters close to shore at the Seawall. I love pelagics. I think they are some of the neatest birds in the world. But I have had so many experiences with seasickness on boat trips to see these birds that many of the experiences were less than enjoyable!

So I take great pleasure in seeing (closeup) pelagic birds with my feet firmly planted on solid ground (ground that doesn’t move — except for the earthquakes…).

So here is a photo gallery of the Seawall shearwaters.

They were constantly flying and diving. They would take short hops over the water and plunge under — very similar to the many alcids out here. I always thought of shearwaters as skimmers — picking up food near the surface. So this was interesting to watch.

The group from Tennessee left today, so I will be birding alone on the island until Gabi and Michelle arrive on Saturday.

The trip list is 44.