We spent a good part of the day at Adak today, dropping off some of the Attu crew and picking up a couple of people for the run to Dutch Harbor. We went through Little Tanaga Strait again and had the usual five auklet species, but there hasn’t been much else of note.
Archive for the ‘Aleutians’ Category
At sea, Adak to Tagalax, May 30
Monday, May 31st, 2010At Sea, Amchitka to Tanaga, May 29
Sunday, May 30th, 2010Until early afternoon, I thought I was going to have to write about how uneventful today was. There were lots of Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels and Laysan Albatrosses and alcids, but nothing all that remarkable. But then Kirk spotted a Mottled Petrel flying past on the starboard side, but he was the only one to see it. I always choose the wrong side of the boat, so of course, I was on the port side at the time.
A little while later, a small pod of Orca along with many albatrosses were ahead of us. As we approached, an adult Short-tailed Albatross suddenly appeared on our port side (and yes, I was sitting on the starboard side). It flew ahead of us but then sat on the water. It then started flying again and we lost it, but then I started chumming. Soon we had about 20 Laysans and one Black-footed behind the boat. Then Rich spotted the Short-tailed coming into the ship’s wake. Some of us had all three species in one binocular field of view. The Short-tailed never came close enough to grab some chum, but it did follow the boat for about 10 minutes. It was certainly the bird of the day.
At Sea, Buldir to Kiska, May 28
Saturday, May 29th, 2010This was a day of rest. Everyone was recovering from all the hiking and biking on Attu, so there wasn’t much effort put into looking for seabirds. We did see all of the expected auklet species, many Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels, and there was at least one Laysan Albatross in sight for most of the day. The best bird was a Red-legged Kittiwake southeast of Buldir. We ended the day in Kiska Harbor looking at some of the remains of the Japanese occupation of the island during World War II.
Attu, May 27
Friday, May 28th, 2010Our last day on Attu — we’re heading out of Massacre Bay as I write this — and as you may expect, it was our best day (well, it’s tied with the day we found the Solitary Snipe) so we’re a bit reluctant to leave. Mike “King Toochinkhamun” Toochin came through yet again with a Red-flanked Bluetail at Tattler Creek and a female Siberian Rubythroat, a Rustic Bunting, and Bramblings in West Massacre Valley. Denny Hodsdon turned up a flock of Hawfinches in Navy Town. I also saw a Hawfinch flying overhead plus a female Brambling in West Massacre, and on the walk out of the valley, most of us saw a flyover Wood Sandpiper.
Attu, May 26
Thursday, May 27th, 2010Slow day today: a few Rock Ptarmigan, one Bar-tailed Godwit, a possible Siberian Rubythroat that got away, and a dead Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel. Winds still coming from the north.
Attu, May 25
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010Just a short update as it was a very long day: We hiked from Alexai Point to Navy Town with a detour up West Massacre Valley for reported Oriental Greenfinches, which we missed. We then moved the boat down to Casco Cove for a reported Mongolian Plover, which we also missed. What we _did_ see today included a Long-toed Stint, first spotted by Mike “Tooch and Go” Toochin on a pond at Alexai Point, and a Rustic Bunting along Gilbert Ridge.
Attu, May 24 – a “first” North American record
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010Today was our first visit to Alexai Point. Like elsewhere, it was very slow at first. The only bird of any note was a fly-away Red-necked Stint found by Mike “Magic Tooch” Toochin. Most of the group then moved down the beach towards Gilbert Ridge. Near the base of the point, Kirk Zufelt flushed another male Rustic Bunting. Moving on, we watched a Glaucous-winged Gull fly over carrying an urchin. The gull dropped it on the rocks near one of us.
While looking up at it, Hermina Kramp and Rich MacIntosh spotted a snipe flying in overhead from behind. It landed along the beach in front of us and then disappeared into the grass. We flushed it back up to the road and then flushed it several more times before we could get a decent look at it, though each time it flew, it looked _very_ interesting…
By now, we were strongly suspecting it was a Solitary Snipe. Finally, we saw it on the ground, though it still wasn’t the best look. I was able to sneak up a hill and get a photo looking down on it. The photo is probably diagnostic though largely irrelevant now — researchers on the island were nearby and they were able to collect it. The specimen should be enough to put Solitary Snipe on the ABA and AOU North American checklists (assuming that identification is correct, of course).
I put “first” in quotes in the title because there was a report of Solitary Snipe from St. Paul island a few years ago. Even though it was photographed, the record was not accepted, though I hear it may be re-evaluated soon.
The winds are forecasted to remain from the north for the rest of our stay, but we have new hope for finding a few more birds before we have to leave.
Attu, May 21-23
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010Our first three days at Attu were by all accounts slow. There have been north winds for several weeks now with no real break. But there have been a few Asian birds, just no where near as many as we would have liked or expected. On May 21, there were 2 Wood Sandpipers in the runway ponds. On May 22, Mike “The Tooch” Toochin found a male Rustic Bunting in West Massacre Valley. We received word early on May 23 that a Hawfinch was seen briefly the night before along the Henderson River. It was refound this morning while two clients and myself were biking up to look for it. We got a look at it, but it didn’t stick around for the rest of the group to see it.
After birding, we moved the boat over to Alexai Point.
Cruising to Attu
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010Sorry for not keeping up to date. As expected, we had some problems with e-mail. Everything seems to be up and running now. I had been writing daily reports, but they were lost so I’ll combine days and just give a short wrap-up of what’s been going on.
We were at sea on May 19 and most of May 20. On May 19, we saw most of the expected pelagic species but nothing out of the ordinary (though we did see 5 species of auklets, including Whiskered). The highlight of the day came at dusk. We stopped to watch the massive Least and Crested Auklet colony at Sirius Point at Kiska. The sky was covered with thousands and thousands of birds. You can actually smell them — they have a citrus scent we could smell from the boat.
We woke up on May 20 near Buldir. We soon saw our first of eight Red-legged Kittiwakes, and again we saw five species of auklets. Later in the day we saw many Fork-tailed and Leach’s Storm-Petrels. A few Mottled Petrels were spotted throughout the afternoon. The oddest sighting of the day was a male Brambling that was going to land on the stern rail but then saw four of us, including my two co-leaders Rich “The MacInator” MacIntosh and Mike “Toocher” Toochin, sitting on lawn chairs.
Later, we stopped at Ingestrom Rocks and soon had over 40 Laysan Albatrosses swimming around the back of the boat. There was also a fly-by Black-footed. A Slaty-backed Gull was seen south of Shemya, and then we finally arrived at Attu and set anchor in Casco Cove.
At Sea, May 18
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010Our ship has finally come in. We headed out to bird this morning after breakfast, and the first thing we saw was the Puk-uk on the horizon. So we are now on the way to Attu.
The seabirding has been fairly good. On the southend of Little Tanaga Strait, we saw thousands of Whiskered Auklets. We also saw the other three _Aethia_ auklets to complete the grandslam. There was also a few possible Cassin’s Auklets, but we didn’t get confirmation on that.
We began to pick up Laysan Albatrosses along the south side of Kagalaska Island. At times 4 or more were flying around the boat. Then approaching Adak Strait, the number of tubenoses, particularly Fulmars began to build. It was dinner time, so most of us were down below when Kirk Zufelt started shouting something unintellegible. We wondered if it was an emergency or a good bird and decided he was yelling too loud for it to be an emergency. It had to be a good bird, and it was. Kirk saw a near-adult Short-tailed Albatross pass near the back end of the boat. By the time the rest of us got up there, it was pretty far behind the boat. It then passed us very far off the port side. Identifiable looks, but the rest of us are hoping for something better.
All in all a good day. Even Mike “Toochie” Toochin got 2 lifers.