Attu « The Z Bird Birding Blog

Archive for the ‘Attu’ Category

Attu video

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

Since we’re on the subject of music (see yesterday’s post), now would be a good time to release my new Attu video. Yes, it’s a birding video and a music video! And we’re talking original music, too, people.

As far as I know, this is the first video of it’s kind — an original music video by birders for birders. (But I’m probably wrong, and I’m sure you’ll let me know in the comments.) I thought I was scooped by Gyr Crakes, but since I’m not hip to hip music, I didn’t realize the music was taken from an existing track. I guess I gotta start hanging out with young Brits to educate myself about such things.

FYI, it looks better at 720p (you can select that on the bottom right corner of the screen after you hit “play”), especially if you watch it on YouTube (it’s bigger on there). And just in case anyone is wondering, no, Brian St. Clair didn’t have a part in this. I mention this protect his reputation.

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From around the ‘tubes

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

There are a few items out there today on The Internet related to subjects that The Z Bird Birding Blog covers:

1) Here’s a short essay about birding at Attu, presumably back in 1998. As you may know, 1998 is largely regarded as the spring with the best birding ever on Attu. It isn’t mentioned in this essay, but I bring it up because it seems odd to me how many people apparently were there. Whenever I run into someone who says they were at Attu, it seems 90% were there in 1998. I think I need to get a trip manifest from Larry Balch to see if anyone is lying.

2) Birdchick talks more about The Big Year here. There are a few more details about what’s in the movie.

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Attu tour fee lowered over $1000!

Monday, October 4th, 2010

I apologize for the purely promotional post here…The captain of the Puk-Uk, the boat we use for our Attu expeditions, has offered us a lower charter rate for the boat, so we’re passing on the savings. The tour fee is now $6495 plus a fuel surcharge. That’s a $1200 discount. We might be able to lower the price even further. Stay tuned for developments.

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At sea, June 1, Islands of Four Mountains to Dutch Harbor — The End of the Journey

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

There wasn’t as much action today as on previous days. There were relatively few albatrosses (Laysan and Black-footed) and alcids. But we intercepted a stream of thousands of Short-tailed Shearwaters off and on throughout the day. Kirk spotted a probable Mottled Petrel, but it was too far away for a positive ID. Between Umnak and Unalaska islands, a few Red-legged Kittiwakes flew overhead. One of them circled the boat a few times before continuing on its way. Then as we approached Dutch Harbor, we found a few small flocks of Whiskered Auklets.

The trip is now finished. Check back in a few days for a photo gallery…and of course keep an eye on the website or e-mail me for info if you’re interested in coming along next year.

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At Sea, May 31, Amlia Island to Amukta Pass

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Breakfast was interrupted by Rich shouting down from the pilot house that an adult Short-tailed Albatross was flying past us. No one was able to get up top in time to see it, but it got everyone to finish breakfast quickly. Soon everyone was in the pilot house or on deck looking for another one, but we didn’t see any at first.

There was a small fishing boat on the horizon, so we switched course to see if there were any birds around it. There wasn’t, but in the course of a radio conversation, that boat’s captain said we weren’t in a good area for Short-taileds. We knew we were in a good area — we were approaching Seguam Pass, a hotspot for them — so it was a nice ‘I told you so’ when we spotted the next Short-tailed within sight of that boat.

Over the next several hours, we encountered more Short-taileds. As we passed through the west side of Seguam Pass, the Short-tailed count approached 10.

Some may have been spotted more than once, but we probably had at least 7. Ages varied from all brown juveniles to older subadults.

The west side of Seguam Pass was a huge tidal rip and birds were everywhere. There were thousands and thousands of Fulmars, hundreds of Laysan Albatrosses, more than a handful of Black-footed Albatross, and various alcids, but only one Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel. The waters calmed as we reached the east side, and there were fewer birds.

We then passed Seguam Island and entered Amukta Pass. This pass is deeper than Seguam Pass. We had fewer birds here, but there were still lots of fulmars and now many Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels.

Tomorrow should be the final day of the trip.

Posted in Aleutians, Attu, Rare Birds, Trip reports, pelagics | 1 Comment »

At sea, Adak to Tagalax, May 30

Monday, May 31st, 2010

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.

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At Sea, Amchitka to Tanaga, May 29

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

Until 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.

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At Sea, Buldir to Kiska, May 28

Saturday, May 29th, 2010

This 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.

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Attu, May 27

Friday, May 28th, 2010

Our 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.

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Attu, May 26

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

Slow 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.