A trip to the Pribilofs is a must on every birder’s dream list, and despite missing a storm system with associated migrants the week before, we had a pretty successful time this year on St Paul. Our Peninsula Air jet from Anchorage flew over the snowy peaks of the Alaska Range – with only brief glimpses of the show of mountains on our way to St Paul. On our return flight (eventually) we did have a panorama below us including the smoking peak of Mt Redoubt and the coating of ash covering the snow from the last eruption. St Paul is an island of brown grass with rocky outcroppings and snow-filled gullies. There are no trees on St Paul, so most migrant passerines have to shelter behind rocks, buildings, crab-pots and in weedy gullies, while shorebirds can frequent the shallow pools of water that dot the rolling volcanic landscape. Steep seacliffs and boulder-strewn beaches make up a good portion of the coastline and these provide sanctuary for many species of alcids during the breeding season. The weather this year was variable to say the least with cloudy, foggy days interspersed with rare sunny spells and this pattern continued for our whole trip. The seacliffs were alive with the comings and goings of the whole range of auklets, puffins and kittiwakes and cormorants and all gave us excellent views. We could have sat there all day, but there were birds to find and see- and besides, it was quite cold and breezy on those clifftops. Siberian rarities were in small numbers and there decidedly skittish but we did find Eye-browed Thrush, Brambling, Rustic Bunting and best of all, Taiga Flycatcher. Vagrant shorebirds included Common Greenshank, Black-tailed Godwit and Common Snipe but after a few days on the island, the winds shifted to north-easterlies which brought us birds heading to the Alaskan mainland. The best were a very obliging Bristle-thighed Curlew and Pacific Golden-Plover. The curlew sighting was particularly satisfying as we now did not have to hike up Coffee Dome in Nome (not that we would have time anyway).
But, the weather and airline Gods intervened to leave us marooned on St Paul for an additional 3 days. Unfortunately the unfavourable NE winds prevailed and the birding dried up but we still drove around and around the island with a few birds to show for all our perseverance! We added Short-eared Owl, Savannah Sparrow, Ancient Murrelet and eventually tracked down the last remaining Wood Sandpiper remaining from the past SW winds. Despite the extra few days on the island, we were treated to great food at the Cannery (thanks Sal), great treatment by the local TDX folks (thanks Bea) and excellent local guiding (thanks to Scott, Sean and Stefan) so it didn’t seem so bad after all!!
| Birds (seen and/or heard) | ||
| Common Loon A | Wood Sandpiper P | Western Wood-Pewee A |
| Red-necked Grebe A | Spotted Sandpiper A | Tree Swallow A |
| Northern Fulmar P | Wandering Tattler P | Violet-green Swallow A |
| Red-faced Cormorant P | Ruddy Turnstone P | Bank Swallow A |
| Pelagic Cormorant P | Red-necked Stint P | Red-throated Pipit P |
| Cackling Goose (“Aleutian”) P | Least Sandpiper P | American Pipit P |
| Canada Goose PA | Pectoral Sandpiper P | Winter Wren P |
| Eurasian Wigeon P | Dunlin P | Eye-browed Thrush P |
| American Wigeon AP | Rock Sandpiper P | American Robin A |
| Common (Eurasian) Teal P | Red-necked Phalarope AP | Taiga Flycatcher P |
| Mallard AP | Red Phalarope P | Black-capped Chickadee A |
| Northern Pintail P | Parasitic Jaeger P | Red-breasted Nuthatch A |
| Northern Shoveler A | Long-tailed Jaeger P | Black-billed Magpie A |
| Greater Scaup AP | Mew Gull (“Kamchatka”) P | Common Raven AP |
| King Eider P | Glaucous-winged Gull P | European Starling A |
| Harlequin Duck P | Glaucous Gull P | Yellow-rumped Warbler A |
| Long-tailed Duck P | “Vega” Herring Gull P | Wilson’s Warbler A |
| Black Scoter P | American Herring Gull A | Rustic Bunting P |
| White-winged Scoter A | Slaty-backed Gull P | Savannah Sparrow AP |
| Common Goldeneye AP | Red-legged Kittiwake P | Lincoln’s Sparrow A |
| Barrow’s Goldeneye A | Black-legged Kittiwake P | White-crowned Sparrow A |
| Bufflehead P | Common Murre P | Golden-crowned Sparrow P |
| Red-breasted Merganser P | Thick-billed Murre P | Dark-eyed Junco A |
| Bald Eagle A | Pigeon Guillemot P | Lapland Longspur P |
| Merlin A | Ancient Murrelet P | Snow Bunting P |
| Sandhill Crane P | Parakeet Auklet P | White-winged Crossbill A |
| Pacific Golden-Plover P | Crested Auklet P | Brambling P |
| Semipalmated Plover P | Least Auklet P | Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch P |
| Common Snipe P | Horned Puffin P | Hoary Redpoll P |
| Black-tailed Godwit P | Tufted Puffin P | Common Redpoll A |
| Bar-tailed Godwit P | Rock Pigeon A | Pine Siskin A |
| Bristle-thighed Curlew P | Short-eared Owl P | |
| Common Greenshank P | Downy Woodpecker A | |
Other creatures
Arctic Fox
Northern Fur-Seal
Harbor Seal
Walrus (alas dead and beheaded!)
Steller’s Sealion (also dead)
Caribou
b)
Mainland Alaska: June 3-16, 2009 After our lengthy stay on St Paul in the Pribilofs, it was pleasant (and somewhat birdy) to get back to Anchorage and continue on with our Alaska tour. With our original 3 days of birding whittled down to now less than 24 hours, we hit the ground running (and birding) as we decided on our game plan to get the most out of this very short time. Yes, we missed some birds, but that was unavoidable really- but some of us were still out birding at 12:15 PM the next morning when we saw 2 Curlew Sandpipers found by another group a short while earlier. One of the best sightings had to be the 3 pair of Emperor Geese along the Council Road- always stunning to see. Before we knew it we were back in Anchorage where we found the Connor’s Lake Pacific Loon amidst a swarm of biting mosquitos. After picking up Edwin and Kay we were off to Seward. After seeing an obliging Olive-sided Flycatcher on our way south under beautiful skies we hoped for a great day out on the water at Kenai Fjords National Park. Despite it being a little breezy out on the ocean, we had a great day of wildlife watching with Orca, Humpback Whale and the sometimes elusive Kittlitz’s Murrelet. Thanks to Andrea and Chris for a great educational and enjoyable day. The Glenallen Highway was rather quiet, but the scenery and food around Sheep Mountain were worth the drive. Unfortunately no owls were nesting at the campground this year but one Northern Hawk-Owl near the Glenallen Airport the next day was a lucky find. The Tangle Lakes area is always stunningly quiet and beautiful and this year was no exception. Our hike over the tundra produced a show of wildflowers as well as Pacific Golden-Plover and a very hard to spot Rock Ptarmigan. The normally very hard to see Smith’s Longspurs were even singing in the road this year although they seemed to be constantly chased off by the nearby Laplands. The Denali Highway did produce the expected Arctic Warbler but the scenery was superb and just went on forever. Our day in Denali NP dawned clear and blue and all hopes were for a clear view of Denali itself. We had an amazing day that started with a Lynx walking across the road, continued with a wolk, 15+ Grizzlies and a Gyrfalcon before having a picnic and tundra walk in front of a cloud-free Denali – simply amazing.
Our Salmon Bake dinner in Fairbanks was mosquito free and an enjoyable evening before we left for Barrow the next day. And yes, it was cold and foggy again – shades of St Paul. Our hotel was very comfortable and a great base for our couple of days on the Arctic Ocean. Barrow is a strange town with a whole bevy of dead vehicles lining the streets along with seal and Caribou skins and other detritus. Despite this somewhat dead and bombed out appearance, the town as some charm and of course the birding is pretty good. The birding highlights? Well we did get all four eiders, Red Phalaropes, Pomarine Jaeger, Hoary Redpolls and eventually (our last morning) a male Snowy Owl. We watched an unsuccessful seal hunt (well not for the seal) and alas did not see a Polar Bear – maybe next time. It was then back to Anchorage and out- a great trip to a truly spectacular part of the world- and we didn’t do too badly with the mammals and birds either.
| Alaska Mainland Tour | ||
| Birds (seen and/or heard) | ||
| Red-throated Loon | American Golden-Plover | Hammond’s Flycatcher |
| Pacific Loon | Semipalmated Plover | Horned Lark |
| Common Loon | Killdeer | Tree Swallow |
| Red-necked Grebe | Wilson’s Snipe | Violet-green Swallow |
| Horned Grebe | Long-billed Dowitcher | Bank Swallow |
| Double-crested Cormorant | Hudsonian Godwit | Cliff Swallow |
| Red-faced Cormorant | Bar-tailed Godwit | Eastern Yellow Wagtail |
| Pelagic Cormorant | Whimbrel | Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
| Great Blue Heron | Lesser Yellowlegs | Golden-crowned Kinglet |
| Trumpeter Swan | Solitary Sandpiper | Bohemian Waxwing |
| Tundra Swan | Spotted Sandpiper | Gray-cheeked Thrush |
| Greater White-fronted Goose | Wandering Tattler | Swainson’s Thrush |
| Emperor Goose | Ruddy Turnstone | Hermit Thrush |
| Canada Goose | Semipalmated Sandpiper | Varied Thrush |
| Cackling Goose | Western Sandpiper | American Robin |
| Brant | Least Sandpiper | Arctic Warbler |
| American Wigeon | Baird’s Sandpiper | Bluethroat |
| Green-winged Teal | Pectoral Sandpiper | Black-capped Chickadee |
| Mallard | Curlew Sandpiper | Chestnut-backed Chickadee |
| Northern Pintail | Dunlin | Boreal Chickadee |
| Northern Shoveler | Buff-breasted Sandpiper | Red-breasted Nuthatch |
| Canvasback | Red-necked Phalarope | Northern Shrike |
| Ring-necked Duck | Red Phalarope | Steller’s Jay |
| Greater Scaup | Pomarine Jaeger | Gray Jay |
| Lesser Scaup | Parasitic Jaeger | Steller’s Jay |
| Common Eider | Long-tailed Jaeger | Black-billed Magpie |
| King Eider | Mew Gull | Northwestern Crow |
| Spectacled Eider | Glaucous-winged Gull | Common Raven |
| Steller’s Eider | Glaucous Gull | European Starling |
| Harlequin Duck | American Herring Gull | Tennessee Warbler |
| Long-tailed Duck | Bonaparte’s Gull | Orange-crowned Warbler |
| Black Scoter | Sabine’s Gull | Yellow Warbler |
| Surf Scoter | Black-legged Kittiwake | Yellow-rumped Warbler |
| White-winged Scoter | Arctic Tern | Townsend’s Warbler |
| Common Goldeneye | Aleutian Tern | Blackpoll Warbler |
| Barrow’s Goldeneye | Common Murre | |
| Bufflehead | Pigeon Guillemot | Wilson’s Warbler |
| Red-breasted Merganser | Marbled Murrelet | American Tree Sparrow |
| Common Merganser | Kittlitz’s Murrelet | Savannah Sparrow |
| Osprey | Ancient Murrelet | Fox Sparrow |
| Bald Eagle | Parakeet Auklet | Song Sparrow |
| Northern Harrier | Rhinoceros Auklet | Lincoln’s Sparrow |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | Horned Puffin | White-crowned Sparrow |
| Red-tailed Hawk | Tufted Puffin | Golden-crowned Sparrow |
| Rough-legged Hawk | Rock Pigeon | Dark-eyed Junco |
| Golden Eagle | Snowy Owl | Lapland Longspur |
| American Kestrel | Northern Hawk-Owl | Smith’s Longspur |
| Merlin | Short-eared Owl | Snow Bunting |
| Gyrfalcon | Rufous Hummingbird | Red-winged Blackbird |
| Peregrine Falcon | Belted Kingfisher | Rusty Blackbird |
| Spruce Grouse | Downy Woodpecker | Pine Grosbeak |
| Willow Ptarmigan | Black-backed Woodpecker | White-winged Crossbill |
| Rock Ptarmigan | Northern Flicker | Hoary Redpoll |
| Sandhill Crane | Olive-sided Flycatcher | Common Redpoll |
| Black Oystercatcher | Western Wood-Pewee | Pine Siskin |
| Pacific Golden-Plover | Alder Flycatcher | |
| Butterflies | Mammals | |
| Canadian Tiger Swallowtail | Arctic Ground Squirrel | Snowshoe Hare |
| Eversmann’s Parnassian | Red Squirrel | Muskrat |
| Mustard White | Sea Otter | Porcupine |
|
|
Harbor Seal | Beaver |
| Clouded Sulphur | Spotted Seal | Lynx |
| Western Tailed Blue | Steller’s Sea Lion | Red Fox |
| Silvery Blue | Orca | Gray Wolf |
| White-veined Arctic | Humpback Whale | Coyote |
| Jutta Arctic | Dall Porpoise | Brown (Grizzly) Bear |
| Red-disked Alpine | Collared Pika | Mountain Goat |
| Persius Duskywing | Moose | Dall Sheep |
| Arctic Skipper | Caribou | Musk Ox |