Birding Alaska

Short-tailed Albatross Phoebastria albatrus, 64 miles southeast of St. Matthew Island, Bering Sea, 28 September 20o9.

Marbled Murrelet Brachyramphus marmotus, 117 miles north of St. Paul Island, Bering Sea, 28 September 2009.

Two rarities from the Bering Sea today: one big, one small.  Short-tailed Albatross is a nice find anywhere.  Marbled Murrelet is very rare this far north, nesting no closer than the Aleutian Islands and Alaska Peninsula.  There are several records from the Pribilof Islands, mostly from spring and early summer. In the northern Bering Sea Marbled Murrelet is considered casual at St. Lawrence Island (Lehman 2005).

• Lehman, P. E. 2005. Fall migration at Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. Western Birds 36:2-55.