Fox Sparrows in the Aleutian Islands
Fox Sparrow Passerella illiaca unalaschensis, Strawberry Hill, Dutch Harbor, 16 August 2010.
My favorite thing to do in Dutch Harbor/Unalaska is to bird the planted sitka spruce trees around the town. The best group of trees is the robust stand that grows in a protected gulley on the top of Strawberry Hill. Many, many good birds have been found in this migrant trap over the years including a number of island firsts and a few firsts for the Aleutians! Nearly every trip through the stand has a surprise. This time it was a trio of adult Fox Sparrows–the first I’ve seen on the island. Although this race of Fox Sparrow (unalaschensis) was first collected at Unalaska Island, it is “extralimital at the type locality.” (Gibson and Kessel 1997). The western limits of its range are the alder thickets of Unimak Island, the first island in the Aleutians. Gibson and Byrd (2007) remark that the species is “casual or intermittant in spring and summer in eastern Aleutians beyond Unimak Pass” where it’s preferred habitat doesn’t exist. Breeding east of Unimak was first suspected in 2003 when a “full-tailed juvenile” was found at Unalaska, but wasn’t confirmed until very recently by local birder Suzi Golodoff and visiting bird guru, Rich MacIntosh.
Pacific Wren Troglodytes pacificus kiskensis, Stawberry Hill, Dutch Harbor, 16 August 2010.
Also present on Strawberry Hill was a regular resident and breeder on the island–the Pacific Wren, or Winter Wren T. troglodytes as it’s now known by the American Ornitholgists’ Union. It was split from the Winter Wren (which occurs in eastern North America, on the basis of vocalizations and mitochondrial DNA differences. Click here for details of this and other revisions to the AOU Check-list.
Other birds of note yesterday were three Bank Swallows still flying over town. This is just a few days shy of the late date for the Aleutian Islands.
- Gibson, D. D., and Byrd, G. V. 2007. Birds of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. Nuttall Ornithological Club and the American Ornithologists’ Union. Series in Ornithology 1.
- Gibson, D. D., and Kessel, B. 1997. Inventory of the species and subspecies of Alaska birds. Western Birds 28:45-95.
