Birding Alaska

From October 6-8th I was in Barrow leading a trip for Wilderness Birding Adventures. While bird diversity in Barrow at this time of year is low, we were interested in quality, not quantity, and hoped to be there to witness the Ross’s Gull migration. Going to Barrow in early October is without a doubt the best way to find this high arctic breeder. The quality of birding was indeed high on this trip and we also tallied a surprising trip list of 26 species! Below are a few photo highlights. Click on any photo to enlarge.

Ivory Gull Pagophila eburnea, (with Glaucous Gull Larus hyperboreus in the last shot) Barrow, 6 October 2011.

Although this was a trip to find Ross’s Gulls, this Ivory Gull on the first day of the trip stole the show and gets top billing on this page. It spent much of the morning on the beach in front of us feeding in the froth. We found it again the next day at the end of Point Barrow feeding with a flock of Ross’s Gulls and three Sabine’s Gulls.

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Below are a few pictures of brown bears from Brooks Falls, Katmai National Park, on the Alaska Peninsula. I had the great fortune of going to Brooks Camp on 23 July while leading a birding and natural history trip for Wilderness Birding Adventures, in conjunction with The Nature Conservancy.  At least 14 bears were fishing for sockeye salmon while we were there and we saw another seven or eight on the walk to and from the falls. Click on any of the photos to enlarge.

I’ve just returned from three weeks (June 13-July 2) in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge where I led two birding trips for Wilderness Birding Adventures.  Below is a brief photo tour through some of the many highlights.

Fledgling Gray-headed Chickadee Poecile cincta, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 16 June 2010.

The large white cheek patch, gray crown and contrasting sooty mask help identify North America’s rarest chickadee. This year we found a family group that included four fledged young.

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Back in the Bering Sea on the NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson.  We left Kodiak on April 23rd and we’ll finish this cruise in Dutch Harbor on May 3rd. The mission of the cruise is to service oceanographic moorings in the eastern Bering Sea.

Young Spotted Seal Phoca largha, Bering Sea, 28 April 2010.

Thayer’s Gull Larus thayeri and third-cycle Glaucous Gull L. hyperboreus, Bering Sea, 28 April 2010.

While watching seals on a small flow of brash ice about 60 miles north of Unimak Island today I noticed this adult Thayer’s Gull in a group of Glaucous and Glaucous-winged Gulls. Thayer’s Gulls are probably casual in the Bering Sea. This adult is separated from Herring, Vega, and Herring x Glaucous-winged Gull hybrids by outer primary pattern, its smallish bill and rounded head, and relatively long primary projection.

On March 6th I left Kodiak on the USCG icebreaker, Polar Sea.  We transited west to Unimak Pass and north to St. Lawrence Island as part of the Bering Sea BEST project, a partnership between the North Pacific Research Board and the National Science Foundation.  We rolled back into Kodiak on April 7th after 33 days at sea.  Here are a few photos from the trip…

Spectacled Eider Somateria fischeri, St. Lawrence Island Polynia, Bering Sea, 23 March 2010.

A flock of Spectacled Eiders from 1000 feet up.  The entire world’s population, about 370,000 birds, winters in the limited open water of the St. Lawrence Island polynia in the Bering Sea.

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Short-tailed  Weasel, Mustella erminea, Homer, 10 February 2010.

Haven’t been out birding in a few days, but still finding creatures in the yard.  Yesterday I found this cheeky short-tailed weasel, or ermine, scolding me from the protection of “his” shed–a new mammal sighting for the property.