It seems like Great Grays are being reported everywhere in southcoastal Alaska this winter, including at least three in Homer. This bird was hunting along East End Road this morning (22 January 2012). Thanks Carol Griswold and Anne Crane for the phone calls this morning!
A day of birding Homer with Luke DeCicco and Wendy Holman made for a very memorable final day of 2011. All photos by Luke DeCicco.
Great Gray Owls make birding headlines anywhere on the Kenai, especially Homer. This winter has been an exceptional winter for the species on the Peninsula–there have been up to four different Gray Grays reported in the Homer area alone. The most reliable birds have been two that have shown regularly and well at the east end of Beluga Lake. The best viewing opportunities have been from the end of Adams Drive (off of East End Road), but the birds have also been spotted from the observation platform at the end of FAA drive near the airport. Luke took this photo on 30 December, but we relocated the bird again on New Year’s Eve for a final bird of 2011. This was my first Great Gray Owl for the Kenai Peninsula and a great way to celebrate New Year’s Eve!
This Horned Lark represents only the second winter report for Homer. The first mid-winter record was of four birds found on the Homer CBC last winter, one of which was of the Asian breeding flava subspecies. Click here for more on that.
It has been a good fall/winter for overwintering sparrows in Homer. This White-throated Sparrow found at Mossy’s Seaside Farm makes for the third consecutive winter this rare fall/winter visitor has been found in Homer.
I’ve been out of the country for the last three weeks, leading a birding trip to Bhutan for Wilderness Birding Adventures. I’ve been trying to catch up with the happenings in Alaska birding while I’ve been gone and since returning home I’m very happy to see that Seward birder, Carol Griswold, has a new blog dedicated to her superb “Sporadic Birding Report.” She’s been sending this report out to birders for quite some time, but now we get to see many of her wonderful photographs accompany the report. Congratulations Carol! Click here to go to Carol’s site.
In bird news since I’ve been away, another rare Turdus has struck southcoastal Alaska. A Dusky Thrush was found in Thede Tobish’s yard in Anchorage on 10 December. The bird was viewed regularly in the neighborhood until 14 December then disappeared until it was relocated today, 22 December. Check AK Birding discussion group for updates.
Two other exciting bird phenomena noted this winter include multiple and widespread sightings of McKay’s Buntings on the Kenai Penisula (Seward, Homer, and Kenai) and a double digit reports of Great Gray Owls from the western Kenai Peninsula stretching from Sterling to Homer. Again, check AK birding for the latest on these and other bird sightings.
Here’s my vote for Alaska’s Bird of the Year 2011.
This Redwing was found by Carol Griswold in Seward on 16 November 2011. I was fortunate enough to have time and clear roads to head over there on the morning of the 17th and get a look at this great bird. Alaska is rich in Turdus, but this is the first account of Redwing in the state. (The other Turdus found on the Alaska Checklist are: American Robin, Eyebrowed Thrush, Dusky Thrush, and Fieldfare.)
I’m a bit late on this post, but thought it worth posting just the same. A few weeks ago I returned from leading two trips to Gambell with Wilderness Birding Adventures September 1-13. Gambell is on the northwest tip of St. Lawrence Island in the northern Bering Sea and is a hotspot for Asian vagrants and Beringian specialties. Below are a few photo highlights.
The bird of the trip was cooperative Pallas’s Bunting at the south end of Troutman Lake. It is the eighth North American Record (all from Alaska) and the fourth fall record at Gambell.
This is the third Stonechat to be documented at Gambell in the fall and about the twelfth for Alaska. The two specimens of Stonechat from Alaska are of S. t. stejnegeri which is in the maura sub-species group, “Siberian” Stonechat. After everyone in the group got excellent scope views of this cooperative Stonechat I got set up for digiscoping and was looking forward to getting some good pictures. I clicked off this poor photo when the radio crackled, “Dusky Warbler in the far boneyard.” So we packed up the scope and made for the far boneyard. While heading there the far boneyard the radio crackled again, “Pallas’s Bunting at the south end of the lake!” The Stonechat was never seen again so I’m left with only this photo.
Most of southcoastal Alaska’s breeding Rufous Hummingbirds head south by early August and any hummingbird seen on the Kenai Peninsula after then should be carefully checked. Anna’s Hummingbird is a casual fall visitor to southcoastal Alaska where it has been recorded in Homer, Seward, Cordova, Palmer and Anchorage. This bird arrived at a private residence in Homer on 28 August 2011 and has been sporadically feasting on nasturtiums there since then. This is the earliest of only a few Homer records and ties the early date for southcoastal Alaska.
Homer birder Michelle Michaud discovered this Buff-breasted Sandpiper at the mouth of the Anchor River yesterday and it was still present today, 22 August 2011. Buff-breasted Sandpiper breeds on the Arctic coastal plain and migrates primarily through the interior of the continent. In southcoastal Alaska they occur only as casual fall migrants primarily in August and September. This is one of only a few records for the Kenai Peninsula and only the second record for the Homer/Kachemak Bay checklist area. The first was of a bird found in Homer on 11 September 2000 (North American Birds 55:(1)90.)
Dave Sonneborn, Rich MacIntosh and I finally relocated one of the Long-billed Murrelets in Kachemak Bay that had been found on 4 June and 23 July 2011. We found the bird about 1/2 mile offshore of Aurora Lagoon in Kachemak Bay. More details of this morning’s outing can be found here. This is generally the same location of this summer’s other two sightings.
Karl Stolzfus of Bay Excursions tells me that brachyramphus murrelet numbers in this area typically remain high until late August. Since at least one bird has been present since 4 June, I don’t see any reason why one wouldn’t stick around as long as the big numbers of Kittlitz’s and Marbled Murrelets do. Good luck to anyone else giving it a try and let me know if you want company!
