Birding Alaska

Jack Snipe Lymnocryptes minimus, Beluga Slough, Homer, 16 October 2010. In the last photo (which is terrible) the bird is flying to the left with the wings below the body. I posted it to show the tail, which was dark centered, paler on the edges, but which lacked an orange subterminal band. Click on any photo for a larger version.

Found in Beluga Slough today by my dog, Hartney.  My dog flushed the bird and it flew from the dog and past me, dropping in tall vegetation about 40 feet away. On this first look I saw a silent and smallish snipe with a broad white trailing edge to the secondaries and a plain gray underwing. This naked eye look was intriguing so I flushed the bird again and got a long and good look at the bird as it flew directly away. It flushed from a distance of only 1 meter and flew straight away. In this view I saw a small, brightly marked snipe (approximately 2/3rds the size of a Wilson’s or Common) with a short and stout bill. Two sets of bright yellowish braces were obvious on the back and continued to the base of the tail where the mantle and scapular stripes on each side merged together. The tail was dark and pointed. I did not discern any colored band on the tip of the tail.  At this point I was pretty sure I had a Jack Snipe so I got out my camera and walked to where I saw the bird land, but did not immediately find the bird. I zig-zagged around in this area for a few minutes and with the help of my dog eventually flushed the bird again and obtained a couple of photos of the bird in flight. On the first two flushes the bird was silent. On the third flush I may have heard it call. If I did (there was traffic) the call that I heard was a low and muffled “shhhhhh” about twice as long in duration as the “scape” call that a Wilson’s/Common Snipe utters upon being flushed. The sound was muffled and and very unlike the call of a Wilson’s. At this point I began calling other birders, and so waited about 10-15 minutes before moving in on the bird again.

I did not see the bird again until just before 7pm  when Dave Sonneborn, my brother-in-law and I relocated the bird in the same area and got three views of the bird in flight. Each time it flushed at very close distance and flushed silently. Even in low light the boldly patterned back stood out, as did the small size and bill length. We left the bird at dark in the same area we found it.

October 17th update:

Thirty birders combed Beluga Slough today and did not see the bird. I’ll be checking the slough daily this week and will post if I refind it.

Buller’s Shearwater Puffinus bulleri, one of five at Albatross Bank, southeast of Kodiak Island, 6 October 2010.

Today was another fine tubenose-filled day on the water. Today’s procellarid species total of ten was highlighted by five Buller’s Shearwaters at Albatross Bank about an hour before sunset. Buller’s Shearwater is listed as “Rare” on the official Checklist of Alaska Birds. Most Buller’s Shearwaters recorded in Alaska have been seen in late summer and fall in the Gulf of Alaska. They seem to be regular during this season, occasionally in very large numbers, but there is very little birder coverage of the Gulf at anytime of year so the exact status of the species is difficult to infer.  This is the first time I’ve seen Buller’s in Alaska!

Other procellarids seen today: Short-tailed Albatross (1), Black-footed Albatross,  Laysan Albatross, Northern Fulmar, Sooty Shearwater, Short-tailed Shearwater, Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel, Leach’s Storm-Petrel, and Mottled Petrel (1).

We’ll be in inshore waters of Kodiak tomorrow morning and beginning the gulf crossing to Seattle sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Short-tailed Albatross Phoebastria albatrus, Unimak Pass, Aleutian Islands, 5 October 2010.

Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes, Sanak Bank, south of Sanak Island, 5 October 2010.

Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis, Sanak Bank, south of Sanak Island, 5 October 2010.

Mottled Petrel Pterodroma inexpectata, Sanak Bank, south of Sanak Island, 5 October 2010.

A fine day of cruising on the water today. With fair weather and following seas the ship spent the entire day transiting east along the south side Unimak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. We began the day at dawn in Unimak Pass and by sunset we were about midway between Sanak Island and the Shumagin Islands.  Along the transit we recorded nine species of tubenoses, including all three north Pacific albatross (over 100 albatross total for the day!), three Mottled Petrels, and several hundred Leach’s Storm-Petrels.

Black-tailed Gull Larus crassirostris, Unalaska, Eastern Aleutian Islands, 22 September 2010.

Black-tailed Gull Larus crassirostris, Unalaska, Eastern Aleutian Islands, 20 September 2010.

This Black-tailed Gull was first found on 4 September by Eugene Hunn, Mike Smith and Chris Feeney on the rocky shoreline across the road from the Dutch Harbor Post Office.  This is the first record of the species for Unalaska and for the eastern Aleutians. It is one of almost 30 records for the state. A big thank you to Suzi Golodoff and Stephan Lorenz for taking me right to the bird when I arrived in town on the 20th!

I’m back in the Bering Sea, this time on the NOAA Ship Miller Freeman. I’ll be on board until the ship docks in Seattle in mid October. Check back for updates from the sea.

Update, 22 November 2010: Further study of this bird and images and consultation with experts have shown that the identity of this bird is most probably a Blyth’s Reed Warbler Acrocephalus dumetorum, which would be a first for North America. A manuscript detailing the sighting and identification of this bird has been submitted to the Alaska Checklist Committee for review.

This very skulky bird eluded birders at Gambell for several hours on 9 September 2010 before several people were able to get a few photos. We initially thought this bird to be an adult Middendorff’s, but several features argue against that ID and point to an Acrocephalus warbler.  Unless noted in the caption all photos are posted here as shot. The images have been cropped, but no adjustments to exposure, contrast, sharpening, etc. have been made. Click on any photo to enlarge.

Photo 1.

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Horned Lark Eremophila alpestris flava, Eastern Bering Sea, 31 August 2010. Click on photos to enlarge.

Another hitchhiker this morning. The yellow throat and supercillia identify this Horned Lark as the flava subspecies, breeding in eastern Russia. It winters in southern Russia, northeast China and Japan and is a casual fall migrant to the islands of the Bering Sea.

Before landing on the ship this morning the Horned Lark was doing laps around the ship with a smaller mystery passerine. Unfortunately, that one got away.

Other migrants flying by the ship today were 11 Pacific Golden-Plovers, 1 Ruddy Turnstone and 1 Tattler sp.

• Brazil, M. 2009. Birds of East Asia: China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Russia. Princeton University Press.
• 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.
• Lehman, P. E. 2005. Fall migration at Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. Western Birds 36:2-55.

I’m currently on board the NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson in the Bering Sea. The last few days in the eastern Bering Sea have produced some interesting birds. In addition to the usual variety of tubenoses, alcids and larids a number of southbound migrants have passed the ship this week. Some are birds that have adapted to long, non-stop ocean crossings, others are not…

Bristle-thighed Curlew Numenius tahitiensis, Eastern Bering Sea, 30 August 2010.

Highlighting the list of fly-by appearances was this lone Bristle-thighed Curlew. It flew in to the stern of the ship, checked us out, gave a few whistles and flew off. Although the pictures are marginal you can still make out the warm tones to the underparts and the diagnostic mark–the peach-colored rump which appears contrastingly pale in the last photo.

Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres, Eastern Bering Sea, 30 August 2010.

Ruddy Turnstones have been regular this week with at least one small flock approaching the ship every day. Today (8/30) we recorded over 20 individuals in several small flocks. Other shorebirds seen from the ship today were Pacific Golden-Plovers (4), Bristle-thighed Curlew (1), and Red Phalarope (100′s). Three Wandering Tattlers have flown by the trip since the we left Dutch Harbor on 17 August. Mind-boggling to think that the tattlers, turnstones, plovers and curlew may be in Hawaii or further before this ship get’s back to Dutch Harbor!

A Piscivorous Golden-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia atricapilla, on board the Oscar Dyson in the Eastern Bering Sea 30 August 2010.

This Golden-crowned Sparrow landed on the ship on yesterday and was still here today. He’s been eating, or attempting to eat, juvenile Pacific sand lance Amodites hexapterus which the NOAA scientists have been catching on their surveys. A new food item for the species?

Orange-crowned Warbler Oreothlypis celata, Eastern Bering Sea, 25 August 2010.

This Orange-crowned Warbler only spent a few hours on board. (Note the change to the genus. Click here for info on other changes and updates to the AOU checklist.)

Yellow-rumped Warblers Dendroica coronata, Strawberry Hill, Dutch Harbor, 17 August 2010.

I had about an hour today to head back to Strawberry Hill, Dutch Harbor, before I had to return to the NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson in time to leave on a cruise in the southern Bering Sea. Yesterday’s Fox Sparrows were still present and were trumped today by two Yellow-rumped Warblers! The first warbler was with the Fox Sparrows on the top of the hill. The second was in the tall spruce trees that border the small lake just south of the hill.

Gibson and Byrd (2007) list Yellow-rumped Warbler as “casual in fall in eastern, central and western Aleutians.” The first records for Unalaska/Dutch Harbor were one at Strawberry Hill on 22 September 2009, followed by one on the hill on 10 October 2009 and two at the Sitka Spruce Children’s Park (near Strawberry Hill) on 11 October 2009.

A lone Bank Swallow flew by me on my walk back to the ship.

• 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.