Birding Alaska

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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Mottled Petrel Pterodroma inexpectata, southern Bering Sea, 9 October 2009.

This Mottled Petrel was one of five seen today from the NOAA Ship Miller Freeman about 100 miles north of Dutch Harbor.  This distinctive seabird is told from other similar pterodroma petrels by its unique gray belly.  It breeds on small islands off New Zealand and spends the non-breeding season–April to October–in the North Pacific and the deep waters of the southern Bering Sea.  It is the only regularly occurring pterodroma in Alaska.  There are two records of Cook’s Petrel Pterodroma cookii from Alaskan waters and it is considered accidental on the Alaska Checklist.

Peter Harrison’s Seabirds of the world: A photographic guide describes the flight of the Mottled Petrel as “wild and impetuous.”  Perfect.

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.

Short-tailed Shearwater Puffinus tenuirostris, Bering Sea, 25 September 2009.

Pretty slow birding from the NOAA Ship Miller Freeman today.  The ship’s mission during this cruise is to retrieve and replace oceanographic moorings in the Bering Sea and conduct physical oceanographic studies.  We left Dutch Harbor two days ago and we’ll be out until October 13th.  I’m riding along as a seabird observer and I spent some time today observing Short-tailed Shearwaters while the crew worked on a couple oceanographic moorings.  Here are a few photos to improve the previous post on shearwater ID from April. Coincidentally, these recent photos were taken in the exact spot as those I took in April.

Short-tailed Albatross Phoebastria albatrus, Northern Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis and a few Short-tailed Shearwaters Puffinus tenuirostris, Bering Sea, on the shelf-break about 140 miles west of St. Matthew Island, 3 August 2009.

Two immature Short-tailed Albatross spent much of the day around the ship today as the ship conducted pollock surveys. One of the birds is starting to show some white feathers coming in on the throat and around the eyes and its plumage is a bit lighter brown than the other albatross which showed uniformly dark brown plumage with no white feathering. At times both albatross sat on the water and did a courtship-like display, gently wagging their bills bag and forth, sometimes touching each other. We were surprised to see to young immatures engaged in this behavior, but I guess it has to start sometime. Last night while in Russian waters a dark juvenile and an adult Short-tailed Albatross made brief fly-bys of the ship.