Birding Alaska

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.

Pallas’s Bunting Emberiza pallasi, Gambell, 3 September 2011.

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.

Stonechat Saxicola torquatus, Gambell, 3 September 2011.

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.

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Rock Sandpiper Calidris ptilocnemis, probably tschuktschorum, Homer Boat Harbor, 13 November 2009. Click to enlarge.

The winter flock of Rock Sandpipers in Homer (usually 2,500-5,000 birds) is predominately made up of the darker plumaged race tschuktschorum, but may also be contain a few of the Aleutian race couesi (Dan Ruthrauff, USGS, pers. comm.) Banding studies are needed to confirm this. A small number, usually less than three percent, of the Homer flock is made up of nominate ptilocnemis, which breeds on the Pribilof Islands and St. Matthew and Hall Islands. Most ptilocnemis winter on the mudflats of Uppper Cook Inlet. Nominate birds are identified by their paler gray upperparts, more similar in tone to that of winter plumaged Sanderling, and their broader white wingstripe. See photos below. Click on any photo for a larger version.

A typical winter Rock Sandpiper flock in the Homer Boat Harbor, containing mostly dark tschuktschorum (with possibly couesi), small numbers of nominate ptilocnemis, and small numbers of Dunlin C. alpina. Looking closely (click to enlarge) you can see that this flock also harbored the late record Long-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus scolopaceus for the Kenai Peninsula, 13 November 2009.

Rock Sandpiper Calidris ptilocnemis, probably tschuktschorum, Homer Boat Harbor, 13 November 2009.

Rock Sandpiper Calidris ptilocnemis, probably tschuktschorum, Homer Boat Harbor, 13 November 2009.

Dunlin C. alpina and Rock Sandpiper C. ptilocnemis, Homer Boat Harbor, 13 November 2009.

Rock Sandpipers C. p. ptilocnemis (paler bird in center), Homer Boat Harbor, 12 March 2009.

Rock Sandpiper C. p. ptilocnemis (paler bird in center) surrounded by probable tschuktschorum, Homer Boat Harbor, 12 March 2009.

Click here for a photo comparing ptilocnemis, couesi, and tschuktschorum wings patterns. Many thanks to Dan Ruthrauff of the USGS for this very useful pdf.

A single Long-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus scolopaceus in a flock of Rock Sandpipers Calidris ptilocnemis, Homer boat harbor, 13 November 2009.

Dunlin Calidris alpina and Rock Sandpipers, Homer boat harbor, 13 November 2009.

High tide today pushed a flock of about 2,500 Rock Sandpipers, 150 Dunlin and one stubborn Long-billed Dowitcher into the rocky corner of the Homer boat harbor.  Rock Sandpipers and Dunlin are regular at this time of year, but the dowitcher is setting a new late record each day.

The diversity and numbers of shorebirds moving through Homer were impressive this weekend for the 17th Annual Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival, May 7-10.  Here are a few shots from the weekend.

Black-bellied Plover Pluvialis squatarola, Short-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus griseus, Dunlin Calidris alpina and Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica, Green Timbers, Homer, 10 May 2009.

This photo captures one of the most incredible mixed flocks of shorebirds I’ve ever seen. In the flock but not photographed here were Red Knots, Western and Least Sandpipers, a Marbled Godwit and a Pacific Golden-Plover.  Black Turnstones were on the same beach just a bit further down.

Red Knot Calidris canutus, Green Timbers, Homer, 10 May 2009.

Red Knots are uncommon to rare migrants through Homer.  A single bird was reported on Saturday and at least 13 were on the Homer Spit today, 10 May.

Bar-tailed Godwit with Black-bellied Plover and Short-billed Dowitcher at Green Timbers, Homer, 10 May 2009.

This Bar-tailed Godwit was first found on the Homer Spit on Thursday and seen daily through the weekend.  Marbled and Hudsonian Godwits were also seen during the festival.

A lone Sanderling Calidris alba, Western Sandpiper Calidris mauri and Dunlin, Mud Bay, Homer, 8 May 2009.

This Sanderling (the larger pale bird in the center), still in winter plumage, was the only one reported for the weekend.

Black-bellied Plovers, Green Timbers, Homer, 10 May 2009.

There was no shortage of Black-bellied Plovers along the Homer Spit this weekend.

Marbled Godwit Limosa fedoa, Black-bellied Plover, Dunlin, and Western Sandpipers at Green Timbers, Homer, 10 May 2009.

This Marbled Godwit is seperated from other godwits by it’s uniform cinamon brown coloration.  Here it dwarfs the much smaller Westerns and Dunlins but it’s also larger than both Hudsonian and Bar-tailed Godwit.