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!
This bird was hanging out at the “fishing hole” on the Homer Spit on 8 January 2012. It has an intermediate amount of white on the scapulars and a facial spot that is intermediate in shape between the oval of a Common Goldeneye and the crescent of a Barrow’s. It lacks the dark “spur” of a Barrow’s that separates the white breast from the white sides. At rest this bird’s head shape seemed to be a better fit for Common Goldeneye.
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.)
Rufous Hummingbirds are common breeding birds in the coastal rainforest that covers the coast of Alaska north to the south side of Kachemak Bay. Most Rufous Hummingbirds migrate south by mid August and they become very rare after late August. This male has been in our yard east of Homer for the last two days, 27-28 October 2011. I believe that this is the latest record of the species on the Kenai Peninsula. There was also a female in our yard on 11 October of this year. The only other account of an October Rufous Hummingbird from the Kenai Peninsula that I’m aware of is one in Homer on 18 October 1995 (George West in litt.). In October and later there are more records of Anna’s Hummingbird on the Kenai Peninsula than there are of Rufous!
The extensive rufous coloration on the back identify it as an adult male.
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.
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.
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.
