September 8, 2019 - Middle of the Bering Sea!

I was wide awake at 4 a.m., so made myself a cup of coffee, then went down again to eat breakfast at the Piper’s restaurant, connected to the Coast International Inn.  Back in the room, I knocked out a belated (they’re all belated at this point . . . ) Blog Post.  Then, I met the other Pribilof Birders, Rick Prescott and Lorie Leavy, Carol Archer and Rich Miller in the lobby at 10 a.m. & took the shuttle to the airport.  Our WINGS guides and half of the birders were stuck on Saint Lawrence Island due to the weather, and it will be a day or so before they can leave Gambell and catch up with us on Saint Paul.  We arrived at the airport ‘way too early, it seems, as we did not have to go through a TSA checkpoint.  The five of us had a fairly long wait.  My contribution to the wait was to see a Northern Harrier fly by over the runway.

Never complain about them ensuring your plane is safe to fly in . . . .

We finally loaded onto the RavnAir plane, only to have to de-plane & return to the lobby, as a warning light had come on.  Eventually, at about 1:15, the 15 passengers were back on Flight 920 and in the air.  Our stewardess was Kimberly and she did a great job.

The Dash-8 made a stop in Dillingham to re-fuel and pick up a passenger, then continued west for another hour-and-a-half to Saint Paul Island.

I think this is Iliamna Volcano, poking through the clouds

WINGS’ website notes that: "Alaska’s Pribilof Islands lie some 300 miles off the North American mainland in the Bering Sea. We’ve scheduled an extended visit to the rocky island of St. Paul to look for Asiatic vagrants at a time when over the years many have occurred. Even without the exciting strays for which these remote islands are famous, the sea cliffs will still have hundreds of breeding alcids and good numbers of the near-endemic Red-legged Kittiwake, and the Northern Fur Seal colony will be overflowing with young seal pups."

Saint Paul harbor

We were met by Sulli Gibson and Alex Harper, who were guides for St. Paul Island Tours.  WINGS had arranged for them to cover for us, as the WINGS guides, and half of the tour participants were stranded by the weather on Saint Lawrence Island, and wouldn’t be able to make it to St. Paul for several days.

Antone Lake on St. Paul Island

We got settled into the King Eider Motel, which is adjacent to and part of the airport facility.  This is the old “Airport Inn”, now run by the Native TDX Corporation.  The motel’s rooms are “Spartan”, with a bed, closet, and a small drawer/bedside table, and furnished with a washcloth and towels for the showers and bathroom at the end of a long hallway.  The “common room” with the coffee maker is at the other end.  My room was smack-dab in the middle.

When we’d eaten, at the Trident Seafoods cafeteria (where we had all of our meals), Sulli and Alex loaded us into a van, and we went in search of the continuing Jack Snipe.

This species is an Asian rarity to North America that had been seen the day before yesterday.  The bird is known for holding tight to its cover, so the guides walked several transects through the marsh in hopes of flushing it for a view, but we couldn’t raise it.

However, we did get close views of a Red Phalarope and a skulking Long-billed Dowitcher.

The British birders call this the "Grey Phalarope"

Merriam-Webster says the name dowitcher is probably of Iroquoian origin; akin to Oneida tawístawis

Other birds beckoned, so we drove to the “Pribilof Forest”, which consists of stacks of crab pots.  The pots provide cover on this windswept, treeless island, and hosted a Brambling, which was a “Life Bird” for Carolyn and Rich.

Birding The Crab Pots

The 'resident' birds here appeared to be Rosy-finches and Redpolls.

Common Redpoll

Then, we worked the quarry area, getting a brief view of a Red-necked Stint before it flushed.  At the cliffs, we also had views of Red-faced Cormorants.  These birds appeared to me to be about half-way in size between a Pelagic and our west coast Brandt’s cormorants.  They seem to me to be ‘stockier’ than the Pelagic, with a thicker neck, but not so large as a Brandt’s.  These weren’t terribly satisfying views of a “Lifer” cormorant for me, but we will see them close-up later in the week at the breeding cliffs.

I Like Flowers: This is the Arctic Poppy Papaver macounii

It was a long day, and after supper, we got back to the inn at dark at 9 p.m., ready to do it all again tomorrow … and the next day … and the next …

Saint Paul Island eBird Checklist is Here  

"Seaside Ragweed" Senecio pseudoarnica

September 6-7, 2019 - North to Alaska!

OK.  I have to admit it.  I grew up in the Pacific Northwest.  I’ve spent almost the entirety of my life in Oregon and Washington.

I’ve never before been to Alaska . . . that changes today as I leave for a birding tour with WINGS to Saint Paul Island on the Pribilofs.

Friday September 6th:

The alarm went off at 3:30 a.m. on Friday the 6th, and Marty threw me out of bed to get ready for the Capital Aeroporter shuttle to pick me up at 4:25.  There was only one other pickup, a family of 4 at the Red Lion, and then we drove pretty quickly up to SeaTac.  I made it through TSA Insecurity fairly easily, although I had to go back to the Alaska Airlines desk because the TSA scanner could not read the printed boarding pass & I had to have it re-issued.

I got a breakfast sandwich at “Lucky Louie’s” and a cup of mocha espresso at “Dilettante’s” then went to the C gates to catch my flight, only to find that they’d moved the departure back to the North Satellite.  It’s a good thing that I had arrived early, as it took another 15 minutes for me to take the rail out there.

Bering Glacier and the Seal River mouth

Alaska Airlines Flight No. 113 boarded and departed on time at 9 a.m., and we had good views of the Johnstone Strait as far north as Port Hardy, before it clouded over.  It cleared again along the Alaska coastline as we passed the south end of Glacier Bay National Park, and from there on north into Anchorage.

Malaspina Glacier

The plane passed the Copper River Delta.  I'd never seen the place, although it holds a place in my heart as the nesting grounds of the Dusky Canada Goose.  This subspecies winters primarily in the Willamette Valley and along the lower Columbia River, and was the cause of the US Fish and Wildlife Service establishing National Wildlife Refuges in the Valley.

Copper River Delta

The 1964 Alaska Earthquake lifted the Delta several meters, resulting in vegetation changes and an increase in predation by bears and foxes.  The population began to decline and conservation efforts were needed.  I spent a lot of time in the 1970s and 80s working with these birds.

Dusky Canada Geese - Branta canadensis occidentalis (FWS photo)

Our flight landed without a bump, and I was surprised how much quieter the airport was than SeaTac.

Getting my checked bag, I caught a shuttle to the Coast International Inn, unpacked, and went for a walk around the east end of Hood - Spenard Lake.

It appears that the lake is the world’s largest and busiest seaplane base.

The air was very active with non-avian flyers.

And the planes were lined up wing to wing.

I saw the 'headquarters' for Wings Aero Tours,

but this "Wings" has no connection to the WINGS Birding Tours.

There were quite a few diving ducks on the lake, and it gave me a good refresher course in separating the two scaup species while they are in eclipse and immature plumages!

White in the Primaries - Diagnostic for Greater Scaup

I finally recalled that, besides Greater Scaup having white in the wings that goes into the primaries (Lesser Scaup have dark primary feathers), the female Greaters often can have white “ear patches”.

Back at the Coast International, I ate at the attached “Pipers” restaurant, and went to bed after watching the Brewers beat the Cubs 7-1.  While washing up, I realized that my Spanish was pretty rusty, but still puzzled over the motel's soap that was labeled "verde" but wasn't green . . . ?

Saturday September 7^th:

I woke after 8 hours of sleep at 5 a.m., worked a bit on my Blog (catching up as far as July 12…), and went down for breakfast.  The Hotel provides a voucher for “continental” breakfast of coffee and a sweet roll or $5 off of their menu items.  I had a crab omelet.  Because, well . . . Alaska!

Not good enough for a State Bird . . . .

A little before noon, I went for a walk to Earthquake Park, where a large section of the bluff and neighborhood gave way during the Good Friday Quake of 1964.  The light rain that was falling when I began the walk turned into a steady downpour by the time I got to the park.

Turnagain Neighborhood after the 1964 Quake

I decided to take the interpretive trail through the slide area, which gave a good explanation of the earthquake.  The impact of that event is all around you and the story boards in the park explained earthquakes in general, and this one in particular, very well.

The Turnagain neighborhood was built on sandy bluffs overlying "Bootlegger Cove clay", and suffered considerable landslide damage.  The neighborhood lost 75 houses in the landslide, and the destroyed area was eventually turned into Earthquake Park.

The vegetation has grown back since raw blocks of the hillside collapsed into jumbles of rock, sand, and clay, and the birch, alder and spruce trees are now up to 55 years old.  Eerily, I did not see or hear any birds in the woods, until I dropped down to the Tony Knowles bike path and came out along the shore of Turnagain Arm.

Garden at the Turnagain Methodist Church.  Bless those Green Beans!

I returned to the hotel, and took a short nap until I got a call from one of the tour participants, Rick Prescott.  He and Lorie were down at the bar, and he’d just had a call & email from trip leader Luke Seitz that he and a number of birders were stuck on Gambell due to weather, and our planned 7 p.m. supper would have to be on our own.  I am somewhat surprised that Matt Brooks at WINGS did not include me in the communications about the weather-related changes in plans; he had my email.  It seemed somewhat unprofessional.

But, there being little I could do about it, I went to bed to prepare for the adventure tomorrow.

Lake Spenard Sept 6th eBird Checklist is Here

Lake Spenard Sept 7th eBird Checklist is Here

Turnagain Neighborhood eBird Checklists are Here and Here  

Earthquake Park eBird Checklist is Here

Lake Spenard Wigeon