Adak, Alaska, May 18-25, 2006 May 17—25, 2006
Posted by Kevin Zimmer
Kevin Zimmer
Kevin Zimmer has authored three books and numerous papers dealing with field identification and bird-finding in North America. His book, Birding in the American West: A Han...Related Trips
Our first foray to Adak was a big success! A storm that preceded our arrival brought a number of Siberian vagrants to the island, most of which stayed long enough for us to see. The weather was ugly for the first 24 hours, then abated, leaving us with largely pleasant birding conditions for the remainder of the week. The infrastructure was every bit as good as advertised: comfortable lodging in former Navy housing (two-bedroom/two-and-a-half bathroom apartments with full kitchen, living room, solarium, and satellite TV), good meals, and vans for transport. Habitat for birds was plentiful, and a nice road system with virtually no other traffic made it easy to get around. All that was left for us was to find the birds!
And find them we did! From a vagrant perspective, it was the week of the Wood Sandpiper. The species was seen every day, and was by far the most common species of shorebird during our stay, with a single-day high of over 100 individuals seen! We saw, literally, flocks of Wood Sandpipers, including several birds that were singing and displaying. We also recorded Smew every day of the tour, with two different females seen. A Common Greenshank made a brief appearance, and we had one-day encounters with a male Tufted Duck, a male Eurasian Wigeon, and two Black-headed Gulls. Common Snipe were displaying alongside of Wilson's Snipe at Mechanics Marsh, which made for a nice comparison of the winnowing sounds of these two recently split species. Three Bramblings were most confiding in granting close studies on two different days, although an adult male that we found near the old Loran station a few days later wasn't nearly as accommodating. The winds shifted to out of the southwest for several hours midweek, which was just long enough to blow in a few additional vagrants. We found a Gray-tailed Tattler and several variegatus Whimbrels (the white-rumped, Asiatic subspecies), both of which were firsts for the spring.
Vagrants aside, there were a number of other interesting things to look at. Bald Eagles were more common and approachable (to the delight of photographers in the group) than anywhere I have ever been. Rock Ptarmigan were also exceptionally common, here represented by an endemic subspecies that is considerably darker and less variegated in plumage than individuals from the mainland. The number of alcids seen from shore was impressive. Ancient Murrelets were a common sight in Sweeper Cove and offshore from the beaches, as were Pigeon Guillemots. I particularly enjoyed the scope studies of both Kittlitz's and Marbled murrelets on Clam Lagoon. Arctic Loon, Red-faced Cormorant, Bar-tailed Godwit, and Black Oystercatcher are just a few of the other "normal" species that we saw during our stay. And of course, how many places can you hope to see Laysan Albatross from shore? We saw at least five from the cliffs at the old Loran Station.
For all of this, if I had to pick a single highlight, it would have been our half-day boat trip to Little Tanaga Straight. By having a week on the island, we were able to pick the best weather day for our trip, which resulted in flat seas and relatively warm temperatures. As we approached the straight we began seeing more and more alcids, which were concentrating above the tidal rips that defined the shallows between the islands. Our primary goal was Whiskered Auklet, the most range-restricted and enigmatic of all North American alcids. The first scattered Whiskereds soon yielded to small groups, and these, in turn, gave way to larger groups. As we came to the main tidal rip, there were alcids everywhere?scattered puffins, murres, Parakeet Auklets, and Crested Auklets?dominated by large numbers of Whiskered Auklets and Ancient Murrelets. Rafts of these birds reluctantly scattered at the close approach of the boat, but not before yielding repeated close views of the birds as they sat on the water. By the end of the day, we had tallied over 1,500 Whiskered Auklets and 500 Ancient Murrelets, with a close Laysan Albatross thrown in as a bonus! It was an incredible day for seabird enthusiasts, and the Whiskered Auklet was a life bird for everyone, including me! It was particularly satisfying in that we had such good views of birds close on the water, not just a bunch of dark specks flying away. Whiskered Auklet is one of the most difficult-to-see of North America's breeding birds, and this was a fabulous way to see them!
Read the description for our next Adak tour!