Day 5, September 11, 2006. Whiskers and Babies. Sep 07—24, 2006
Posted by Marshall Iliff
Marshall Iliff
Marshall Iliff, a lifelong nature lover, began birding at age 11 after attending a National Wildlife Federation Camp in the mountains of North Carolina. He attended VENT...Related Trips
Just before dawn we reached our refueling dock at Dutch Harbor, Unalaska Island, and many of us got ready for a walk around the island. Unfortunately we had to patiently wait for the sun to come up. After traveling west for several days and not adjusting our clocks, we were greeted by first light at 8:00 and sunrise at 8:30. Before sunrise, keen-eared birders were already hearing the song of the Aleutian Song Sparrow (subspecies sanaka).
We had about an hour-and-a-half to explore the island, which did not give us a lot of time. A short list of highlights found by one group or another includes Bald Eagle at close range in the scope; Rock Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstone, and Wandering Tattlers on the beach; Song and Savannah sparrows (both of which breed) singing from the weedy patches; flyover Common Redpolls and brief looks at Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches; a Marbled Murrelet in the harbor and a juvenile Black Oystercatcher on the beach; and flocks of Harlequin Ducks in the harbor (unfortunately in their eclipse plumage).
From Dutch Harbor we backtracked to the Baby Island group which we had passed at 4:00 a.m., and which is famous for its Whiskered Auklets. Strong tidal rips between the islands are favored feeding grounds of the Whiskereds, which breed and winter in such areas scattered throughout the Aleutians. Being so close to a major port, Dutch Harbor is their most famous home in the world. We crisscrossed the rips and eventually had fine looks for all at Whiskered Auklets, including many juveniles. A moment of excitement over a pale alcid in one of the flocks was resolved later with photo review—a juvenile Least Auklet. With digital cameras and video trained on nearly every bird, we are certainly living in a different world these days.
As we left the Baby Islands we put ourselves on a course to Chelam Bank, an upwelling area off the north side of Unalaska Island. As we approached, David Wolf spotted a huge swarm of shearwaters (presumably all Short-tailed) feeding over some whales. We decided to change course to head for the swarm and only later learned that it was no course change at all?the activity was over Chelam Bank. A couple of the leaders made real tries at estimating the number of birds and independently came up with one-and-a-half-million birds. At least 30 humpback whales were feeding among the shearwaters. Shearwaters were streaming across in front of us and flocks were peppering the water. Periodically thousands of shearwaters would suddenly bunch up on a given spot and within a matter of seconds a whale would spout from the center. We soon came to realize that the humpbacks were "bubble net feeding," whereby several humpbacks would create a circular net of bubbles that essentially trapped the fish. Then by coming up through the fish with their mouths agape, the whales could take in thousands of the trapped fish. It soon became evident that the shearwaters were capitalizing on the fish that were trapped by the bubbles to either side and the surfacing whale below. Once we realized it, we learned to watch the sudden shearwater aggregations for surfacing whales. A handful of the whales surfaced within a couple hundred feet of us, writhing masses of shearwaters were visible in all directions, and a variety of other birds (including Whiskered, Least, and Cassin's auklets) kept us awestruck for about 45 minutes. The ship's crew said they had never seen such a remarkable aggregation of birds and whales on their many cruises in the region. Victor believed that this was the largest concentration of any vertebrate that he had ever seen, rivaling the bats of Concan, Texas, and the herd animals of the Serengeti. For many of the leaders, this will live on as the most incredible sight of the trip. We finally moved on, but it wasn't long before the next dose of excitement.
For the past decade or so, regular fall coverage of Gambell and St. Paul Island has revealed some remarkable records. Some of those records are of Asian vagrants, but many more are strays from the Alaskan mainland that have reached Bering Sea islands for the first time. Many of these birds are not found regularly in the Aleutians, in part because they are so much farther from the mainland. In any event, it was a complete shock when the first Aleutian record of Red-breasted Nuthatch (!) came flying in while we were leaving Chelam Bank. It explored its way around the ship, quickly becoming the second species (after Orange-crowned) to perch in the OMF. Other perching sites included Dave Wolf's shoulder and the gloved hands of several participants. After its confiding visit it headed off towards land—hopefully to not only make landfall, but then reorient towards the SOUTH, like a normal bird!
Species of interest seen at Dutch Harbor and along the shores of Unalaska Island, September 11:
Harlequin Duck
Common Loon
Red-necked Grebe
Northern Fulmar
Short-tailed Shearwater
Red-faced Cormorant
Bald Eagle
Pacific Golden-Plover (heard)
Black Oystercatcher
Wandering Tattler
Ruddy Turnstone
Rock Sandpiper
Red Phalarope
Pomarine Jaeger
Parasitic Jaeger
Glaucous-winged Gull
Black-legged Kittiwake
Common Murre
Pigeon Guillemot
Marbled Murrelet
Ancient Murrelet
Horned Puffin
Tufted Puffin
Common Raven
Song Sparrow (sanaka)
Savannah Sparrow
Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch
Common Redpoll