Northern Ring of Fire: Aleutians and the Bering Sea Jul 25—Aug 11, 2010
Posted by Jeri Langham
Jeri Langham
Jeri M. Langham has a Ph.D. in plant ecology from Washington State University, and after 38 years as a professor of biological sciences at California State University ...Related Trips
Because of all the uninhabited islands this cruise would visit by Zodiac, as well as the remote, bird-rich islands with small towns where the Clipper Odyssey might be able to dock and participants bird from buses, this Bering Sea, Aleutian and Pribilof Islands cruise was a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. We saw 148 bird species of which 3 were only heard, and encountered an amazing 15 species of mammals. Most important to many of the 12 VENT participants was seeing the most important target birds in ABA waters: Whiskered Auklet, Mottled Petrel, and Short-tailed Albatross, and the most important target bird in Kamchatka, Russia: Steller's Sea-Eagle.
On every tour I write a journal that I mail to the participants after the tour, along with a cover page that has a photo of each participant, and a second page with some of the best photographs taken by the participants during the tour. For this amazing adventure, that journal is 18 pages long with over 9,000 words. Here are a few excerpts:
July 28, Geographic Harbor Inlets in Katmai National Park & Preserve: This morning was positively fantastic and greatly exceeded my wildest expectations. I had been told we had a good chance to see grizzly or brown or Kodiak bears. After another great breakfast, we jumped in our Zodiacs and headed for the many inlets in this huge harbor. The weather cooperated, being completely overcast with no rain and little to no wind. Best of all, the tide was out, which meant that the bears would come out of the vegetated areas to dig for clams in the exposed mudflats. By my best estimate, I saw about 30–35 bears today, including one cub in its first year and several others 2–3 years old. They sometimes let the Zodiacs get within 20 yards while they dug into the mud to extract clams, crush the shells in their teeth, and then lick out the nutritious meal. In some cases, they overturned rocks in the brown kelp zone, also finding clams buried there. I saw only one bear crushing and then eating some of the myriads of mussels exposed on the rocks. Inlet after inlet seemed to have its own bear(s). Just before returning at noon, we watched one bear swim from one island to another. Except for the darkest-colored bear scrambling up the steep rock cliff as we approached, most did not pay any attention to us.
While bears were the highlight of the morning, I loved the birds, as well as the two common dolphins near the ship before we boarded the Zodiacs. We saw lots of Marbled Murrelets, Harlequin Ducks, Pigeon Guillemots, and Bald Eagles, and fewer Surf and White-winged scoters, Pelagic and Double-crested cormorants, Common Murres, Common Mergansers, and a single Wandering Tattler. I was very surprised at the lack of shorebirds on all the exposed mudflats. Those in my Zodiac were exposed to mini lectures on Fucus or rockweed and Zostera or eelgrass. After a great meal and a siesta, we went out again, but by now the tide had been roaring back in and covered all the mudflats and even most of the kelp-covered rocks. We were searching primarily for birds this time, and we had our best looks at the rare Kittlitz's Murrelet, a target bird in this area.
July 31, Baby Islands & Dutch Harbor, Alaska: The waters before we arrived at the Baby Islands were supposed to be good for pelagic birds. On the bridge deck it was 7ºC and quite windy. However, we did spot the first few Whiskered Auklets, and some saw a Flesh-footed Shearwater that flew right in front of the bow. We only had a little time to eat before climbing in the Zodiacs at 6:30 a.m. and heading for the waters around the Baby Islands. Our first Steller's sea lion poked its head above the water, and the number of Tufted Puffins was staggering. We had a Peregrine Falcon fly by at one point, and saw a dozen or more Bald Eagles of different ages. It was not until the very end of the outing that we finally found some close and somewhat cooperative Whiskered Auklets—success! This is the best location to find this species on our cruise. On the bridge after lunch we had super views of hundreds of Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels, Northern Fulmars, and Sooty/Short-tailed shearwaters, and fewer Leach's Storm-Petrels, Long-tailed and Parasitic jaegers, Black-footed Albatrosses, and Aleutian Terns.
August 2, St. Paul Island, Pribilof Islands, Alaska: Most of our afternoon was spent at the breeding cliffs. There we got great looks at Crested, Least, and Parakeet auklets. We saw the egg of a Thick-billed Murre, two Horned Puffins peeking out from their narrow ledge nest, and the nests of Northern Fulmars and Common Murres. In the water we saw a pair of Harlequin Ducks; the male was in full breeding plumage. The hour here was about my best hour of the tour. On the way back to the town, we spent about 30 minutes at a northern fur seal colony. This too was quite spectacular, with seals of all sizes and ages. A few of the largest males showed recent battle wounds. The special call of the large male is identical to that of Chewbacca from the Star Wars series.
August 4, Adak Island & afternoon at sea headed to Kiska Island: As we cruised away from Adak heading to Kiska Island, we had magnificent views of several volcano craters. However, the treats were to come very soon. Almost as soon as we left the harbor, the first Laysan Albatross cruised by. Within 20 minutes, 6 had been spotted, and Mark Brazil announced over the ship's PA that people should come up on deck. It was a great move, because less than 10 minutes later, Mark spotted an adult Short-tailed Albatross heading toward the ship from the one o'clock position. By that time there were more birders and non-birders on deck than I had seen since the trip began. It was too bad it decided to avoid the crowd and just fly down the starboard side to disappear in the distance off five o'clock. Because it was an adult, the white back could be seen from a long distance, and thus all of our participants got to see it. By the time of the "Ice Cream Social" at 4 p.m., I had counted about 100 Laysan Albatrosses and 3 Black-footed. It was an afternoon of high fives and great ear-to-ear smiles. Mottled Petrel, which we saw in the hundreds yesterday, and the "Holy Grail" Short-tailed Albatross we saw today made for WOW, WOW, and WOW again!
August 10, Zhupanova River mouth & Zhupanova River, Kronotsky Reserve: Pepper and I started scouting up an old sandy road. We encountered many fresh grizzly bear tracks and a few trails they made as they rambled through the tall grasses and other herbaceous plants. I was happy to not be alone. Together, we identified Eastern Yellow Wagtails, Pechora Pipits, and many Middendorff's Grasshopper-Warblers. As soon as the birders arrived on shore, I started by showing them Black-legged Kittiwakes, Common and Aleutian terns, and Slaty-backed, Black-headed, Common (now split from Mew Gull), and Glaucous-winged gulls. We were able to call out my Siberian Rubythroats, but it took work before everyone had satisfying scope looks at the male. Oriental Greenfinches and Middendorff's Grasshopper-Warblers also were seen, but a Sky Lark only flew by calling a few times.
Our afternoon cruise in Zodiacs up the Zhupanova River was superb. The highlight of my whole tour was seeing adult Steller's Sea-Eagles and youngsters perched and flying. What an absolutely magnificent bird! It almost made me quiver to watch this huge bird fly across the wide river in the sun, and also to see it perched. We saw two nests and one had two juveniles in it. Our two birding Zodiacs had great looks at a perched pair of adults as we came back down river. Our last encounter on the way back to the Clipper Odyssey was a juvenile that flew right over our heads as if to bid us farewell. Along the muddy banks we also hit paydirt with Eastern Yellow and White wagtails, Terek and Common sandpipers, Far Eastern Curlew, and Greenshank. Mark's Zodiac also saw a Taiga Flycatcher, while mine added a Yellow-breasted Bunting.