HIGHLIGHTS FROM RECENT TRIPS
AND
THE TOP 10 SPECIES SEEN

Top 10 lists are voted upon by the participants at the completion of each tour.

ADAK ISLAND, ALASKA
6-20 September 2007
Leaders: John Puschock & Bob Schutsky
Trip Report by Bob Schutsky

6 Sep Two weeks on Adak Island in the Aleutians, 1200 miles southwest of Anchorage, searching for strays from Asia. What could be more exciting than that? John Puschock had been scouting for a week prior to our arrival and had a good report when we met at the Adak Airport: Oriental Greenfinch had been seen earlier in the day. John had quick glimpses the day before and another birder had good looks today. This species was previously unreported on Adak. We picked up our luggage and, with an hour of daylight remaining, we were off to the National Forest on our first chase. We had Lucie Bruce, Nick Cooney, and John Odgers from Texas, and Bill Sugg from North Carolina, all eager to search for our first Asian stray.

There are no native trees on Adak, so birding the National Forest is not quite what you might think. It is a small grove of spruces that you can easily walk around in 30 seconds. Down the road a short way is an even smaller grove that we call the State Park. No luck at either spot, or in the gravel road or the surrounding vegetation. We put down some birdseed in an attempt to attract the Greenfinches. We'd be back in the morning, and many times to come.

7 Sep After breakfast we checked the National Forest again, finding a Song Sparrow and a Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch, but no Oriental Greenfinch. Clam Lagoon yielded a juvenile Ruff and juvenile Long-billed Dowitcher in the grassy flats at the south end. Later in the afternoon as we continued around the 6-mile road that encircles Clam Lagoon, we discovered two more Ruffs and a juvenile Common Greenshank on nearby Lake Shirley. These are excellent birds. But 30 minutes later we hit the jackpot - - TWO Marsh Sandpipers on the Clam Lagoon flats near Candlestick Bridge. This was the 5^th ABA record, and the only occasion on which two had been seen together. It was a life bird for the entire group except John Puschock who had seen it twice before on Adak. [I will refer to the ABA area several times in this report. ABA = the American Birding Association Area, basically the US, Canada, and surrounding waters.] We finished with a couple of Peregrine Falcons and an apparent adult hybrid gull, Glaucous-winged x Slaty-backed. Our first full day on Adak had been a good one, a very good one.

8 Sep Late in the morning the Common Greenshank was still on Lake Shirley, but the Ruffs were gone. After lunch we visited Sweeper Cove near the village of Adak, specifically the outflow from the fish processing plant. This is a major concentration point for gulls because of the abundance of food in the cove. John spotted the 2^nd-winter Slaty-backed Gull that he had observed last week. We all had good looks as it rode on the water with the abundant Glaucous-winged Gulls. Even though we weren't finding anything there, we felt compelled to check the National Forest again. This time it paid off, BIG TIME! John flushed an Oriental Greenfinch from the spruces. It flew down the road to the spruces at the State Park where some of us saw it well and others were still hoping for better looks. We knew of one lone nearby spruce that Nick had dubbed the Regional Park. As we slowly and carefully made our way in to this solitary tree, there was the Oriental Greenfinch, perched on the very top. And it remained for everyone to see and photograph. Persistence paid off and our entire group was more than pleased. We spent late afternoon at Contractor's Camp Marsh. A Peregrine flushed a shorebird from the wet grasses, an almost definite Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. But the Peregrine did not catch it, which pleased Bill, who still needed Sharp-tailed for an ABA bird. We also saw a Common Snipe, the Eurasian version of our Wilson's Snipe. We ended the day with our first of many rainbows.

9 Sep It rained all morning with strong southwest winds at 30-40 mph. We found nothing new, but did relocate the Common Greenshank and two Marsh Sandpipers. They were now traveling together as a flock, spending most of their time at the south end of Clam Lagoon. We would see this trio almost daily.

10 Sep A double rainbow put in a nice appearance, as did a bull Steller's Sea Lion not far offshore at Sitkin Sound. During our stay we also saw Minke Whales, several Orcas, and numerous Sea Otters, many with pups.

11 Sep Late in the afternoon we spotted our first Gray-tailed Tattler of the tour. It was on the rocks at the mouth of Navfac Creek. This is a close relative of the Wandering Tattler of the US Pacific Coast, the only two tattler species in the world. The Slaty-backed Gull plus the Common Greenshank and Marsh Sandpipers were all accounted for during the afternoon.

12 Sep Wednesday turned out to be another one of those spectacular days. It began with a juvenile Pacific Golden-Plover at Lake Andrew. This is not a rare bird by any means, but it is certainly a handsome one. A bit later in the morning we were making our daily round of Clam Lagoon. We spotted the flock of about 50 Sanderlings that was often accompanied by two Western Sandpipers. But now there was a third peep, smaller than the two Westerns. John and I both felt that it was a stint, most likely a Red-necked. We mobilized quickly for our walk across the flats. We were able to approach closely for excellent looks, but juvenile stints are not easily identified. John obtained fantastic photos, which he displayed on his laptop at lunchtime. It became very apparent that we had found a Little Stint, the first documented record for Adak. What an incredible find! We returned to Clam Lagoon after lunch for more photos and prolonged observations. Between 5 and 6 PM we saw the following species at Clam Lagoon: Little Stint, two Marsh Sandpipers, Common Greenshank, and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. And Florida birders Ted Robinson and Greg Bretz were flying in tomorrow to join us for the second week. Hopefully some or all of these birds would hold tight for the next 24 hours.

13 Sep Our first new bird for the day came in an interesting fashion. A small flock of Ruddy Turnstones was flying over Sitkin Sound, near Goose Rocks. The flock was occasionally joined by a smaller flock of shorebirds, then the small flock would disappear. This happened several times. It turned out that the small flock was a group of five Red Phalaropes. When they landed on the water, they effectively disappeared. We finally had good looks at them feeding from the surface of the water and on the kelp beds. We were pleased with the sighting, as phalaropes are uncommon this late in the season. We ended our first week with 57 different species and many high-quality finds.

And we began our second week when Greg and Ted landed at the Adak Airport at about 7:15 PM. We whisked them out to Clam Lagoon, stopping for a great look at our first Gyrfalcon. They were able to see the two Marsh Sandpipers very well (ABA bird for both), along with the Common Greenshank. We ran out of daylight and ended the day quite content.

14 Sep Not long after seeing the Greenshank and Marsh Sands yet again, John spotted two Kittlitz's Murrelets on Sitkin Sound. This species is relatively easy in spring, but much more difficult by September, especially from shore. After lunch the wind had finally settled down, so we stopped at another grouping of stunted spruces that we had dubbed the Elfin Forest. We had seen Winter Wren there on earlier stops, plus the occasional Song Sparrow, Lapland Longspur, and Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch. But today we hit the jackpot when Greg spotted a songbird atop one of the final spruces and John yelled "Oriental Greenfinch!" We had quick looks there, then it flew back to the other end of the trees where we had more looks. Then it disappeared into a nearby tree. Barb and Frank Haas had arrived from Pennsylvania on the Thursday flight with Ted and Greg. They put in a voluminous amount of time, scattered more birdseed, searched, played greenfinch songs on their iPod, all to no avail. We were never able to relocate this bird. Whether it was the same bird we had seen last week, or the second of the two birds that John had seen before we arrived, or a brand new one, we'll never know.

15 Sep gave us our first Eurasian Wigeon, and the next day (16 Sep) Greg and John had a brief look at what was probably a Whimbrel, but it got away before we were certain. We had at least three Eurasian Wigeon on 17 Sep, probably several more. The winds picked up on 18 Sep, 50-60 mph sustained winds with gusts to 80! The birding was tough, but we kept trying. It would blow like this for the next 48 hours.

19 Sep We had another curlew-type bird get away from us today. Bill and I had spotted it on Clam Lagoon and had alerted the others that we had an interesting, unidentified shorebird that needed immediate attention. Bill and I had started across the flats, battling the excessive winds. Just as we were approaching close enough to perhaps identify the bird, and just as the other two vehicles were pulling up to the overlook, a Peregrine stooped on the shorebird and chased it out of sight, never to be seen again. We searched most of the remainder of the day, but no luck. It went down as a curlew-type shorebird that got away. Drats!

20 Sep Our final day on Adak Island Alaska, and a short day due to our early evening flights back to Anchorage. But we still had plenty of good birding time and we took full advantage of it. Shotgun Lake is one of the small lakes near Clam Lagoon that we check regularly for waterfowl. Sometimes there are 100 birds on it, sometimes none. This morning there was a flock of five Eurasian Green-winged Teal, then a smaller flock of three. But one of the three looked different, with a few light markings on the face. We were just getting better looks at this bird when it disappeared behind some vegetation. After a quick drive to the other side of the lake and a few photos by Frank Haas, we felt confident that we had a Garganey, but by now the flock had flown. We relocated it in a small roadside pond, no more than 30 feet from the vans. We all had prolonged views of the Garganey in perfect light and point blank range. Very exciting! We moved on to Sitkin Sound and found our only loon of the entire two weeks, a Yellow-billed Loon. On the return trip to lunch we saw two Gray-tailed Tattlers along the edge of Clam Lagoon. And, after a grand chase and lots of trips around Clam Lagoon and across the flats, we found our last new bird of the tour, a juvenile Lesser Sand-Plover. Our final tally for the second week was 57 species, with a total of 65 species seen during the two-week period. It was an excellent birding expedition to Adak Island with many exciting adventures.