The Deskbound Birder: May 2016

Tuesday, 31 May 2016

Alaska - 31st May (Day 4)

We awoke to a strong north-west gale and occasional heavy showers so a seawatch was on the cards. After breakfast we headed to Reef Cliffs and found a reasonable position overlooking the huge seas, despite the relative shelter behind an outcrop of volcanic rock we were buffeted and sand blasted. There were large numbers of birds passing north along the coast with many 100’s of Least Auklet, Crested Auklet and Parakeet Auklet plus Black-legged Kittiwake, Red-legged Kittiwake, Tufted Puffin and Horned Puffin. The only new species we added was a single Pomarine Skua that flew south. After around one hour we headed south to the seal blind overlooking the Town Bay for another scan for Ancient Murrelet but although relatively sheltered we decided that the search was futile given the choppy conditions. We headed a little way north to Saltwater Lagoon where we birded around stacks of crab pots which offered some shelter for migrant birds but produced little, it was pretty tough going in the wind. Out on the lagoon we had better views of the Bar-tailed Godwit, this bird of the eastern race baueri which has relatively longer wings and bill compared to the more western races. There were many dead and dying Plaice in the lagoon and the Glaucous-winged Gull were enjoying a feast. We headed back to the rocky bay on the south coast of the island before lunch for some shelter and to spend a bit more time with the Least Auklet which seemed to be struggling to balance on the rocks in the wind. Just before lunch we headed back to Town Bay for a quick scan of for the Ancient Murrelet but with no luck but we did get fairly nice views of White-billed Diver and more Harlequin Duck.

Early morning seawtaching in a north Pacific gale (left to right Ian, Martin, myself, Andy and our guide Alison)

Looking back towards the town

Bar-tailed Godwit of race baueri - St Paul Island

Crab-pots offer one of the few forms of cover on the islands and hence offer shelter for tired migrants

Crab-pot birding

Glaucous-winged Gull (1st winter) and Plaice - St Paul Island

Glaucous-winged Gull (3rd winter) - St Paul Island

Harlequin Duck - St Paul Island

Harlequin Duck (adult male with a 1st summer male 2nd from left) - St Paul Island

Harlequin Duck (1st summer male) - St Paul Island

White-billed Diver - St Paul Island

Lapland Bunting - St Paul Island

St Paul town

Arctic Fox - St Paul Island

South Coast of St Paul Island

Least Auklet - St Paul Island

Glaucous-winged Gull (first winter) - St Paul Island

Glaucous-winged Gull (third winter) - St Paul Island

Glaucous-winged Gull (second winter and adult) - St Paul Island

Glaucous-winged Gull (first, second and third winter birds) - St Paul Island

Glaucous-winged Gull (fourth summer or adult summer) - St Paul Island

Northern Fur-seal - St Paul Island

After lunch we went north up to North Point birding Big Water and the surrounding marshland. This produced Pacific Golden Plover, Least Sandpiper, Ring-necked Duck and four stunning Red Phalarope, the first summer plumage birds I had seen but still the strong winds hampered good views of birds and photography. A seawatch on the far north-east point of the island produced six Short-tailed Shearwater and an adult Long-tailed Skua plus around 12 female and sub-adult male King Eider on the water. We headed south for dinner and as we approached the town we heard news that two Ancient Murrelet had been seen a short while ago in Town Bay so we drove through the town and positioned ourselves in the shelter of the van looking east into the bay, as we scanned there was the now familiar Yellow-billed Loon, a sub-adult male King Eider and White-winged Scoter. It was apparent that there were many Alcids sheltering in the bay from the storm and then Alison Vilag, our guide, exclaimed Ancient Murrelet! And as I was standing next to her I was first to look through the scope and there they were two fantastic summer plumage Ancient Murrelet – my first since dot views on Lundy Island in May 1990. We watched the birds for 15 minutes before it was time to head for dinner.

Northern Pintail - St Paul Island

Lapland Bunting - St Paul Island

Red-necked Phalarope - St Paul Island

Grey-crowned Rosy-finch - St Paul Island

View to the south from the north of the island

View in the north of the island

Ancient Murrelet - St Paul Island (photo by Andy Bunting)

After dinner we spent a little bit of time around the Port of St. Paul photographing Rock Sandpiper and enjoying closer views of Harlequin Duck and distant views of Pigeon Guillemot. The last hour or so of the day was spent seawatching which produced more of the same that we had seen this morning although the calming seas produced fewer birds. Finally, we wandered the southern end of the peninsular enjoying the windswept landscape and watching the rather disgusting Northern Fur-seal before heading back to the hotel for a couple of beers.