The Deskbound Birder: Alaska - 5th June (Day 9)

Sunday 5 June 2016

Alaska - 5th June (Day 9)

The first part of the morning was spent at mile 13 an area of dry tundra with wetter sedge and cotton grass dominated areas. The scenery and habitat was fantastic and we saw American Golden Plover, Hudsonian Whimbrel, Short-eared Owl, Grey-cheeked Thrush, American Tree Sparrow, many Savannah Sparrow and Red Fox Sparrow. However, there were none of our main target species, Smith’s Longspur, present and we felt that the area was too try for it to be present. So, after a coffee at the cafe at Tangle Lake we birded a slightly different habitat at mile 19. This area consisted of a large lake surrounded by cotton-grass dominated damp bog with scattered willow swamp and a large lake. As we walked out across the bog we recorded many of the previous species plus Blackpoll Warbler, Least Sandpiper, Ring-necked Duck, Greater Scaup on and around the lake. After a short while we heard a different call and one that was familiar having listened to previous recordings, and there atop a Dwarf Willow was a stunning male Smith’s Longspur showing down to around 25 metres. Over the next couple of hours we enjoyed great views of around four males and a female as they set-up territory around the bog seemingly fairly new in.

American Golden Plover - Mile 13, Denali Highway

Short-eared Owl - Mile 13, Denali Highway

Grey-cheeked Thrush - Mile 13, Denali Highway

Corydalis species - Denali Highway

Lousewort species - Denali Highway

Blackpoll Warbler (female) - Mile 19, Denali Highway

Least Sandpiper in breeding habitat - Mile 19, Denali Highway

Smith's Longspur - Mile 19, Denali Highway

Smith's Longspur breeding habitat

This is the area at Mile 19 that we saw the Smith's Longspur, the birds were to the left

of and beyond the lake

Hudsonian Whimbrel - Mile 19, Denali Highway

After a beerless night last night and the success of seeing Smith's Longspur we went for supplies

Denali Highway

Having seen our main target we returned to Tangle Lakes for a coffee and a bit of a chill out before heading back west along the Denali Highway towards mile 30. The afternoon was fairly slow going as we tried, unsuccessfully, to see Arctic Warbler. The only new birds were four Tundra Swan and a stunning although distant adult Long-tailed Skua.

We spent the evening around the Denali Highway Cabins birding the grounds plus an area of spruce forest across the road seeing American Herring Gull, Northern Waterthrush, Spotted Sandpiper and Alder Flycatcher.