The Deskbound Birder: Alaska - 1st June (Day 5)

Wednesday 1 June 2016

Alaska - 1st June (Day 5)

The day started fairly still and overcast but gradually brightened to give a gloriously warm and sunny day, not at all what was expected on St.Paul. We spent the entire morning at Reef Cliffs mainly trying to get views of Crested Auklet on the cliff - we had seem them at sea but wanted to enjoy them at closer range. We also simply wanted to enjoy the seabirds that nest on the cliffs here. Although now familiar, the close range views and general comings and goings of Tufted Puffin, Horned Puffin, Least Auklet, Parakeet Auklet, Brunnich’s Guillemot, Common Guillemot and Black-legged Kittiwake made for an extremely enjoyable few hours. But the Crested Auklet's absolutely stole the show, these are amazing looking birds with a wacky crest, piercing white-eyes and a bright fluorescent bill with a ridiculous Bat Man - The Joker grin. We were reluctant to tear ourselves away for lunch.

Crested Auklet - St Paul Island

Parakeet Auklet - St Paul Island

Horned Puffin - St Paul Island

Tufted Puffin - St Paul Island

Least Auklet - St Paul Island

Least Auklet - St Paul Island. Most of the birds we saw were pale or intermediate

morph birds but this is a dark morph.

Least Auklet - St Paul Island

Brunnich's Guillemot - St Paul Island

Brunnich's Guillemot and Black-legged Kittiwake - St Paul Island

Northern Wren - St Paul Island

Red-faced Cormorant - St Paul Island

After lunch we headed back to the accommodation, packed our bags and checked them into our flight before heading back into the field. We headed to our now familiar Least Auklet colony to the west of the town where we sat amongst the rocks and enjoyed the comings and goings of these fantastic birds. We were about to leave all these fantastic auks behind and all too soon it was time to head off to our flight which eventually left at 16:30 to Anchorage. A brief stop over on the remote St. George Island produced Red-legged Kittiwake, Grey-crowned Rosy-finch, Rock Sandpiper and a white Arctic Fox. We eventually landed in Anchorage at around 19:30, checked into Motel 6 and headed out for dinner at the Moose’s Tooth, American style massive pizza with a bustling atmosphere.