The Deskbound Birder

Thursday, 2 June 2016

Alaska - 2nd June (Day 6)

We were up at 06:30 for a complete change in the routine from the last few days spent on St Paul, the day was to be spent driving south to Seward from Anchorage a journey of 126 miles with a few stops en-route and some birding in Seward on arrival. First stop was a supermarket on the southern edge of Anchorage where we obtained supplies for the next few days, we then headed south along Seward Highway. This is a stunning road following the Turnagain Arm, through Chugach National Forest and then cutting through the mountains via mountain lakes, meadows and flanked all the way by snow capped mountains. A brief breakfast stop at Beluga Point failed to locate any Beluga but I guess we were a little early in the summer, these are usually seen from July onwards and are best on a rising tide - apparently. We saw little here apart from some Dall's Sheep which were pretty boring things - white goats on a hillside.

We pressed on conscious that we had a lot of ground to cover to get too Seward. A stop at Mile Marker 75 near to Portage produced two Trumpeter Swan amongst the horsetail marsh plus a smart Sooty Fox Sparrow. Then a more productive stop at Turnagain Pass produced Wilson’s Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Hermit Thrush, Sooty Fox Sparrow and Golden-crowned Sparrow in superb mountain scenery. We took the northwards turning to Hope and then followed the Palmer Creek Road south of Hope, following George West's 'A Birder's Guide to Alaska' hoping to bird in an alpine area along Resurrection Creek Valley but unfortunately the road was closed (it seemed permanently) and so we birded an area of scrub just above the treeline seeing Townsends Warbler, Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler, Varied Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Slate-coloured Junco. Nice but not really worth the hour or so diversion.

Trumpeter Swan - Mile Marker 75 near to Portage

Savanna Sparrow - Turnagain Pass, between Anchorage and Seward

Yellow Warbler - Turnagain Pass, between Anchorage and Seward

Wilson's Warbler - Turnagain Pass, between Anchorage and Seward

Golden-crowned Sparrow - Turnagain Pass, between Anchorage and Seward

Sooty Fox Sparrow - Turnagain Pass, between Anchorage and Seward

Hermit Thrush - Turnagain Pass, between Anchorage and Seward

Turn again Pass between Anchorage and Seaward

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Palmer Creek Road, Hope

Varied Thrush - Palmer Creek Road, Hope

Yellow-rumped Warbler - Palmer Creek Road, Hope

Birding on the Palmer Creek Road

Dropping into Seward we grabbed a coffee and sandwich and visited the harbour and marina where we spent some time with half a dozed very tame and ridiculously cute Sea Otter as they frolicked and groomed amongst the boats. The highly localised Northwest Crow fed along the shoreline with many Glaucous-winged Gull but despite the rarity of the crow's it was hard to get too excited about them. Finally, we headed out to Lowell Point and spent the evening birding the shoreline and mature spruce trees, the highlights here were Barrows Goldeneye, Marbled Murrelet, Surf Scoter, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Belted Kingfisher, American Dipper, Harlequin Duck, Steller’s Jay and Red-breasted Nuthatch. We headed to our accommodation, the Harbour View Inn and ventured out into Seward for dinner eating at Chinnok seafood restaurant.

Pigeon Guillemot - Seward Marina

Sea Otter - Seward Marina

Glaucous-winged Gull (adult) - Seward Marina

Glaucous-winged Gull (sub-adult, 4th summer?) - Seward Marina

Glaucous-winged Gull (adult) - Seward Marina

Northwest Crow - Seward

Glaucous-winged Gull (2nd winter) - Seward

Harlequin Duck - Lowell Point, Seward

Surf Scoter - Lowell Point, Seward

Steller's Jay - Lowell Point, Seward

Red-breasted Nuthatch - Lowell Point, Seward

Links to the other days of the trip (click to view)

Day 1 – Background, international flights and Anchorage

Day 2 (Part 1) – Anchorage

Day 2 (Part 2) – St. Paul, Pribolofs

Day 3 - St. Paul, Pribolofs

Day 4 - St. Paul, Pribolofs

Day 5 - St. Paul, Pribolofs then fly to Anchorage

Day 7 – Kenai Fjords cruise then drive to Denali

Day 8 – Denali National Park and Denali Highway

Day 9 – Paxton Area of Denali Highway

Day 10 – Drive Paxton to Anchorage

Day 11 – Nome

Day 12 – Nome

Day 13 – Nome

Day 14 – Nome and travel to Barrow

Day 15 (Part 1) – Barrow

Day 15 (Part 2) – Barrow

Day 16 – Barrow

Day 17 – Barrow then travel back to Anchorage and international fli

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.