For the past 6 days I have been in Gambell (on St. Lawrence Island in far western Alaska, not too far from Russia) as part a Wilderness Birding Adventures trip led by Aaron Lang and James Huntington. A great trip in a great birding place!! While I could sometimes check my email and text where we were staying, I did not have access to the Internet and therefore could not post at all until now. Although Nome, where I arrived this afternoon, does have Internet access, I only have time now to give the highlights (i.e., new birds seen). I plan to begin to post at least some of the photos tomorrow if at all possible.
So, new birds seen by me, in the order seen at Gambell:
1-White Wagtail, usually at least a few seen every day
2-Terek Sandpiper, 1 was on island when we arrived but we only saw it the first day
3-Dovekie, a small nesting colony at Gambell; we saw one bird
4-Black Guillemot, regularly seen at seawatch, which we did each morning
5-Common Ringed Plover, known to nest at Gambell; we usually saw 1 or 2 each day
6-Brant, 1 or 2 of these geese seen flying by at some of the seawatches
7-White-tailed Eagle, well-seen and photographed, a very unexpected wonderful rarity; seen by others a couple of days later
8-Red-necked Stint, shorebird unusual in US except western Alaska
9-Eye-browed Thrush, discovered by Barbara Carlson, among rocks on the hillside; seen by most and photographed
10- Red-throated Pipit – about 4 found yesterday in wet marsh area
11- Pomarine Jaeger, 1 seen flying by on seawatch; I expect to see more in western and northern AK this year.
For details on dates seen, go to my web site, lynnbarber.com.
227 species seen so far
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