Last night Steve Heinl, Louann Feldmann and I searched for Barred Owls, which others had reported calling in the Ward Lake campground north of Ketchikan. That’s where I had looked for hours the night before without any luck. Last night it was raining but we valiantly wandered around the wet campground, down the trails, on the road -nothing. Finally after over an hour, having retraced our route without success, we decided to drive farther down Revilla Road to listen in other areas.

We had only gone a very short distance in the dark rainy night when Steve spotted a big owl sitting on a road sign! I did a U-turn and the bird was still there. It flew a short distance to a close-by cliff and perched. In the light of my flashlight we could see it clearly – a black-eyed BARRED OWL! Use your imagination on the crummy picture I was able to take in the flashlight’s light before the owl flew off. While we watched the owl, another distant Barred Owl was calling, the first we’d heard. We decided it must be a family group, and maybe the owl we were seeing was a young one, unaware that Barred Owls don’t usually sit on roadsign signs.

250 species so far

Today it rained all day, officially more than it’s ever rained in one day in Anchorage before! I had much to do so I just did my various jobs/chores and ignored the rain. By about 4:00 the rain was slightly decreased so I decided it was time to get some birding done.

Potter Marsh was filled as high as I’ve ever seen it. There were very few birds around, probably trying to avoid getting wetter. The only duck species that I saw there was a pair of American Wigeons sitting on tuft of grass apparently trying to stay out of the rising water. The pair of Bald Eagles was sitting out near the nest looking very bedraggled so I did not take their photo.

Westchester Lagoon was my main goal today, in the hopes that at least one of the Blue-winged Teal reported a few days ago was still around. I was in luck, and easily viewable from the shelter of my car was a single BLUE-WINGED TEAL. I did not even have to get wet to see it and I did not take the time to scope the lake to see if others were around. I still had chores and packing to do.

Tomorrow I fly to Ketchikan where I will bird a couple of days and then fly in a one of the few passenger seats on a mail-plane to Hyder, for more birding of course. I understand that WiFi will be available where I will be staying, but if not, I’ll report on my trip as soon as I can.

244 species so far

Yesterday I added more species (11) than I had imagined possible for me to add in Nome for the whole trip, and amazingly today I added three more species: SPECTACLED EIDER, SABINE’S GULL and SAY’S PHOEBE. The eider was seen early on on our drive up Council Road in a shallow pond area.

After we saw one Sabine’s Gull on a water’s edge (I think of Norton Sound), we saw two later with some loafing terns.

I was not able to photograph the Say’s Phoebe which was flitting around high on the cliffs above the nest of a Gyrfalcon. In the nest were one adult and two young (hidden in my picture) and above them was the other adult.

In addition to these and other more common Nome birds we saw about ten Short-eared Owls along our drive, some of which perched very close to the road.

NOW for a few Gambell pictures – in order below: Terek Sandpiper, Black Guillemot, Aaron Lang (Wilderness Birding Adventures) and Clarence Irrigo, Jr. (Gambell bird expert), Snow Bunting, Crested Auklets, White Wagtail and White-tailed Eagle.

I will post more Gambell pictures when I have time and WiFi access.

241 species so far

 

I really meant to concentrate on showing pictures from my recent trip to Gambell today, but we saw so many birds in Nome today, that may take up all my time before I need to go to bed so I get enough sleep before my second day in Nome. It was a great day thanks to Scott Hauser and Aaron Bowman, our leaders from Wilderness Birding Adventures, and of course thanks to the birds.

Today’s main goal was Bristle-thighed Curlew on a hill some 70 miles away from the town of Nome on Kougarok Road. On the drive we saw and heard GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH, ARCTIC WARBLER, BLUETHROAT (gorgeous birds but no pictures yet), BLACKPOLL WARBLER and  CLIFF SWALLOW Some of these birds were seen again with much better views later in the day. We also saw a Willow Ptarmigan and later a Rock Ptarmigan.

At just before 9:30 we arrived at our goal destination. After seeing one Whimbrel, we heard and the saw in the air and on the ground multiple BRISTLE-THIGHED CURLEWS, similar to but distinct in call and appearance from the Whimbrel. At the same hill we saw LONG-TAILED JAEGERS, an AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER and three BAIRD’S SANDPIPERS.

On our drive back to town, we stopped for a picnic lunch at a bridge where we saw Northern Waterthrushes, Yellow Warblers, an American Tree Sparrow, an EASTERN YELLOW WAGTAIL and BANK SWALLOWS. We also saw Northern Wheatears, Musk Ox and Moose.

238 species so far

PS. I really will try to post some Gambell pictures tomorrow.

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