I am sitting at the Nome airport after about 7 hours birding in Nome, awaiting my return flight to Anchorage. The purpose of this quickie trip was the Eastern Phoebe reported about a month ago. I was worried that it/ they would be long gone but I felt the need to try. As I was leaving home this morning I learned that a Great Knot had been briefly seen in Nome yesterday. Unfortunately I had been unable to find a car to rent so was unsure how I was going to go the 21 miles needed for it (9 miles for the Phoebe). It took about an hour to figure it out but eventually I managed to find and rent a 15-person van at a normal car rate and I was off.

When I reached the spot where the Phoebe had been reported I quickly saw 2 EASTERN PHOEBES going back and forth to a nest, feeding young! Because I am doing this post on my phone, the pic is a phone-camera pic of my camera screen but I think it shows things okay (tho sideways). I will post more pics tomorrow.

I did not find the Great Knot but had a great day birding anyway.

286 species so far

I managed to find 30 minutes to bird today, in the middle of all my obligations/activities that awaited me upon my return from Barrow. Not surprisingly, I visited Potter Marsh in that time period. Nearly all the snow is finally gone from the nearby mountains and everything is lush and green.

Since my last visit, the number of Greater Yellowlegs out there had increased dramatically (oddly, most of them today were one-legged (put your favorite smiley face here)).

In one of my last visits I had reported on the agitated mother Mallard trying to keep the Bald Eagle from getting all of her tiny ducklings. At that same site today, there was a mother Mallard with a batch of half-grown ducklings. I hope it was the same valiant mother that had managed so far to keep so many of her family alive.

One of the Bald Eagle adults was sitting in a tree near the nest and at least one very big young eagle was still in the nest (pictures too blurry to post). I expect the young eagles will be gone soon.

On the boardwalk itself there was a fledgling Yellow-rumped Warbler sitting calmly while its siblings were just off the boardwalk being fed by a parent.

And that was all the time I had for birding today.

285 species so far

I took an earlier flight today back to Anchorage than originally scheduled, so I only birded a few hours in Barrow this morning. This post also covers a bit of birding that I did last night after yesterday’s post. On both occasions, there was very little ice visible from the ground (first picture below). But when I was in the plane flying out of Anchorage, the vast expanse of ice could be seen off to the west (as viewed from above: brown land, bluish water, distant white ice, not clouds, in second picture below).

Last night I decided to go out to the point, where gulls are numerous in winter, to see if any gulls, or anything else happened there late in the day. Of course it was still bright and sunny at 10:30 pm, but you never know. I got to see flocks of Common Murres flying past, which I had not seen during the day.

Before heading to bed, I also drove up a short road near water where some Glaucous Gulls were perched. No other gulls were there, but did find a Pacific Loon on a nest on the nearby shore.

This morning as usual there were Long-tailed Ducks in many of the ponds.

On the way to the point there was a single female King Eider where I had seen one earlier in the week. Out at the point there were flocks of eiders going by. As far as I could tell they were all King Eiders, nearly 100% males.

For at least a couple of days I plan to bird in the Anchorage area. Anybody know the location of any rarities needing chasing? I do have a few ideas on that but as always welcome suggestions.

285 species so far

I added a few new birds to my trip list today (NOT year birds): Willow Ptarmigan (pair plus young), Common Eider, Black Guillemot (2 on land at the base of the point and very near), and Ruddy Turnstone (near Guillemots).

The highlight of my day, however, was a very  close view along the road of a female Spectacled Eider.

One more day in Barrow – until October. Because of my flight schedule tomorrow, I probably will not be able to post about tomorrow’s birding until the next day (July 10).

285 species so far

Today varied from foggy to almost clear to pouring rain to overcast to foggy to high clouds. The birds of course were there no matter the weather, but sometimes difficult to see. The ice bergs were mostly far away to the west forming a thin white line at the horizon, with just a few nearby ones still serving as gull perches.

I did see two different Snowy Owls today, one of which was first seen peering over a small roadside hummock but then hopped up to be more easily seen. The other was far, far away.

I also saw two Brant, a female Steller’s Eider and a very distant female Spectacled Eider, all three Jaegers, and many of the same shorebirds and other birds as seen earlier.

Tomorrow, more Barrow birding.

Still at 285 species for the year

No new birds today, but I did see another Snowy Owl on a distant hill on the opposite side of Barrow from yesterday’s owl.

The main goals today were shorebirds and the main highlights were baby shorebirds. I  took pictures of some of them, and have made guesses as to what species the babies were, but they were running all over the tundra and not always clearly associated with a parent. There were also many families of Greater White-fronted Geese (picture below shorebird young pictures). My guess as to the identities of shorebird young shown below (based on proximity to adult birds) is: Red-necked Phalarope, Pectoral Sandpiper, Red Phalarope and American Golden-Plover.

I also found a nesting pair of Tundra Swans and a very noisy Wilson’s Snipe.

Tomorrow I will wander some more around Barrow.

285 species so far

I arrived in Barrow about 6 pm. After getting my rental car and checking in to my inn, I set out to drive the roads. I was surprised to see that there still was quite a bit of ice on the ocean.

Birds seen included Red-necked and Red Phalarope, Greater White-fronted Goose, Long-tailed Duck, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, Pacific Loon, Least, Semipalmated, Pectoral and Baird’s (1) Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover, Pomarine and Parasitic Jaeger, Peregrine Falcon, Lapland Longspur, and Snow Bunting.

About 9:30 I saw my goal bird, a SNOWY OWL. I’m not sure whether there are any other birds in Barrow that would be new for my year, but I’ll be looking.

I did have one fly-by mystery bird today, a sandpiper, which I hope to find and photograph tomorrow. If so, I’ll let you know.

285 species so far

Louann Feldmann, Mike Herndon and I tried again today to find a Wilson’s Phalarope at the Goose Bay area where a male had been reported earlier, and we succeeded! At first all we could see were both yellowlegs species, Least Sandpipers, Northern Shovelers and American Wigeons. We tromped all over, checking out all the big and little lakes out on the wetland. Then on our way back we spotted (in the biggest shallow lake) a shorebird that was NOT any of the shorebirds we had seen earlier. It was a bit smaller than the nearby Lesser Yellowlegs, but was much more drab and unmarked. There were no spots or streaks or other evident markings on its breast which was a soft off-white color. It’s back was a plain gray-brown as was a light smudge near its eyes and the crown area. The only darker area on it was a slightly darker wing-area. Its beak was very thin and its legs were not as long as a yellowlegs but they were yellow. It was walking in the shallow water between and behind clumps of grass about 40-70 feet from us across a portion of the lake. We were not able to see it for long and did not get any photographs. Once it disappeared into the grass clumps we consulted our various apps and found that it was essentially identical to the photograph shown for juvenile WILSON’S PHALAROPE in the iBird Pro: North America app. In the car as we drove back to Anchorage we looked at all the apps and the birdbooks again and had the same conclusion. Neither of the other phalarope species were shown with any plumage that was even close to that of the bird we had seen.

NOTE: I have posted Part 1 of the Dutch Harbor trip, the ferry portion, a few minutes ago on my blog in a separate post, and hope to finish my reporting on that trip tomorrow. A complete list of birds seen to date is found at lynnbarber.com for those unwilling to wait until Part 2 to see what was seen in and around Dutch Harbor.

284 species seen to date