I had been fortunate to be able to bird Gambell, Alaska way back in 2007 and St. Paul Island of the Pribilofs in 2024. Some of my birding friends had birded Adak Island, which is located nearly 1200 miles out the Aleutian Island chain southwest of Anchorage, making it the westernmost municipality in the United States and the southernmost in Alaska. It is farther west than Hawaii and requires a 3-hour flight from Anchorage on a Boeing '737'. Attu Island, which is even farther west than Adak, was previously 'the' go-to site for Asian strays, but its accessibility by air ended in 2010 when the Coast Guard station located there was shut down. Adak then took its place as the farthest west accessible location by air. Here's a map to give you an idea where the three birding islands are located.
The
red star marks
Gambell, a town on St. Lawrence Island, located just south of
the Bering Strait (blue pin).
The
orange star marks
St. Paul Island, one of the Pribilof Islands.
The
brown star marks
Adak Island, located roughly two-thirds of the way out the Aleutian Island chain towards
the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia (purple pin).
All flights to these islands originate in
Anchorage (green pin).
I wasn't planning on going to Adak this year, but that all changed when Frank Haas made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I had known Frank from way back in the mid-1970's when we were both hawkwatchers at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. Frank has been going to Adak for 20 years, so he knows the island much better than most. He offered me the chance to stay in his extra bedroom and ride with him in his car, which saved me a lot of extra money for lodging and a rental vehicle, plus I had a very knowledgeable guide there! I happily took him up on his offer for the last week of May. I booked my flights through Alaska Airlines since they are the only one that flies to Adak. There are only two flights a week to Adak, one on Saturday and one on Wednesday, so if you miss that flight, you are stuck in Anchorage for days! That's why I made sure that there were at least four-hour layovers between flights. My three flights would be from Newark, New Jersey to Seattle, Seattle to Anchorage, and Anchorage to Adak. When I booked them, the issues at Newark (the shut-down runway under construction and the air traffic controllers losing contact with the pilots) weren't public, so I was crossing my fingers that my first flight wouldn't end up delayed or cancelled. I also planned my food and drink for the week and sent it by mail ahead of time because Frank told me the store's stock was limited and sometimes closed. I'm glad I did, especially when I found out that the store was closed for the entire week that I was there.
Friday, May 23, 2025
I got up at 2 AM and started the one-hour drive to Newark Airport at 3 AM because the airline recommended being at the airport three hours early instead of the normal two. The "Economy Lot" at the airport is far from "economy", charging a whopping $35.00 a day for parking there. About a month before, I searched for more reasonable, off-site parking and found Victoria Parking, which was less than half the price of the "Economy Lot". I went with them this trip and everything went smoothly, so I would definitely use them again if needed. I checked my bag and went through security, which involved taking off my muck boots. As on the St. Paul trip, I chose to wear my muck boots for two reasons----1) they would take up more than half of my suitcase, and 2) if my suitcase didn't make it to Adak, I would be in big trouble when it came to walking around the wet areas there. As I was walking to my gate, I did a double-take when I saw the name of this sushi bar.
Thankfully, my 7:19 AM flight took off on time and I landed in Seattle at 10:20 AM with a nice view of Mount Rainier on the way in.
I had an almost 7-hour layover since the other choices available were too short to be safe. At 5:12 PM, I left for Anchorage. Snow-covered mountains were eye candy as we descended down to Anchorage's airport and landed there around 7:45 PM.
I slept, or should I say I tried to get some sleep, in the airport since my departure to Adak wasn't until 11:45 the next morning, a 16-hour span, but I was just glad that I knew there was no way I was going to miss that critical Adak flight. Thanks to a tip from a lady at the Alaska Lounge, I found some very comfortable chairs in the Observation Deck area with the suspended seaplane in the background.
Saturday, May 24, 2025
The 16-hour layover grew to 18 hours when my Adak flight was delayed two hours "due to maintenance", but around 2 PM I was finally on my way to Adak Island.
About three hours later after going through my fifth time change in a day-and-a-half, we broke through the often-present cloud layer on the approach to the Adak airport and landed at around 4:30 PM Adak time.
Frank was there at the airport, and I was happy to see my bag successfully made it to the island. We drove over to his house that he rents from the guy that lives in the other half of the duplex and decided to have an early dinner before heading out to bird the rest of the day. There was "Wi-Fi" at the house that allowed you to call or text and use the internet. Once you left the house, there was little or no cell service, so communication between birders on the island had to be done with walkie-talkies, provided you were in range at that time to receive the call.
While eating, a Hawfinch was seen at his feeder behind the house. It wasn't a 'lifer' but was a really good start to the trip. After dinner, Frank gave me an introductory tour of the area, which included a run around the perimeter of "Clam Lagoon". A pair of Marbled Murrelets were seen along with Eurasian Wigeon, Parasitic Jaeger, Aleutian and Arctic Tern, plus the prevalent "Eurasian Green-winged Teal (also called Common Teal), Greater Scaup, Red-breasted Mergansers, Rock Ptarmigans, Glaucous-winged Gulls, Semipalmated Plovers, Bald Eagles, Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches, and Lapland Longspurs.
There were three other birders on the island. They were Sam Brayshaw, Jon Boone, and Jim DeForge. Sam had spotted a female Canvasback in the "Sweeper Side Channel", a bird Frank had never seen during his 20 years on Adak. He wanted to give it a try, so we walked the dike for at least a half-mile through some thick grass. We saw a group of 44 "Aleutian" Cackling Geese, Mallard, "Eurasian" Green-winged Teal, Greater Scaup, Rock Ptarmigan, Bald Eagle, and Lapland Longspur, but no Canvasback.
The "Smew Ponds", named for a Smew that was found there in the past (also known as the "Airport Ponds" since they're next to the runway), didn't hold anything of note. Rock Ptarmigans (Frank calls them "chickens") seemed to be everywhere. Frank said their numbers have greatly increased in recent years. The flash of their white wings in flight gave them away as they flew from one spot to another.
A group of 53 "Aleutian" Cackling Geese fed along the runway while a Wood Sandpiper stood along the "Airport Ditch".
We called it a day and returned to the house. I started the trip off with 18 species that included a Wood Sandpiper. I unpacked my food and put it in the one kitchen cabinet and then got situated in my room. I finally layed down around 11 PM after being up for most of the time since 2 AM the day before, a 50-hour span with a 5-hour time change. Needeless to say, that bed felt really good.
