Pribilof Islands, Alaska Trip ~ June 2, 2024

It was real foggy when I looked out the window of my room, so I wondered whether my flight was going to be cancelled or not. I packed everything up, keeping just enough clothing to keep me warm during the morning's birding and yet still be able to fit it all in my backpack since my other bags would already be checked around 8:30 AM. In the late morning, the word came in that the flight was indeed cancelled. Since they had changed the Monday flights to Tuesdays after I had got the tickets, Tuesday would be the next chance to leave, so the four of us that were supposed to leave today, Joe Hammond, Tom Sheley, John Watts, and I retrieved our bags and went back to the room to unpack. The crazy thing was that it would become partly sunny with many miles of visibility when the plane would have landed that afternoon. Such is the unpredictable weather on Saint Paul Island.

Sulli was with the four of us throughout the morning while we awaited the official word on the flight. It was too late when the flight was finally cancelled to do any morning birding before lunch, so we started our birding with him in the afternoon.

Our first stop was Antone Wall. A raft of Harlequin Ducks fed just offshore.

Harlequin Ducks

Sulli and I walked back to a little pond at the far end of "the wall" to see if any 'goodies' were hiding there while Tom and John tried to get photos of a Tufted Duck that was on Antone Lake. The pond was empty, but we did hear Least Auklets chattering down in the rocks underneath us.

A stop at the harbor, hoping to find a female Steller's Eider that had occasionally been seen there, produced 7 King Eiders, 18 Tufted Puffins, a Red-necked Grebe, and a Pelagic Cormorant.

King Eiders

A Common Goldeneye was at the Town Marsh along with the continuing Bank Swallow. I took this photo from atop Black Diamond Hill showing Polovina Hill in the distance.

A view to the north from Black Diamond Hill showing Polovina Hill and the windmills and the hotel barely visible below it.

Big Polovina Lake held 2 Tundra Swans, the continuing 3 Snow Geese and 4 Greater White-fronted Geese, a Canvasback, and 3 Red-breasted Mergansers. We checked nearby Polovina Hill for landbirds, always hoping for that first Eyebrowed Thrush of the season, but only turned up the expected Snow Buntings and Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches.

Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches

A late day return to the harbor didn't turn up anything different, but there was a staggering amount of Harlequin Ducks there. I started counting them and gave up at around 300 when another large group flew in and landed among them. I ended up entering 350 on my checklist.

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