Monday, June 2, 2025

Adak Island, Alaska Trip ~ May 25, 2025

While eating breakfast, two Hawfinches came in to Frank's feeder behind the house. We drove along Sweeper Cove and found 6 Harlequin Ducks, 3 Horned Puffins, 8 Pigeon Guillemots, and one of the huge Song Sparrows of the "maxima" race.


We drove up Hillside Boulevard, which went around the southwest and north sides of the airport.
The "Airport Ponds" held 4 Tufted Ducks, a Common Goldeneye, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, and 5 Red-necked Phalaropes.

We then drove along the western edge of Clam Lagoon where we found 7 Parasitic Jaegers, numbers of "Eurasian" Green-winged Teal, Red-breasted Mergansers, Bald Eagles, and Rock Sandpipers, plus 3 Eurasian Wigeon, 6 Northern Pintail, a pair of Marbled Murrelets, several Pelagic Cormorants, and a Tufted Duck among 39 Greater Scaup.
Multiple pairs of Rock Ptarmigans were also present along the road.

On the eastern side of the lagoon is "The Seawall", a thin strip of land that separates Sitkin Sound from the lagoon. Along there, we found a Common Murre among 75 Common Eiders, numbers of Arctic Terns and Glaucous-winged Gulls, and a Pacific Loon.
Jon Boone and Jim DeForge called on the walkie-talkie and reported 2 Red-necked Stints along "The Peninsula" at Clam Lagoon, so we headed there. About halfway out, I spotted their movements and we got nice, close photos of both. Again, they weren't a 'lifer', but I got much better photos than I had previously.

From there, we worked our way up to the southwestern shore of Andrew Lake. Birds along the way included Eurasian Wigeon, Red-breasted Mergansers, a Short-eared Owl, 13 Snow Buntings, 3 Red-necked Phalaropes, plus the ever-present Rock Ptarmigans and Lapland Longspurs.

Eight Black Scoters were spotted along Kuluk Bay. A check of the feeders at 232 Tanaga Circle revealed two Bramblings.

We went back to the house around 5 PM to eat dinner. In between bites, I took photos of the Hawfinch at Frank's feeder behind the house.

Frank wanted to give it another try for the Canvasback in the "Sweeper Side Channel", so we headed there after dinner. We walked the dike again a little farther than the night before. We saw 26 "Aleutian" Cackling Geese, Eurasian Wigeon, Mallard, "Eurasian" Green-winged Teal, Greater Scaup, Semipalmated Plover, Bald Eagle, Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch, and Lapland Longspur, but again did not find the Canvasback.

The walk back was made tougher when it started raining heavily. We called it a day. The trip list increased to 37 species and included Tufted Duck, Red-necked Stint, Pacific Loon, and Brambling.

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