Passerines « Aleutian Outfitters

A quick photographic catch up of the last month

On June 27th, 2012 / Adak Island Birds, Alaska Birds, Featured, General birding, Passerines, Waterfowl / Leave a comment

Large raft of Whiskered Auklets and a few Crested Auklets

: Whiskered Auklet with two Ancient Murrelets

On May 31st I made one last run to Little Tanaga Straits for the Whiskered Auklet show. As usual they put on a good performance.

Rough-legged Hawk

I found this Rough-legged Hawk soaring over Clam Lagoon on June 1st. They are extremely rare for Adak. And in fact it was only May 10th of this year that I recorded my first one on Adak flying over my house. Nice to get some pictures of this one. Since its a light phase bird it could very well be the Asian ssp??

Who put the carolinensis in my crecca???

On June 2nd I saw these two Green-winged Teal on Clam Lagoon. Seems like I am starting to see more and more of the carolinensis ssp on Adak now. Crecca is our local resident breeder.

Hawfinch at my lodge

This was a fun bird. After several Hawfinch had been around in May I had this female show up at my house feeders in June and was a regular for over a week. What fun it was to wake up and drink my coffee while watching it feed right out the window. She was last seen June 20th.

I am now keeping my eyes out for Cuckoos. June and July have been very productive the last few years for these birds.

White Wagtail

On June 27th, 2012 / Adak Island Birds, Alaska Birds, Asian rarities, Featured, General birding, Passerines / Leave a comment

White Wagtail in Contractors Marsh, Adak

Always a treat to find as they are one of my favorite birds. I wasn’t even birding tonight and had my head inside a connex when I heard the alarm calls of the Rosy Finches so I new something was up. As I turned around and poked my head out there this guy was looking at me. (-:

Adak and the Central Aleutians first and second record of Pine Grosbeak

On January 4th, 2012 / Adak Island Birds, Alaska Birds, Featured, General birding, Passerines / Leave a comment

Adak's first record of Pine Grosbeak at the Elfin Forest 21DEC11

Adak's second Pine Grosbeak!! 02JAN12

Pine Grosbeak 02JAN12

I’m a little late getting this post up. My new baby is taking up most of my time. (-: Anyway, back on Dec 21st John Vanderpoel and I had the first ever Pine Grosbeak on Adak and also the Central Aleutians. Not exactly a bird that was going to help John and his big year. But I was excited for the record. Number 142 for my Adak list.

And then on Jan 2nd I found another Pine Grosbeak and assumed it was the same bird. But then after looking at the pictures to double check I realized that it was a DIFFERENT one! The second record just 10 days later. They could have shown up together. Who knows. The first one was in the Elfin Forest and we watched it for awhile so I don’t think this second one was with it that day anyway. This second one was in the Clam Lagoon Forest. I was searching for my Asian Rosy-Finch and decided to check the trees. And out popped this guy.

We have had a real cold snap hit Adak the last 3 weeks and have gotten lots of snow. So travel has been restricted. Which means birding has been much harder. I have only been able to get back out and search for the Asian Rosy-Finch twice since I found it. And thats been on my snow machine because the roads are getting too drifted for a truck. No luck finding the bird. I keep hoping it will come in to my house feeder where I have over 250 Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches along with a few Song Sparrows and Snow Buntings.

Potential North American FIRST ASIAN ROSY FINCH on Adak!!!!!!!

On December 31st, 2011 / Adak Island Birds, Alaska Birds, Asian rarities, Featured, Passerines / Leave a comment

We have been having clear skys and cold days (12 to 30F) here on Adak for the last 10 days. There is several ft of snow on the ground. Winds have been almost calm most days. NOT what you would expect for Adak in the winter. I was going for an afternoon drive down to Clam Lagoon to enjoy the beautiful sunshine and look around for some birds. I wasn’t 10 min into the drive when I spotted 4 Snow Buntings and a dark Finch feeding in the grass off to the side of the road. Of course I was assuming it was just a Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch but stopped to look anyway. Then it flew up for a few seconds and my heart about stopped!!! It did not fly like I would have expected for Gray-crowned!! Much more bunting like. And it had a short little bill and round head. And then just as I got my binoculars on the bird the sun glinted off its head and I saw the golden brown crown and streaked back. I was in heaven. For the next 10 min I had goosebumps as I photographed this bird. Amazing. Now I know what it feels like to be Paul Lehman. (-: My potential first North American Record!!! Asian Rosy-Finch!! A bird I have looked at 100′s of times in my Birds of East Asia book wondering what the chances of seeing one would be. Dreaming of one at my feeder with the hoards of Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches. And now to actually see one is amazing.

Comments are welcome! Please email me at isaac@adakbirding.com

Dusky Thrush_07NOV11

On November 7th, 2011 / Adak Island Birds, Alaska Birds, Asian rarities, Featured, General birding, Passerines / Leave a comment

Dusky Thrush

: Dusky Thrush

Headed to work this morning with coffee in one hand and camera in the other as usual. (I know, you are thinking what hand is driving?) And just as usual some of my best birds are never when I am actually looking. I swung in to the dumpster to unload a bag of trash and out popped this big thrush!!! Immediately I saw the scaly breast and facial features of Dusky Thrush even before I got the camera on him. What a great bird. It was still before sunrise so my pictures are very grainy. The bird was fairly tame and I left it over by the Naval Admin building so I am hoping some better pictures will follow. Adak has the distinction of have TWO subspecies of Dusky Thrush. Turdus naumanni eunomus and Turdus naumanni naumanni or Naumann’s Thrush. Today’s bird is eunomus.

22SEP11 Update….not much happening…

On September 23rd, 2011 / Adak Island Birds, Alaska Birds, General birding, Passerines / Leave a comment

American Pipit

All the shorebird excitement from last week quickly died out. Even the Pectoral and Sharp Tailed Sandpiper numbers have about dried up. A few lesser notables have been a Common Snipe and several Vega Herring Gulls. Waterfowl are starting to return for the winter with Emperor Geese, Northern Pintail and Greater Scaup being the first arrivals. 4 Northern Shovelers were also seen which are not common on Adak.

This second American Pipit was around on the 20th. Still not a japonicus so no Asian passerines so far this fall.

Now that we have breeding Gyrfalcons on Adak seeing young Gyrfalcons around is becoming common place. Although the Peale’s Peregrines still dominate the skys.

15SEP11_American Pipit_Anthus rubescens pacificus

On September 18th, 2011 / Adak Island Birds, Alaska Birds, General birding, Passerines / Leave a comment

American Pipit (A.r pacificus) with an insect

American Pipit at North Clam Lagoon beach

With all the strong West winds we have been having I was hoping this was going to be a japonicus American Pipit but after looking at the pictures it appears to be your standard Alaskan pacificus race. Adak does not get very many vagrant passerines from either the East or West so anytime you see something other than the normal Rosy Finch or Lapland Longspur its an exciting event! (-:

Adak update 20MAY11

On May 20th, 2011 / Adak Island Birds, Alaska Birds, Asian rarities, General birding, Passerines, Shorebirds / Leave a comment

Wood Sandpiper at Red Bluff Marsh

Male Snow Bunting

: Male Hawfinch at the NSGA “forest”

Whimbrel (N. p. variegatus)

Whimbrel (N. p. variegatus) landing in Contractor's Marsh

Whimbrel (N. p. variegatus) One of 6 in the flock

Whimbrel (N. p. variegatus) Siberian race with white back

Here is a pictoral highlight of the last week birding on Adak. The Hawfinch that I found at the National Forest stayed for a few days and then disappeared. Then on the 18th I found another one (or more likely the same one?) at the NSGA fire station. On the morning of the 20th I found a single Wood Sandpiper in the marsh at the Red Bluffs. That afternoon I was able to photograph 6 Whimbrel in Contractor’s Marsh. These Whimbrel clearly showed the white back of the N.p. variegatus Siberian subspecies. Thanks to Barb Haas for first locating the Whimbrel. Another bird of note was a single Short Eared Owl at Clam Lagoon.

Hawfinch_13MAY11

On May 13th, 2011 / Adak Island Birds, Alaska Birds, Asian rarities, Passerines / Leave a comment

Hawfinch in willows at the National Forest

Hawfinch

Calling from the top of the Spruce Trees

I found a Hawfinch at the National Forest around 7pm tonight. He was feeding on some sunflower seeds I had put out. Unlike previous Hawfinches this one was very approachable and wasn’t bothered by us standing around looking at it. I was able to call Aaron Lang and he brought his clients over to see the bird also. This was the second year in a row that I have called Aaron to report finding a Hawfinch and he is at the house cooking dinner. For a skinny guy he must really like to eat. (-: As Aaron and I were watching the bird the Hilonesome tour group drove by and we flagged them down. So all the birders got to see this handsome bird right away. It was very exciting to also hear the Hawfinch CALLING. Very cool!!

Other notes for the day included: Since it was a very calm morning I boated out to Little Tanaga Straits and saw over 10,000 Whiskered Auklets. A Yellow Billed Loon and a Pomerine Jaeger were also highlights of the boat trip. Back on the island I had 2 more YBLO offshore of the Andrew Seawall.

Aaron reported that at least one of the STEI was still on the Clam Lagoon Seawall also. And a seawatch produced several Laysan Albatross. There was a female Smew on Shotgun Lake last night but I don’t think anyone saw it today.

25OCT10 Eurasian Skylark!!!!

On October 25th, 2010 / Adak Island Birds, Alaska Birds, Asian rarities, Passerines / 3 Comments

Here is my excitement for the day. Eurasian Skylark has been an expected bird for me since being on Adak. It only took 3 years. (-: I have often wondered how to pick them out from the LALO but turns out not that hard at all. This bird was by itself and was at first just a quick fly by with no camera. I instantly recognized a different flight pattern than a LALO and the white trailing edge of the secondaries was very distinctive. Even after only a few second look I was positive that it was a Skylark. But I had to grab my camera from the house and go after the bird for a picture. The good news was it liked to stay in one area and I was able to flush it several times. These five pictures are the only ones workable out of 100 shots.

The Skylark is my 132 bird species for Adak.

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