But the sounds of spring migration are once again providing that irresistible call to pull me outside. The Aleutian Cackling Geese have been going by to the West for about a week now. Both the Lapland Longspurs and Parasitic Jaegers are also back and starting to stake a claim to their spot of tundra. One very cool sighting was the pair of Parasitic Jaegers back at Haven Lake. The same dark phase and light phase(ultra rare for Adak) pair have been nesting in this same spot for the last 5 years at least.

The Whoopers Swans have all left heading back West to their nesting grounds in Siberia.

Probably my coolest bird of late is one that I haven’t even seen. LOL  I have a friend who lives is Yakutat and isn’t a birder. But he noticed several Doves were coming to his house. He mentioned them to me and I asked for a picture because I had a good idea of what they would be. Turns out I was right. Eurasian Collared-doves!! These guys were introduced in the lower 48 and are taking over North America at a record pace.

Hope to post some pictures soon.

Juvenile Little Stint

I have just updated my Birds of Adak Island Checklist and it is posted on my page here. http://adakbirding.com/bird-list/ This is my checklist that I started when I moved to Adak in the fall of 2007. I’m currently at 143 species recorded here on Adak. Of these 31 are Asian species that are vagrants to North America. I have also recorded another 7 Asian subspecies. Along the way I have also added 6 species to the Adak Checklist which had never been documented on Adak before. These are Pine Grosbeak, White-winged Tern, American Coot, Hermit Thrush and Dusky Warbler. And last I have found one North American First Record on Adak of Asian Rosy-Finch. I am still waiting for the official word from the AK Checklist Committee on their ruling but my photos are pretty compelling.

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.

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

Young bull Caribou of Adak.

Come on guys.....lets go

This is the “other” reason people come visit Adak. For the 2500 head of Caribou that roam the island from an introduced population back in the 50′s by the US Military.

Merlin hiding from the 50mph winds

Back of Merlin

Merlin

I arrived back on Adak Dec 4th after leaving Nov 13th for the birth of my second child. Almost a month off my beautiful island was about all I could take. I did get a wonderful little boy to bring back so that was worth it. Danian James will soon be out birding with me. (-:

Now back to the birds. This little falcon surprised me while I was at the fuel office filling up my vehicle. The reddish back and barring really had me excited for a minute as Eurasian Kestrel’s danced in my head. Alas, it was not to be. Just a colorful little Merlin instead.

Stay tuned….I’ll be around for awhile now. Lets hope something good shows up.

Great Egret landing

Great Egret shore of Clam Lagoon

Great Egret

This November is rocking!!! My second lifer within a week! What a shocking bird to see jump up out of the grass along the road. Amazingly, it landed only a short distance away and I was able to get some pictures.

The Egret was the finishing touch to an already good day of birding. It started off with 6 more Whooper Swans (3 adults, 3 imm) in Lake Constance. With them was the single largest flock of Eurasian Wigeon I have ever seen. I counted 128. Over half were adult males. And back on the North side of town was a Great Gray Shrike trying to capture a Rosy Finch dinner at the National Forest.

Unfortunately, I leave the island tomorrow for over 3 weeks. It will be hard to leave as this is by far the best Novemeber of birds i’ve ever had here on Adak. Hopefully some goodies will be waiting for me upon my return.

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.

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.

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! (-: