Alaska Birds, Day Three

 Alaska 2014 continued:

Our third day in Alaska's Seward Peninsula was another grey, dreary day. We got some sun in the afternoon, up along Pilgrim Hot Springs Road, but otherwise it was drab, which made for difficult conditions to photograph in. My images from day three are less than impressive. It doesn't help that the diopter wheel that adjusts the focus of the eyepiece on my camera is located in a place where it is easily, inadvertently turned. This means that when I'm manually focusing (which I nearly always am with birds) the focus is going to be off, as nearly all of the shots early in the day were. It's very frustrating and I think a piece of tape or some glue is in order. Fortunately I figured it our before we saw the Bristle-thighed Curlew (see previous post).

The other issue is that many of these birds are very small and were at a great enough distance from the road that they're tiny in the images. All of these are cropped as much as I dared. In any case it was overall a good day for species numbers--I saw 38 species total, ten of which were new to me (as denoted with an asterisk).

American Wigeon
Wilson's Snipe 
Red-throated Loon
Red-breasted Merganser
Glaucous Gull
Harlequin Duck
Greater Scaup*
Canada Goose
Cackling Goose
Wilson's warbler*

Wilson's Warbler. He was singing and singing about 30 feet from the road.
We will see another of these little guys in a future post.

Fox Sparrow
Wandering Tattler*

Wandering Tattler. This was one of my target birds and I was thrilled to see one. Driving down the road this bird flew in front of the van. Bill hit the brakes while I watched where it went, which was behind us on the opposite side of a creek. Bill backed the van up and I managed to get a few fuzzy shots before the bird took off again. So glad I was in the front seat!

Common Redpoll
Gray-cheeked Thrush*
Long-tailed Duck
Mew Gull
American Golden Plover

American Golden Plover. We saw this bird on day two but I like this shot better than the ones I got that day. I like how this also shows some of the tundra habitat.

Rock Ptarmigan

Rock Ptarmigan. Another bird we saw on day two but I like this shot better. Shot through Bill's open window.

Rough-Legged Hawk* (I'd seen one in captivity but never in the wild.)
Whimbrel
Bristle-Thighed Curlew*

Bristle-thighed Curlew. I know I did a whole post on this bird, but I have bragging rights!

Northern Harrier
Black Scoter*

Black Scoter.  Horrible picture but it shows the bird's red bill.

Yellow Wagtail*

Yellow Wagtail. I'm almost embarrassed to post this image it's so bad but the bird is recognizable. This one also flew in front of the van. There were several in the bushes but they were behind a house--one of the few along the road--and we decided against trespassing so we had to look from afar.

Greater White-fronted Goose*
Northern Wheatear

Northern Wheatear. After leaving Pilgrim Hot Springs Road we ran across this fellow. It was the closest we'd been to one so Bill stopped so we could get good looks.

Merlin
American Tree Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Savanah Sparrow
Hoary Redpoll
American Robin
Willow Ptarmigan

Willow Ptarmigan. Not a great pic but I wanted to show the bird in a willow. That's snow in the background.

Short-eared Owl* (Flew across the road in front of the van, no chance for pics.)
Northern Pintail
Long-tailed Jaeger
Red-necked Phalarope

Red-necked Phalarope. Female, I believe.

The one bird we did not see on day three was a Bluethroat, another species that breeds in the Arctic but winters overseas. Half of our group went back out Monday morning, before our flight back to Anchorage, but I sat that one out. I really wanted to see Nome, which we had not had time to do, and Monday morning greeted me with a terrible headache, so I didn't go. They did find the Bluethroat, so I missed out on that one. It's a good excuse to go back to the region some day!

Next: Day four, Nome, Anchorage and Soldotna.

Alaska Birding Tour Birds, Day Two (Teller Road)

Alaska 2014 continued:

On top of all the amazing mammals we saw on our second full day in Alaska (see the previous two posts) we saw a good number of birds, too! The first bird we saw that day, Saturday May 31, was a Wilson's Snipe perched up on the end of what looked like an old fence post. The last birds of the day were two Long-tailed Ducks, one chasing the other away from its mate, very near where we saw the muskox herd with the calves.

It was not a nice day, gray, rainy, even some snow flying, and I was in the back of the van looking through dirty tinted windows, so some of the images are pretty poor. We drove from Nome to the village of Teller and back, taking a detour on the Wooley Lagoon Road to look for the Northern Wheatear--twice. In all I saw 36 birds, 10 being lifers.



Bar-tailed Godwit*

Bar-tailed Godwit. We saw the female too and I got a few pics of her but they were poor. Note the slightly upturned beak. On Teller Road.

Pacific Golden Plover* 
American Golden Plover

American Golden Plover. Not a first, but a first in breeding plumage. Note the black head, full black from belly to undertail coverts, and goldish color on back. On Teller Road.

Black bellied plover*

Black-bellied Plover. Note the lack of black on head, and white undertail coverts/vent, as compared to the American Golden Plover. Along Wooly Lagoon Road.

Orange-crowned Warbler

Golden-crowned Warbler. I know I've shared a pic of this bird from day one, but I love this straight-on shot. On Teller Road.

Golden-Crowned Sparrow*

Yellow-crowned Sparrow. We watched this fellow singing while Bill listened for Arctic Warblers, which we did not see. On Teller Road.

Pelagic Cormorant*
Common Raven
Willow Ptarmigan*

Willow Ptarmigan. This was a bird I had really wanted to see. They reminded me of my chickens back home. Note chocolate head and back pattern. On Teller Road.

Rock ptarmigan*

Rock Ptarmigan--on a rock! Note lack of brown compared to Willow Ptarmigan. I LOVE the red eyebrows. (Note also the rain streaking by.) On Wooly Lagoon Road.

White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Pintail
American Widgeon

American Wigeon. Not a new bird, but cute, so why not? On Teller Road.

Green-winged Teal
Greater Scaup*
Harlequin Duck
Red-breasted Merganser
Dunlin*
Wilson's Snipe
Red-necked Phalarope
Cliff Swallow
Lapland Longspur
Red-throated Loon
Ruddy Turnstone

Ruddy Turnstone. Not a new bird, but I'd never seen it in breeding plumage. Quite distinctive. On Wooly Lagoon Road.

Canada Goose
Long-tailed Jaeger

Long-tailed Jaeger. We had seen this bird the day before but this was such a great shot. Perched on a pole right next to the road, I practically had to lay in my mom's lap to shoot it. On Wooly Lagoon Road.

Arctic Tern*

Arctic Tern. We will see this bird again. On Wooly Lagoon Road.

Northern Wheatear*

Northern Wheatear. This is a bird that breeds in the Arctic but winters in AFRICA. There are now two known populations of this bird, one that migrates east to Europe and down to Africa, and one that migrates west across the Bering Strait through Asia to Africa. We will see this bird again, too. On Wooly Lagoon Road.

Red-Necked Grebe

Red-necked Grebes. I missed an opportunity later in the trip to get some closeup shots of a pair in the morning sun in Wasilla because I did't have my camera. On Teller Road.

American Robin
Northern Waterthrush
Fox Sparrow
Northern Shoveler
Long-tailed Duck

Long-tailed Duck (formerly Old Squaw). I like this shot as it shows the bird's feet which I think are interesting. First time in breeding plumage. On Teller Road.

Mew Gull
Glaucous Gull


Next: Day Three, Kougarok Road and the hunt for the Bristle-thighed curlew.

Siskins and Plovers

SLBD continued...

After lunch at Art's Tavern in Glen Arbor, I picked up a few new books at the Cottage Book Shop and then headed back south along the coast towards the campground. My plan was to go back to the beach at Platte Bay where I'd seen the piptits and chill for the rest of the day.

I got sidetracked, however, by a small park on the western side of Glen Lake. It sits right across M-109 from the famous Dune Climb. This is not for the faint of heart. It's 206 feet to the top and the whole trail, which is 3.5 miles, takes 3 to 4 hours to hike. I think I'll pass.

Dune climb from Glen Lake.

I decided to spend my time looking for more birds, of course. I was hoping for some interesting waterfowl on Glen Lake, but all I saw were some mallards and this lone coot, hanging out with a small flock of Canada geese.

Hey, buddy, you lost?

Across the road from the park was a marshy area, pretty dried up after a dry, hot summer. This is actually why I stopped at the park--I could see some waterfowl resting on mud humps out a ways in the marsh. But they were a long way away, and I could not get any good shots. I could identify several young wood ducks by their eye ring, but the others I just couldn't tell. I did get a few shots of a bird who flew in and landed in the middle of the marsh.

Hmmmm....

I had forgotten about it until I was sorting through my photos, and when I saw it I thought well, what have we here? Even with the poor image quality, the markings on its head are pretty clear. Built like a shorebird it has a definite white eyebrow and cheek, a dark bill, and in the photo below, dark/black primaries. I decided to check Sibley's to see if anything jumped out--so many of these birds look so similar, and I was sure I would not be able to pinpoint a species. But I was surprised when one jumped out at me--the American golden plover!
 

American golden plover--fuzzy, but recognizable.

I have found the best way to get an ID on a bird is to make a guess and then do an image search online. There you are bound to find all manner of images, angles, plumage etc. that help in making a final identification. I found this image, from much the same angle as my bird, and I am 99% certain my ID is correct. Another new bird!
 

American golden plover, by Miriam Bauman

Back at the campground I parked at the trailhead instead of walking from my site. I was already getting tired, and there is a bathroom/shower facility at the trailhead, which is also where the walk-in sites are located. I figured there'd be a lot less competition for the showers there as only a few people were using this area. I would hike to the beach and back and then clean up--I was getting pretty ripe!

When I am out hiking, I almost never try to ID a bird on sight, especially if I am alone. My first objective is to photograph it--as you've seen, it's often the only way I can ID many of the birds I see. There are other factors other than my novice birding abilities that come into play, one of which is the lighting. This day, with clear skies and bright sun, the shadows were very intense, and it made detail tough to see. But I can adjust for that in Photoshop and bring out details that are hard to get in the field. That is why I didn't recognize this vesper sparrow as the same species I'd seen the day before on the dunes at Otter Creek.

Vesper sparrow checking me over. That solid eye ring is a dead giveaway.

Now, as you might recall, I had decided Thursday would be beach day as winds were forecast to be less than 5 mph. Yeah, right. I knew it was windier than predicted, but when I topped the last dune I was blasted with 15-20 mph winds off Lake Michigan. I hadn't brought gloves or ear protection, so it was going to be a short visit to the beach!

I saw some more piptits but otherwise the beach was pretty deserted. I sat for a while on a log, examining footprints in the sand, but my ears got cold so I got up to leave. I noticed several gulls hovering over the water to my left and put the camera up to see what was going on. A huge flock of common mergansers--I'd guess over 100 total--were feeding in an area between two sandbars. I watched and photographed as the birds moved from south to north through the rough waters.

Common mergansers

 The waves had sculpted the beach, and the blue skies on the water created a nice contrast with the sand.

On my way back through the dunes I finally managed to get a few photos of the pine siskins that were, well, eating pine nuts up in the trees. This image is not really sharp but you can see what I think is the bird's most obvious feature--the yellow on the outer edge of its primaries, which you can just see against the blue of the sky at the bottom of its wing.

Pine siskin.

Another way to tell, of course, is when you see them eating out of pine cones!

Next, I'll finish up with a few more birds, found in a few unlikely places.