Bunting hunting!

With only 10 days left on the island, we're keeping a close eye on the weather and are eager to see what all these east winds might push in.  Of course, we'd rather have winds out of the west but there is no sense in wishing for that when we've been stuck in this weather pattern for the last 10 days.  It is what it is.

In truth, these east winds can still help bring rarities in.  For example, Doug just called in with a MCKAY'S BUNTING out near Antone Celery.  We didn't manage to relocate it yet but we'll be trying to track it down later on today.

These strong east winds had another surprise in store; a check of Antone Lake yielded a flock of 5 RING-NECKED DUCKS, the first ever fall record of that species here.  I snapped some pictures of the distant birds, not really striving for quality:

Right after we found the ducks, a surprise WHITE WAGTAIL flew overhead as well.  Continuing down the road, we were happy to find a CHIPPING SPARROW at Southwest Point (but I couldn't help but wonder what bird that might have been if we had strong west winds instead):

These winds may have been responsible for an additional TUNDRA SWAN that joined the long-staying six.  Here you can see the new, dark juvenile on the far right of the flock:

Here's a better look at the youngster; it's the top bird:

Yes, it IS a horrible picture but this documentation shot of a COMMON LOON was a new species for my photo list here this year:

A question I've gotten a lot this year is whether or not we cover the entire island thoroughly or just a fraction of it.  The island is 42 square miles... that's a lot of land to cover, especially every nook and cranny!  No, we only scratch the surface here.  For example, I'm in my 5th month here and only recently took a look at this little, out-of-the-way wetland between Rocky Lake and the dump:

The habitat was decent for shorebirds; it's a shame I haven't been checking it more regularly.  On my first and only visit, there were 4 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS including this one:

By the way, shorebird numbers continue to drop.  Most of the RUDDY TURNSTONES and ROCK SANDPIPERS have left the island; we usually see fewer than 25 turnstones and 50 sandpipers a day now.

Ok, so it's not a bird but a recent visit to Southwest Point yielded this gargantuan STELLER'S SEA LION laying out on the rocks.  I had never been so close to one out of the water before:

It's hard to tell how big it is without any reference points but these things are huge; they dwarf the Northern Fur Seals around here.  Among pinnipeds, they're smaller in size only to the Walrus and two species of elephant seals.  Is it me or does it look a bit grumpy?

Well, I need to head back out and see if I can stir up that bunting.  If I manage to, I'll be due for a shave.  :-)

Epic American

Remember all those east winds I was mentioning last time?  Well, they delivered in a very big way yesterday when Scott found a WOOD THRUSH on the island!  This sighting was from WAY out in left field... or rather, not even on the field at all.  Not only was this the first record ever from the Bering Sea, it was the first state record for Alaska too.  Alas, I was on the other corner of the island when it was found and I never connected with it.  No worries, at least it wasn't a missed lifer!

I don't have a ton of pictures from the last couple of days either.  There was this FOX SPARROW out near Southwest Point yesterday though:

If you use your imagination, you might see a black rump on this dabbler.  This GADWALL was a new island bird for me and was the first fall record here in more than 100 years:

I DO have some random photos taken with my phone though.  Enjoy some scenery.  Here's SW Point at dusk:

... and lastly, looking west from Tonki Point in the evening:

Hark a lark!

Fancy that, it's October!  In some ways, it's hard to believe that I arrived here in May.  In others, not so much.  One of those ways is getting to watch migration come and go... and then come and go again.  At this point in the season, most of the birds that bred to our north have already moved south to warmer climes.  With that said, there are still a lot of birds on the move and hopefully, some interesting migrants/vagrants are yet to come.

Our winds have been from the east for some time now and the forecast predicts more of the same:

If you are hoping for Asian vagrants, which admittedly I am, these winds are close to the opposite of what you want.  However, some great birds have shown up on east winds though so dwelling on the wind direction isn't always worth much.

The rarest bird we've had lately was a warbler:

Of course, with such a blob of a picture, that does nothing for identification.  However, it was seen and photographed well on the ground before it flew off, the first Pribilof record of PALM WARBLER!  This is apparently only the second Bering Sea record, the first being on Gambell many years ago.

One of the rarest birds around that actually stuck for a few days is another American species.  This WARBLING VIREO in the celery at Antone represents the 5th record for St. Paul Island:

Another good bird showed up... Scott found the 10th Pribilof record of AMERICAN TREE SPARROW at the FWS crab pots.  A few hours later, I was driving by Zap Ravine and found another one!  (Yes, I sped back to the pots to relocate the first one which was still there).  Here's the 11th Prib record:

I was headed to SW Point one day when this bird flushed from the road in front of me: 

Hmm, that didn't seem right!  It landed:

Hark!  It's a SKY LARK, a Code 3 vagrant from the Old World.  Although we have had several of these this year on St. Paul, it's still fun to bump into something unexpected.  I hopped out of the vehicle and snapped a digiscoped pic:

Nearby, a flock of 18 CACKLING GEESE flew by.  To have even a couple of these is uncommon here in fall but we've had good numbers lately.  Most of these are of the Aleutian race:

We still have some lingering American birds too.  One such bird is the bright YELLOW WARBLER that's been frequenting the Quarry Crab Pots:

An even nicer surprise was this young RED-NECKED PHALAROPE on Weather Bureau Lake.  This is the 3rd latest local record.  Get going, buddy:

We continue to have a few shorebirds around despite most of the ROCK SANDPIPERS and RUDDY TURNSTONES having left already.  One species that typically lingers is the PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVER; here are two in Novastoshna:

However, rather odd for this time of year is an adult still in breeding plumage.  This one has been at SW Point for several days now:

At a quick glance, you might think this is another golden-plover.  However, this is a rare BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER found yesterday.  This is only the 15th record for the Pribilofs:

A long overdue highlight for me was FINALLY seeing my first PRIBILOF ISLAND SHREW!

These little guys are special for a bunch of reasons.  Maybe most interesting is that this species is found nowhere else on the planet; it is endemic to St. Paul Island.  Even though they've been known to inhabit St. Paul for at least 200 years, it's thought that they've endured here since the area became an island (some think about 16,000 years ago).  Here are some interesting things about shrews:

• They're not rodents!
• They have sharp, spike-like teeth; not the gnawing front incisor teeth of rodents.
• The smallest living terrestrial mammal is a type of shrew.
• They have small eyes and poor vision but have excellent senses of hearing and smell.
• Shrews typically eat 80-90% of their body weight every day.
• Although they don't hibernate, many can go into a torpor in the winter.  During this torpor, many will go through morphological changes such as shrinking the size of their skulls, bones, and internal organs.  

Anyway, I'll end this post with a photo; an evening at Marunich:

7 days = no shave

It sounds so snobbish but honestly, having no lifers for a full week now, I’m not sure what to do with myself!  After the nonstop rarity action that last week had, the birding this week has slowed down considerably.   Birding here can be that way, boom or bust.

With that said, there are still some amazing rarities that are continuing to be seen on St. Paul Island.  There was a lot of excitement when yet another WOOD WARBLER was found, this time at Marunich!  That makes the 5^th and 6^th ABA record of that species here on St. Paul at the same time.  Things got a little shifted around yesterday when I bumped into a WOOD WARBLER at a new location, the upper cut of Polovina Hill.  However, the Marunich bird had gone missing and it’s our thought that this was the same bird:

 

Although we have continuing numbers of BRAMBLINGS, the 2 JACK SNIPE, and at least one OLIVE-BACKED PIPIT, most of our new arrivals have been American birds.  A new island bird for me, this skulky AMERICAN ROBIN, was found along a roadside first thing in the morning:

 

We also have had a few PINE SISKINS which were new for the year.  Another new species for the year showed up in Hutch Cut yesterday afternoon; the tiny RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET:

 

A few DARK-EYED JUNCOS arrived lately too including this one from the celery below Polovina Hill:

 

This particularly bright YELLOW WARBLER has been at the quarry crab pots for several days now:

 

The long-staying 6 TUNDRA SWANS as well as 4 BRANT and 4 EMPEROR GEESE have been reliable lately.  Here are two of the latter on the rocks below Southwest Point.

 

And then there are redpolls.  We see both COMMON and HOARY but many have features of both species and so identification isn’t as straightforward as many cavalier birders suspect.  Here are photos of redpolls from some crab pots:

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at:

arcticory@gmail.com

Jacks of all trades

This might be my first post in who-knows-how-long that doesn't highlight a new and stunning lifer here on St. Paul Island.  And yet, some of the great birds are still continuing; for example, the 5th ABA record of WOOD WARBLER continued at least through yesterday evening!

Another rarity that is continuing is the JACK SNIPE.  Except one small detail... there are TWO Jack Snipes in Pumphouse Lake!  You see, some clients and I were trying to find the snipe one day when not one, but two flushed together!  I returned on a later date and was able to duplicate the results as well as get some proof. 

Say hello to snipe #1:

... and 62 seconds later, say hello to snipe #2 that flushed from ~30 feet away:

Although not sharp and definitely not fancy, here you can see the very short bill on a JACK SNIPE as it banked in flight:

Shorebird numbers have been dwindling as of late, mostly due to the prime weather for migrating.  Pumphouse Lake did continue to host a couple of SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPERS including this one that preferred to look at me head-on:

It's kind of goofy to see but these Sharp-taileds aren't always found in mudflats and wetlands.  Here's one that preferred to hang out on the tall grass in a celery patch:

Another shorebird species that we see most days is the PECTORAL SANDPIPER, this one also at Pumphouse Lake:

Numbers of sparrows also have been declining with the nice weather.  Still, we have a couple of FOX SPARROWS around most days.  Here's a handsome one on a celery head:

There have been a few species of geese around lately which isn't rare but isn't super expected either.  Here are two BRANT on Webster Lake; note how the youngster (left) doesn't have the white neck collar that the adult (right) has:

With them has been this minima CACKLING GOOSE, a flagged subspecies here in the fall:

 In memory of the good birds on September 21, here is what my BirdLog app showed at one point.  Not a bad back-to-back series of 4 species!

My time on St. Paul is quickly coming to a close; I'll be flying out 3 weeks from tomorrow.  Anyway, thanks for checking in.  If you have any questions or comments, contact me at:

arcticory@gmail.com