Rarest St. Paul Island bird

When we were up in Alaska, we flew out to St. Paul Island for a few days.  Although we saw quite a few birds that might qualify as rarities.... like RED-NECKED STINT:

 ... or WOOD SANDPIPER:

... or EYEBROWED THRUSH:

... the rarest species, for the island, was this simple and familiar dabbler, BLUE-WINGED TEAL:

You see, this was the first record of this species for the entire Bering Sea region.  It's all relative.

Road wanderer

My last post shared some scenery from Denali. 

Meanwhile, along the roads, it wasn't uncommon to see this feather-footed species... the WILLOW PTARMIGAN:

Denali

Although I still have thousands of images to sort through, edit, and upload, here are six non-bird photos from Denali on my recent Field Guides Alaska tour.  Enjoy.

Grebes

Another highlight from the New Mexico tour was the chance to study grebes at close range.  Here's a WESTERN GREBE followed by the similar CLARK'S GREBE:

Stepping down

Back in January, we led a new tour to New Mexico.  One of the many things we enjoyed on tour was the show of geese and cranes at Bosque del Apache NWR.  Here's a photo of some SANDHILL CRANES coming in to roost at dusk: