Alaska Birding

[AK Birding] Barn Swallow, Gray-cheeked Thrush in Anchorage

Fri, 25 May 2012 15:16:02 -0500

Hi All,

Yesterday mid-afternoon a BARN SWALLOW was flying with many Violet-green and a few Bank Swallows over the parking area of the Clitheroe Center, seen by me, Tim Lenz, and Dave Sonneborn. It's obviously not chasable, but since one or more have been seen sporadically at Potter Marsh (N end)

[AK Birding] Are Bristle-thighed Curlews still at Anchor Point?

Fri, 25 May 2012 15:10:59 -0500

I am trying to decide whether to participate in the 5th Annual Memorial Day Weekend Dalton Highway Birding Fesitival (*), or head in the opposite direction to see Bristle-thighed Curlews at Anchor Point - can anyone advise if they are still around?

Erik Hendrickson
Healy, AK

(*) The 5th Annual Memorial Day Weekend

[AK Birding] Kachemak Bay Shorebirds

Fri, 25 May 2012 15:10:13 -0500

Session #9

2012 Kachemak Bay Shorebird Monitoring Project

Stragglers

On Thursday, May 24th the Kachemak Bay Birders had its ninth and final shorebird monitoring session for this season. Sixteen volunteers made observations for two hours (7:00 pm - 9:00 pm) at four sites on the Homer Spit as well as

[AK Birding] Gambell: Terek Sandpiper & White-tailed Eagle

Fri, 25 May 2012 02:19:49 -0500

Bob Dittrick just called from Gambell (St. Lawrence Island) where a TEREK SANDPIPER has been observed yesterday and today (5/23 & 5/24). (I don't have a more specific location for this bird.)

They found a WHITE-TAILED EAGLE on the ice at the seawatch this evening (5/24).

Lisa Moorehead
Eagle River, AK

[AK Birding] Northern Saw-whet cam

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:53:33 -0500

A friend of mine ask if I would post the link- http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/22813684 for her N.SAW-WHET OWL cam. She wants to remain anonymous to keep the location unknown so the birds are not disturbed. I have been watching for several months now and currently there are five owlets in

[AK Birding] Coastal Trail songbirds

Thu, 24 May 2012 15:14:05 -0500

I had at least 6 BLACKPOLL WARBLERS among a good diversity of passerines along the coastal trail between Woronzof and Kincaid and 1 N WATERTHRUSH on the Earthquake Park hill last evening 23 May.

Thede Tobish

[AK Birding] Kenai Birding Festival - Kenai River Float Trip - May 18 - Results

Thu, 24 May 2012 14:28:57 -0500

Kenai Birding Festival, Kenai River Float Trip from Lower Skilak Boat Launch to Bing's Landing with Bill Thompson III and Julie Zickefoose(approximately 11 river miles) Friday, May 18 (67 species)

Trumpeter Swan
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Surf Scoter
Common Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Red-throated Loon
Pacific Loon
Common Loon
Red-necked Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Northern

[AK Birding] Homer/Kachemak Bay Bird Alert Information Line (235-PEEP): 5-23-12

Wed, 23 May 2012 23:32:01 -0500

KACHEMAK BAY BIRD ALERT INFORMATION LINE
(235-PEEP)
May 23, 2012

BRISTLE-THIGHED CURLEWS, which have been here since the Shorebird Festival, were still at the mouth of the Anchor River on the 22nd. Seen there also were BAR-TAILED GODWITS and WHIMBRELS.

An OSPREY was seen on the 13th across the Bay, but has been

[AK Birding] Adak Sightings - Hawfinch and more

Wed, 23 May 2012 18:40:02 -0500

We found a male Hawfinch at the "feeder" at the Naval Admin Building today.

Also, yesterday Bob Schutsky and Warren Hanson found a pair of
Bramblings at Clam Lagoon. I relocated them today.

Photos can be seen later today on my blog at www.FranklinHaas.com

Also, Bob and Warren had a Ruff at Contractor's

[AK Birding] Hawfinch on St. Paul Island

Wed, 23 May 2012 14:47:18 -0500

An insanely cooperative HAWFINCH was located this morning at Reef Point on St. Paul Island and provided everyone with probably their best looks ever at this awesome species. Now it remains to be seen what the afternoon will hold for us.

Best,
Scott Schuette
Director, St. Paul Island Tour
(email address filtered)
www.alaskabirding.com

[AK Birding] Curlew

Tue, 22 May 2012 20:15:48 -0500

I saw two BRISTLE-thighed CURLEWS at the mouth of the Anchor River Today 12:30 P.M. 5/22/12.One BAR-TAILED GODWIT.

Robin Collman

[AK Birding] downtown anchorage

Tue, 22 May 2012 19:37:26 -0500

Yesterday I saw my first downtown Violet-green swallows and heard my first downtown White-Crowned Sparrow singing.

Beth Peluso
Anchorage

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[AK Birding] St. Paul Island RBA: May 14-20, 2012

Tue, 22 May 2012 18:08:37 -0500

Hello Birders, this is the St. Paul Island rare bird alert for the week of May 14th20th, 2012, sponsored by St. Paul Island Tour. The following sequence of sightings is in taxonomic order; an asterisk denotes a species of less than annual occurrence or one of particular note.

2012

[AK Birding] A low tide a.m. in Chenega

Tue, 22 May 2012 17:30:44 -0500

Hello Birders,

I tell you what, I love my job. I get to get paid to get up and go play in the low tide. Among other things, I do the marine invasive species survey in Chenega Bay on behalf of the Prince William Sound Regional Citizen's Advisory Council. So this

[AK Birding] TWO Audubon Events This Thursday

Tue, 22 May 2012 14:33:03 -0500

THURSDAY MORNING is the next-to-last early morning spring bird walk at The Campbell Creek Science Center. Come learn or refresh your birding by ear skills with walks starting at the Campbell Creek Nature Center parking lot on every Thursday morning in May. These walks

[AK Birding] The Potter Marsh-A-Thon Birding Smackdown

Tue, 22 May 2012 14:25:20 -0500

On Saturday, June 2, the sport of Birding in Alaska will turn Ugly!! The Anchorage Audubon Society's Potter Marsh-A-Thon is a Birding Smackdown at the Potter Marsh. Who can find the most species in 4 hours? Who's team has the best name? Who will make all

RE: [AK Birding] Sandhill Cranes and Arctic Terns spending winter in Anchorage??

Tue, 22 May 2012 11:22:36 -0500

[AK Birding] Sandhill Cranes and Arctic Terns spending winter in Anchorage??

Tue, 22 May 2012 01:15:49 -0500

Hi Birders,

I was birding yesterday, so just got around to reading the Sunday paper. While reading the article "Feathered Frenzy" by Mike Dunham, the lead article in the "Life & Arts" section of Sunday's Anchorage Daily News, I was surprised to learn that some Sandhill Cranes and Arctic Terns

Re: [AK Birding] HairyW/P

Tue, 22 May 2012 01:03:23 -0500

I've had adult hairy wp's bring their recently fledged young to my suet feeders repeatedly in past years. Just this morning, a robin was feeding on a suet cage that had fallen to the ground. (i make my own peanut butter & corn meal suet cakes) .

Re: [AK Birding] HairyW/P

Mon, 21 May 2012 22:25:13 -0500

Huh? Do birds in Alaska feed their young suet?

Jim (in Idaho)

From: Delesta Fox
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 10:21 PM
To: AkBirding
Subject: [AK Birding] HairyW/P

For the last 4 days, both the male & female HAIRY W/P, have been coming to my suet mixture about every 20 -40 minutes..filling

[AK Birding] HairyW/P

Mon, 21 May 2012 22:21:47 -0500

For the last 4 days, both the male & female HAIRY W/P, have been coming to my suet mixture about every 20 -40 minutes..filling their beaks and flying off...maybe to feed young ones?
Also..Please..somebody come and take the 7 STARLINGS frequenting my yard...

Delesta Fox
Anchorage

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[AK Birding] White-tailed Eagle on St. Paul Island

Mon, 21 May 2012 18:02:50 -0500

A perplexing eagle which has been seen since May 13th on St. Paul Island was finally seen, and photographed, well enough today near town to determine it as an immature (3rd-ish year bird) WHITE-TAILED EAGLE, this constitutes the first record for the Pribilof Islands. Now I think it's about

[AK Birding] Rufous hummingbird, townsend's warbler,

Mon, 21 May 2012 16:19:58 -0500

At Seaside Farm, in HOmer, this a.m.21st of May

1 Rufous Hummingbird fly by
1 Townsend's Warbler, singing
3 Orange crowned warblers
2 Hermit Thrushes

May 20, there was Harrier and a Yellow Shafted Flicker at mi. 22, E.
End Rd
Still waiting for LIncoln's and Savannah Sp.

Fox Sparrows are finally building nests, (very

[AK Birding] Smith's Longspur on the Kenai Peninsula record

Mon, 21 May 2012 11:46:52 -0500

Just for the record, I found a SMITH'S LONGSPUR on September 11, 2006 in Seward, verified by Joe Staab. Sorry, no photos.

Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter

[AK Birding] The BEST goose flock

Mon, 21 May 2012 02:17:41 -0500

After a long walk along along St. Paul Island's north shore today produced a couple good island birds (VARIED THRUSH, etc...) and other FOY birds we were heading back to town to rest up for tomorrow's search when a flock of geese were noted along the main road between the

[AK Birding] Re: Kachemak Bay Shorebirds

Mon, 21 May 2012 01:51:51 -0500

A dozen SMITH'S LONGSPURS at the Homer Spit Mariner Park Lagoon!!!

286 species of birds documented on the Kenai Peninsula and Smith's Longspur is not among them. Any clarifications, details, field notes, photographs? There are a few isolated reports over the distant and recent past, each without accompanying documentation. Along with

[AK Birding] Separating Calls of mated Canada Geese

Mon, 21 May 2012 00:58:55 -0500

An interesting and unusual thing happened tonight. For some strange reason, two Canada Geese landed on my neighbor's adjoining houses, loudly honking out their alarm calls. They sort of looked out of place on top of each roof and their silhouettes appeared just like a "goose vane".

[AK Birding] Bristle-thighed curlews

Mon, 21 May 2012 00:37:11 -0500

Wonderous close views of 2 Btc and 5 whimbrels.
At mouth of Anchor River at high tide today--Sunday 5/20/12.
What a joy after the arduous trek up and DOWN that mountain in Nome.
Wheeeeeeeeeeee!
Pam
Anchorage

[AK Birding] Say's Phoebe

Sun, 20 May 2012 21:02:20 -0500

Wendy and I found a Say's Phoebe across from the bird magnet on Bodenburg Loop at about 11:30 this morning. It was singing and doing his Phoebe thing along a fence line. Charlie Feaster, you can add it to your yard list.

Dave Carter,
Butte

[AK Birding] Kachemak Bay Shorebirds

Sun, 20 May 2012 13:49:41 -0500

Session #8

2012 Kachemak Bay Shorebird Monitoring Project

Grand Finale

On Saturday, May 19th the Kachemak Bay Birders had its eighth shorebird monitoring session for this season. Fifteen volunteers made observations for two hours (4:00 pm - 6:00 pm) at four sites on the Homer Spit as well as

[AK Birding] Westchester and Coastal Trail

Sun, 20 May 2012 13:15:37 -0500

Went to the lagoon and Coastal Trail for the morning tide. Birds are
singing more at that time, the light is right and there are very few
people.

Passerines seen or heard: WHITE-CROWNED AND SAVANNAH SPARROWS, DARK-
EYED JUNCO, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE, BLACK-CAPPED
CHICKADEE (gathering nest materials),

[AK Birding] birding W. Anchorage by bike today

Sun, 20 May 2012 01:38:59 -0500

Today Enric Fernandez and I logged 18 miles and tallied 67 species in
our day of birding by bike which started at around 6:00am and ended at
about 4:00pm.
We had a great time touring the entire coastal trail, lower Ship Creek,
Northwood Pond, Conners lake, Lake Hood, and portions of

[AK Birding] Black Turnstone, Red-faced Cormorant, Great Horned Owl

Sun, 20 May 2012 01:36:46 -0500

Saturday, May 19, 2012
Seward, Alaska Sporadic Bird Report

Sunrise 5:08 am, sunset 10:41 pm, length of day 17 hours, 33 minutes; tomorrow will be 4 minutes and 22 seconds longer.

Weather: Cool and overcast continues after several sunshiny cool and windy days. Temps in the high 30s in the morning rose

[AK Birding] Clitheroe

Sat, 19 May 2012 23:18:26 -0500

The Clitheroe Center was fun this evening. About 75 Peep-50 Least, 15
Semipalmated, 10 Western and 1-2 Baird's. Also about 50 Pectoral and the regular
Lesser Yellowlegs and Semipalmated Plovers. About 25 various ducks. The
Sandhill Cranes and Arctic Terns were putting on a show as Aaron

[AK Birding] Homer Area Bristle-thighed Curlews and Caspian Terns

Sat, 19 May 2012 19:16:05 -0500

Hi All,

I'm one of many birders in the Homer area this weekend for Chris Wood & Jessie Barry's wedding. Today nearly everyone got great views of the continuing 2 BRISTLE-THIGHED CURLEWS at the mouth of the Anchor River, with up to 3 reported at least a couple days ago. Last

[AK Birding] Fwd: [Eaglechat] ibird explorer pro

Sat, 19 May 2012 12:59:40 -0500

-----Original Message-----
From: deborah_rudis <(email address filtered)>
To: Eaglechat <(email address filtered)>
Cc: hoags <(email address filtered)>; tuaperra <(email address filtered)>; Sandra.Woods <(email address filtered)>
Sent: Thu, May 17, 2012 10:04 am
Subject: [Eaglechat] ibird explorer pro

If you do not have this North American bird id app for your iphone, it is now on

Fwd: Re: [AK Birding] Unknown Female Duck

Sat, 19 May 2012 12:55:24 -0500

-----Original Message-----
From: davidsonne <(email address filtered)>
To: ice_jaeger <(email address filtered)>; kstenek <(email address filtered)>
Cc: AKBirding <(email address filtered)>; beringia_birders <(email address filtered)>
Sent: Sat, May 19, 2012 9:54 am
Subject: Re: [AK Birding] Unknown Female Duck

Not great photos but could be a female Garganey
Dave Sonneborn

-----Original Message-----
From: Derek <(email address filtered)>
To: Ken Stenek

[AK Birding] Hooded merganser

Sat, 19 May 2012 02:47:20 -0500

Brief stop at Eklutna Tailrace - mile 4 Old Glenn Highway - this morning (Friday) about 10 AM. With the scope found Male hooded merganser in pond down the trail on the right. It was on the far side near the shore.

Past years I have also seen a male hooded

[AK Birding] Clitheroe Flats shorebirds

Sat, 19 May 2012 01:18:39 -0500

Went down to the flats below the Citheroe center this evening.
The bluff protected me and the birds from the gusty wind, so conditions
were not as poor as I thought. There were many small birds out in the
grasses which turned out to be AMERICAN PIPITS (about 50) and

[AK Birding] Sky Lark and continuing rarities on St. Paul Island

Fri, 18 May 2012 02:20:10 -0500

A SKY LARK was located this afternoon along the High Cliffs near the northwestern point of the island. This is likely not a new arrival but simply had been hanging out in an area we had not yet checked, after all the recent weather has not been conducive to

[AK Birding] Connors Lake, Anchorage

Thu, 17 May 2012 23:42:11 -0500

We had a new bird to add to our yard list -- a Sandhill Crane landed in our front yard this morning and then walked into Connors Bog, calling loudly the whole time.

The Pacific Loons are right on schedule. The ice went out on May 1, the

[AK Birding] Black-headed Gull at Otto Lake (near Healy)

Thu, 17 May 2012 16:23:21 -0500

A BLACK-HEADED GULL was seen amongst a flock of 7 BONAPARTE'S GULLs, at
Otto

Lake, about 2 miles south of Healy, about 10:00 pm Wednesday. (Otto Lake

Road is at milepost 247 on the Parks Highway; the lake is about 1 mile
west of

the highway).

All eight gulls launched, headed north (possibly towards Eight Mile

[AK Birding] Aleutian Terns Arriving

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:00:34 -0500

ALEUTIAN TERNS are starting to occuppy their various colonies in the Kasilof-Kenai-Soldota area.

Toby Burke
Kenai, AK

[AK Birding] Homer White-winged Tern

Thu, 17 May 2012 13:00:32 -0500

Chris Wood and Jessie Barry just called from Homer to report they had distant views of what appears to be up to 3 White-winged Terns. The birds are foraging out in Kachemak Bay east of the main boat harbor. They hope to steer their charter boat into the

Re: [AK Birding] Long-toed Stint-? Seward Airport

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:16:31 -0500

This may be beating a dead horse, but just in case there are still people attempting CPR, here's another feature to add to the beating, that has not bee mentioned so far:

Apart from (often subtle) differences in color tone, the rufous fringe of the longest tertial in Long-toed Stint

[AK Birding] Anchor -- Bristle-thighed Curlew still there

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:03:55 -0500

On the evening of Wed, 16 May, the following were at the mouth of the Anchor River:

AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER 1
Semipalmated Plover 15
Black Turnstone 10
Whimbrel 9
BRISTLE-THIGHED CURLEW 1 (maybe 2)
Western Sandpiper 20
Least Sandpiper 5
Dunlin 5
Short-billed Dowitcher 30
Greater Yellowlegs 4

I had the impression that there were two curlews, based on plumage, but never

[AK Birding] Fwd: rain guard

Thu, 17 May 2012 05:28:27 -0500

____________________________________
From: (email address filtered)
To: (email address filtered)
Sent: 5/16/2012 9:30:20 P.M. Alaskan Daylight Time
Subj: rain guard

I found a rain guard for binoculars on the trail going down to the
Clitheroe Center. Let me know if they're yours.
Dave S

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[AK Birding] Middleton Island Trip Vacancy

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:47:42 -0500

We still have a couple seats unconfirmed! Looks like Saturday may be the day we go!! Come load up on seabirds and shorebirds, everyone needs a spring adventure. Leave 8:30am, return about 6pm. Very photographic place with a few thousand birds hanging around.

Dan Crowson
trapperdan at hotmail.com

[AK Birding] Baird's Sandpiper, American Golden Plover et al, South Anchorage

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:08:29 -0500

On May 17th 2012 good variety and numbers of shorebirds were in the small coastal ponds below Carr-Gottstein Park in South Anchorage. A single AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER, two BAIRD's SANDPIPERS, approximately 50 PECTORAL SANDPIPERS, a handful of SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS and roughly 100 LEAST SANDPIPERS were the highlights.

Flocks of

[AK Birding] Anchor River Birds - and a Dead Snowy Owl

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:28:24 -0500

Anchor Point--Anchor River Mouth
May 14, 2012 1:45 PM - 4:45 PM

Comments: Found a Dead Snowy Owl on the beach dune in the rye grass near a large log and camp fire. About 3/4 of a mile down the beach. Either a young bird or a female. Most of the